Carving a Niche: A Lesson From Redbox and a Little Person
Chris Heiler | January 21, 2010
Before I get into this week's Profit Tip, let me begin with a disclaimer:
***I do not intend to offend. I am not sexist. Nor do I have anything against "little people".***
Those of you who follow what I write and talk about understand that I'm a firm believer in specializing in a particular service or product. Let's call it working within a niche.
Why am I such a big believer in establishing a niche? Simple: you become the "expert" and in turn can charge more for your services and products.
I love companies who are clever and brave in carving out a niche for themselves. They have to be don't they? These companies position themselves as being completely different compared to their competition which can be risky. Hell, some create such a tiny niche that they have NO competition!
Within the landscape industry, a company that stands out to me is Celtic Gardens in Michigan. Their specialty is "Old World Gardens" and they've completed installations around the world.
A friend of mine is an irrigation contractor in Grand Rapids Michigan and has recently been installing irrigation systems for greenroofs across the country. The economy is terrible in Michigan right now but he is able to thrive because of this new niche he is carving for himself.
My niche is renovating gardens of period homes built during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Looking outside of our industry, I love what Redbox and Netflix are doing. Moving forward, both of these companies will thrive while the traditional video rental stores will crash.
I'm not a big clothing and fashion guy, but I do love the clothing retailer Nau. I visited their store in Chicago a couple of years ago and their business model is unlike any other clothing retailer I've seen. Even their company philosophy is different than most.
How does a coffee shop in Seattle compete against Starbucks and hundreds of other local coffee houses? Meet Laurie Boden who took her cue from Hooters:
As Tim Ferriss says in his book The 4-hour Work Week, "Some people are just into lavish dwarf entertainment". So, Danny Black started ShortDwarf.com:
A little odd? Yes. It's hard to believe a need for this existed. I have a feeling Mr. Black has cornered this market.
Can you carve out a niche for yourself in a market like John Cullen of Celtic Gardens? Can you create a market like Danny Black?
