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Ever wondered how to choose a specific niche for your print-on-demand Shopify store? Or for that matter your Etsy store? How about for testing all those dropshipping products.

One of the most common questions I get is “Should I have a niche market or a broad, general market store?” Have you heard that?

What I have found over the years is it's quite difficult to build engagement in general stores. That is, meaningful engagement on the socials that actually leads to trust-building and what we all want… sales. This is where niche grouping comes to the rescue.

This is going to be a very quick article that will help remove the block you've had in order to help you start that new killer store and start on your path to dominating Q4.

How to Group Niches for your Print on Demand Shopify Store

In my other article the Untapped & Profitable T-Shirt Niches [+ List of 1,000+ Niches] I talk about how to create products for specific niches. By grouping niches, you are able to dramatically increase your output for a lot less effort.

If you haven't found one (niche) that you're interested in I suggest you have a read and come back to this article once you've got an idea. Having one niche is mind will form the basis of how to create your Shopify store.

Niche grouping takes the broadest niche for a particular category and allows you to focus on a handful. Whether it be a profession or hobby.

In this case, if you were to choose “Nurse”, the broad category for that would be healthcare workers. If you were to choose “running”, you could put it in a broader fitness store.

Why Niche Grouping is Important

When you're creating your store the last thing you want to do is make it too specific that it doesn't allow you to sell (easily) outside of your lane.

My first Print on Demand Shopify store was Velocity Bicycle Co. Guess what. There was something obvious I couldn't do. Selling to runners, or swimmers, or yoga was out of the question…if my aim was to build a strong brand. My second store didn't do much better.

Yes, I didn't pigeonhole myself to a niche…what I did do, however, was pigeonholing myself to a product. So don't do that either… 😂 The store in question? Need Those Sneakers…look I make mistakes too ok.

Creating Niche Groups

The niche group would then be;

• Board Niche
  • Healthcare Workers
• Niche Group
  • Registered Nurses
  • Doctors
  • Xray Techs
  • Aneastheoligists
  • Pharmacists
  • Physical Therapists

So what is the point of niche grouping? This grouping allows you to hedge your bets when it comes to testing, so instead of relying on one particular niche, you can use one idea across several very easily.

Success in print on demand comes down to creating a lot of designs and testing. In order to do this, it needs to be done as fast as possible. I don't know about you but I don't like working all that much.

In the example to the left by taking 1 idea (I'm not talking about stealing designs, create your own) e.g. “My daughter is the world's best nurse in the history of the world” and taking the professions within your niche group and creating multiple variations.

By doing this you increase your chances of success exponentially. Here is what the variations would look like;

• My daughter is the world's best nurse in the history of the world
• My daughter is the world's best doctor in the history of the world
• My daughter is the world's best pharmacist in the history of the world
• My daughter is the world's best x-ray tech in the history of the world

If we used all the categories you would be testing 30 designs off 5 phrases. This supercharges your phrase output each week.

Niches Groups

Below are a few more niche groups to further illustrate my point. Once you have your group in mind it becomes much easier to brand out a store specific to that broad market and connect with your target market.

• Broad Niche: Law Enforcement
  • Sheriff
  • Police Officer
  • Constable
  • Sergeant
  • SWAT
  • Corrections Officer
• Broad Niche: First Responders
  • Paramedics
  • Firefighters
  • Police
• Broad Niche: Military
  • Navy
  • Army
  • Air Force
  • Navy SEALs
• Broad Niche: Engineering
  • Mechanical
  • Aeronautical
  • Civil
  • Electrical
  • Aerospace
  • Chemical
• Broad Niche: Teachers
  • Professors
  • Maths
  • Pre K
  • Biology
  • Chemistry
• Broad Niche: Automotive
  • Motorcycling/Bikers
  • Motocross
  • Truckers
  • Offroaders
  • Hot Rodders
• Broad Niche: Outdoors
  • Hiking
  • Camping
  • Fishing
  • Skiing
  • Kayaking
  • Whitewater rafting
• Broad Niche: Sport
  • Baseball
  • Basketball
  • Soccer
  • Football
• Broad Niche: Cardio
  • Cycling
  • Running
  • Swimming
  • Rowing
  • Kayaking
• Broad Niche: Beauty
  • Eyelash extensions
  • Hair Extensions
  • Nails
  • Teeth Whitening

Why is Niche Grouping a Big Deal?

Building a brand is a big deal and so much time and effort go into creating a brand people will love. That is why choosing the niche can be such a big hurdle when you start that you end up doing absolutely nothing.

By grouping niches you're able to enter a niche you're still passionate about and increase your targetable audience whilst increasing your chance of success. All this and the branding can remain hyper-relevant to your category.

Take for instance the Bikers, Truckers, and Moto group. You're easily able to create a consistent branding theme. It can be grunge, sarcastic, dark, with skulls and it connects to each of those niches within.

Now, try starting a gift store that targets familial relationships, nurses, and bikers. The branding becomes much vaguer. I have personally struggled over the years with different stores we've had and how to brand them out. Niche grouping is the answer. We'd chosen a brand name that really did not lend itself to any type of “theme”. Lesson learned.

Conclusion

It may seem obvious, and it really is. I've not seen anyone address this barrier to entry before and I hope that you now pull your finger out and get started. The more time you're focusing on how to get started is less time that you're putting into what actually makes money in dropshipping.

By focusing on a broader marketer you'll be able to test more designs and products without the need to create more social media profiles, more stores, and all the collateral that goes with each.

Niche grouping is your answer. If you have any questions please ask below and I will happily reply! Good luck and stay awesome.