When it comes to ecommerce, competition is always high.
But the online world is an ever-changing landscape. Because of this, gaps are formed in the ecommerce market all the time.
But how do you go about finding them? How do you know what the next big thing will be? And how can you find these gaps in the ecommerce market before anyone else does?
This blog post will help answer those questions by providing seven tips that will keep your business ahead of the curve. Use these tips to find gaps in the ecommerce market and make your store successful!
What is a gap in the ecommerce market?
This article will guide you in the right direction when it comes to finding gaps in the ecommerce market. But what exactly is a "gap" in the market?
Essentially, a gap in the ecommerce market is an area where there seems to be no competition. People are searching for products or services in that area, but nobody has yet realized the potential of it and filled that need.
In other words, there is a demand for a particular product or service, but there is no supply of it.
As such, there is an opportunity! If you can take advantage of the gaps in the ecommerce market before anyone else does - then you will be well on your way to success!
7 Tips that will help you find gaps in the ecommerce market
Are you currently struggling with finding new opportunities for your business? If so, you should try using the following six tips for finding new gaps in the ecommerce market.
They will help you stay ahead of the curve and increase your chances of creating a successful ecommerce store!
1. Analyze 1- and 2-star reviews from other ecommerce stores
The first tip you can use to identify gaps in the ecommerce market is looking at one- and two-start reviews on other ecommerce stores.
These are usually left behind by shoppers who, for some reason, have been disappointed with their purchase. Your goal is to identify the motivation behind these low ratings.
Shoppers may be disappointed by the extended shipping times, bad product quality, unsatisfactory customer service, or even a lack of colors available for the product!
You can then use this information to identify a gap and create a strategy to fill it.
How?
You can offer priority shipping options, improve the product quality, offer excellent customer service, or have more color options.
By doing this, you will be able to provide a better product or experience than your competitors and take advantage of gaps in the market before anyone else.
2. Think about your area of expertise or passion
You can also identify gaps in the market by using your area of expertise or passion.
For example, if you are a hiking enthusiast, you might have ideas for a product that could be useful for hikers. However, you didn't see that product offered on the market yet.
Or, if you are good at graphic design, you might be able to start a business that provides custom logo design services that nobody else is currently offering.
The key here is to think outside the box and brainstorm ideas that nobody has thought of before.
How can you provide value to the market? How will your product or service stand out against what already exists on the market?
These are both important questions to think about.
If you have trouble coming up with new ideas, taking a look at what is selling well on a marketplace as Amazon may help you:
It will give you an idea of what people are currently searching for, and it might spark some ideas for products or services that you could offer on your own.
Use your hobbies and passions to power your business's success!
3. Listen to your customers' feedback
Let's examine the next tip, listening to your customers' feedback.
And with listening to feedback, we don't mean the same way of listening as when you're watching TV.
We are talking about the type of listening (or reading) where you actually take your customers' words and thoughts into account to improve their experience with your store.
Try to understand their motivations for leaving feedback, and see if you can find any patterns. Can you identify anything that they miss?
If you do this correctly, it will help you identify gaps in the market that you might not have been aware of before.
For example, imagine selling dog water bottles on your online store in the pet niche. A customer may tell you that they are satisfied with the product overall but did find a disadvantage. Since the customer has three large dogs, he is constantly refilling the water bottles.
By thinking about this feedback, you may come up with the idea of adding extra-large variants of your dog water bottles to your store. This will help your customers with thirsty or large dogs save time as they won't have to refill the water bottles constantly!
If you have trouble with getting feedback from your customers, you can always try to get more feedback by collecting reviews, sending surveys, questionnaires, or even holding customer interviews.
You can install an app like Loox to get more product reviews on your online store:
4. Take a look at your competitors' pricing strategy and service
Even when you are selling the same products as your competitors, you might still find gaps in other facets of ecommerce.
The main ones are your pricing strategy and your customer service.
For example, you can offer your product for a lower price or offer a subscription-based pricing model to add more ease of use for your customers.
You could also try improving your service by doing things like offering a 24/7 live chat for your customers, writing detailed user guides about your products, or offering an excellent return/refund policy.
