Are mass marketers successful? Take a look at the local big box general merchandise store, and the answer is a resounding yes. Will the average home business entrepreneur be able to compete with this kind of business on the same footing? The answer is a resounding no. Thus, in order to become a competitive entity in today's business world, you will be wise to be appealing to the niche rather than the mass when it comes to goods and services. If this sounds contrary to anything and everything you have been taught about business, do not be surprised. This business cycle is actually finally coming to completion and it began in the days of old when the niche business was the norm. There used to be the candle maker and the baker, the gunsmith and the blacksmith, and customers would visit the respective merchant to purchase these wares. With the 1846 launch of the first department store in America, the shift to general merchandising began and today the culmination is Wal-Mart and other business like it. Yet consumers are beginning to balk at the low cost, low quality, low service establishments that expect you to take products off their shelves and pay good money for little service, no guarantees, and querulous workers who will argue with a customer rather than accept the return of the merchandise when ? not if ? it fails.



Making it in business today will require you to have that niche feel while offering mass appeal. To this end, here are some key components that make up the psyche of the average consumer in search of a good or service:

* Appeal to the consumer in search of convenience and accessibility. Thousands of sales are lost because of ill designed websites and stores where products are hard to find and research. Make your system ridiculously simple. Avoid the jargon so as not to intimidate the newbies. Make checkout easy.

* Dazzle them with expertise. Everyone can copy and past some technical data and then have a worker regurgitate it. What your customer really wants to know is personal experience. Will this car stereo sound good in their Toyota Tercel? What about their Suburban? Know these things and customers will flock to you!

* If you cannot compete with Wal-Mart's volume pricing, amaze your consumer with variety. If standard beeswax candles cost $1 each at the big store and you need to sell them for $2 to make a profit, carry 50 varieties in shapes in colors and you will be sure to make sales.

* Use that niche approach to exploit a product. If you are a cheese store, sell every cheese imaginable. No grocery store can compete with the depth.

Examples of successful niche marketers are legion. From entertainment on the radio to big box retailers and food purveyors, notable names crop up by having garnered a niche reputation that nonetheless has a mass appeal. Even the very search engine you use to traverse the Internet has a certain niche feel and mass appeal! When you stop to think about it, new home business entrepreneurs will do well to explore the niche marketing concept!