Recently we did a post on your Ecommerce business plan and here we talked a little about your target market. Today we are going to expand upon this because it is critical to your success. Your target market is your potential customers and you need to know several factors….
1. You need to know who they possibly are
2. You need to know their wants and needs
3. You need to know where they are
4. You need to know how to appeal to them
It can be pretty tough in the Ecommerce world because like most businesses you have competition. If they appear to be doing better than you are, then you can be sure they are doing a lot of the right things when it comes to online business. Running an online busy is not easy but it certainly can be lucrative but you have to be focused and ready for some hard work.
Let’s discuss the four points above from a common sense point of view.
Who is your possible target market?
Take a look at your products. Who did you think would buy them. Are they more applicable to men, women, children or everyone? What age group would find them most appealing? Once you have narrowed this down you now have a starting point. Ideally you should be making notes as you go through this little exercise. It will act as a firm guideline to help you plan your marketing strategy which you are going to need in the future.
What does your target market want and need and how can your product deliver this.
Identify what your customers will want from your specific product. If it is a non consumable product are they going to insist on quality and durability? Is there a large fluctuation in the price range regarding similar products? Once you know what your customers will expect from your products then you can make sure you address these in your marketing material.
Where are your potential customers?
Now you have something to go on to determine where you are going to be able to reach out to your target market online. If you are selling sports equipment then you want to find out what the favorite sites are for this niche. See if you can do guest posts on these sites. This is just the tip of the iceburg for sourcing out the location of your potential market. Social media is another venue that you can look into. Facebook has groups for example, and pinterest is another viable resource.
The right appeal
You no doubt have competitors that are offering similar or the same products. You need to find something unique about your products that is going to create a real appeal to buy them from you as opposed to your opposition.
Determining who your Ecommerce target market is means combining common sense and thinking through the minds of your potential customers. Setting up your business can be a busy time for you but the bottom line is your need customers and you need to be constantly thinking about them