These are small things that can make a big difference for your customers and, therefore, are gaps in the ecommerce market!
5. Look up successful local ecommerce stores and see if you can apply their approach in other countries
Another way to find gaps in the ecommerce market is by analyzing local successful ecommerce stores and seeing if you can potentially replicate their success globally or in other countries.
For example, you may find a local store in one of the best countries for ecommerce that is doing exceptionally well as they are the only ones who sell a particular product.
You can then apply this same strategy in other countries where the product might be more popular.
Another example is if you discover that a local store is doing well because of its solid marketing efforts or product positioning. You can then try to apply this same strategy in other countries and see if it leads to similar success!
The main takeaway from these tips is that gaps in the ecommerce market exist everywhere. It's up to you to see what you can come up with to offer your customers something unique and different from what other online stores offer.
So far, we have seen that you can identify gaps by looking at other ecommerce stores, your own online store, or using your own knowledge.
Two other places you can search for gaps are social media or forums. Here, you can look for customer feedback or even ideas from other active people in the ecommerce community.
For example, you can search for hashtags related to your product on Instagram or Twitter and then look through the posts to see if people leave any feedback.
Let's say you are running an ecommerce store in the fitness niche. In that case, you may look up #fitnessequipment:
Similarly, you can also join forums related to ecommerce and post a question asking for feedback about a specific topic. This will help you get ideas from other store owners or people who are active in the ecommerce industry!
By being active on social media and forums, you will be able to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and learn about new gaps that have emerged in the market!
7. Hire a market researcher on Fiverr or Upwork
The final tip for identifying gaps in the ecommerce market is outsourcing the work.
Sometimes, you don't have enough time for all the tasks you should do. In these cases, it can be smart to hire someone else to do it for you.
This way, you can focus on the tasks you are good at and leave the research part to someone else.
One place where you can find people to do is Fiverr. Here, you can find researchers who can do a deep-dive analysis of your industry or even find untapped winning products for you!
The great thing about Fiverr is that you can find people to do a wide range of other tasks as well, so it's definitely worth checking out if you're looking for someone to help you with your tasks.
Another platform you can use to hire a researcher is Upwork. You will be able to find freelancers that can help you with finding gaps in the market by using a search term like "product research":
How do you know if the gaps you have found are worth pursuing?
By applying the abovementioned tips, you may have been able to find some potential gaps in the ecommerce market.
However, how will you know if the gaps you have found are worth pursuing?
One way to determine this is by looking at the potential size of the gap. How many people are potentially affected by this gap? Is it a small or large group of people?
This is typically done with a Total Addressable Market (TAM) calculation. The TAM calculation considers the size of the market, how much of that market your product can capture, and how likely it is that people will switch to your product.
Another way to analyze the gap you have found is by checking market trends. How is the market trending? Is it a growing or shrinking industry?
You can check the market trends with Google Trends. This is a great tool that shows you the popularity of certain search terms or keywords over time.
For example, if you are doubting about starting a cat- or dog-related store, this Google Trends graph may help you to make that decision:
You can also use it to check for seasons, such as Christmas time! Knowing these trends will help you determine if your gap in the market is here to stay or if it's just short-term that will eventually disappear.
If you determine that the gap is worth pursuing, then your next step would be to create a plan to capture this market! This checklist will be an excellent guideline for that.
Lastly, you may benefit from using a SWOT analysis. This framework may help you to better understand the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of your business.
Using the SWOT analysis may help you determine how to exploit the gaps you have found and mitigate any potential threats!
Conclusion
There you have it!
Those were seven tips that will help you find gaps in the ecommerce market.
Sometimes, finding new business opportunities is hard. Luckily, the tips in this article should help you find new opportunities and increase the success of your ecommerce store.
Remember that there will always be competition on the market, but this shouldn't stop you from chasing after your goals.
So, what are you waiting for? Start identifying those gaps and start pursuing your business goals today!
Lastly, we are curious about you. How do you identify gaps?
Please let us know by leaving a comment below; we would love to hear about it!
