Money-making Niches!

Located in New Zealand (total population under 4 million). Some of those figures you give for circulation sizes had me salivating. With such a small total population base to work with here, niche marketing becomes a tricky proposition. My field is weather instruments. I know from looking around that there is no one else on the internet who covers quite the angle I do. It is very frustrating to look at the US market, and my log files, and not be able to tap into such a huge pool of customers. I know what I offer is of interest, I just cant supply over the distance and make it worthwhile.
Actually when talking about businesses like these, of far more interest than turnover is the breakeven or profit potential. Most product based businesses need a turnover of at least $250,000 PA just to keep one person fed and watered.
Lets face it, a lot of us gear our businesses more towards personal comfort levels rather than marketplace realities. I bet the Ratalog owner is mad about rats, rather than money.
> I firmly believe there is more ways to make
> money than there ever have been. And while
> we may bemoan the fact we can't find a
> profitable product (or service) to sell the
> fact remains there are a great many people
> getting rich or at least making money from
> any number of different niches or target
> audiences. Here is a brief sample of some
> different catalog concepts that have proven
> to be moneymakers. And in some cases...a lot
> of money!

> Duane Abbajay co-owns "Just for
> Redheads" with his wife, Paula
> Pennypacker. This Arizona based catalog
> sells a variety of skin-care, beauty and
> health products targeted at, you guessed it!
> Redheads, to the tune of well over
> $1,000,000 per year based on a catalog
> circulation of 150,000.

> Debbie Ducommun is the owner of the
> California based "The Rat-alog" a
> catalog of gifts for of all things...rat
> lovers! She does $40,000 per year in sales
> on a circulation base of 4,000.

> Philip Cushway of San Francisco started
> "Artrock" a rock-memorabilia
> catalog that has an annual circulation of
> 1,000,000 and does millions per year in
> sales.

> Jason Mischel is in a very competitive
> market, pet supplies, but his catalog
> "Great Companions" still manages
> to do about $5,000,000 in sales per year
> based on a catalog circulation of 2,000,000.

> Anne Marcus is the president of AnneMail, a
> Hot Springs, AZ-based cataloger/retailer of
> specialty toys. Her annual catalog
> circulation is only 20,000 but racks up
> sales of about 1/2 million dollars.

> Eleanor Edmondson owns the Atlanta based
> catalog "Bas Blue" which sells
> books, literary accessories and gifts. Her
> annual sales are about $9,000,000.

> Stacey Small owns "Botanical
> Animal" which provides natural and
> herbal homeopathic products for horses,
> cats, and dogs. It has annual sales of about
> $500,000 based on a circulation of 100,000.

> Jack Kawaky of the catalog, "Captain
> Jacks" sells a variety of nautical
> software and other products for mariners.
> Annual sales are more than $5,000,000 per
> year with a circulation of 500,000.

> Mary Going of Freeport, Maine, has a catalog
> called "Firegirl" which sells
> hot-sauces. Her annual sales are about
> 100,000 and her circulation is less than
> 10,000.

> This is not to say the success these people
> have had has come easy. Eleanor Edmondson of
> "Bas Blue" explains:

> "Before I started Bas Bleu, I did as
> much research and planning as I could. But
> soon it became clear that the time had come
> just to take a deep breath and jump in. We
> planned an initial mailing of 50,000; large
> enough to give us results we could analyze
> but not so big that it would break the bank.
> The sales results for that first catalog
> were not inspiring, but the emotional
> reaction from potential customers, such as
> enthusiastic letters, faxes, and phone calls
> with the 'I'll buy something next time'
> refrain, let us know we were on to
> something."

> "We started analyzing and fine-tuning
> what we were doing, in terms of merchandise,
> lists, paper, printing, production, and
> mailing. It was very important to be able to
> stick with it to buy the time to figure out
> what was working and what was not, and to
> know what to change and what to
> retain."

> I personally have heard this same story over
> and over again, both in a retail and mail
> order/catalog environment. Finally, the
> person stops studying and jumps in with both
> feet, using the best information available
> to them. Mistakes are made along the
> way...but if you go small and test you'll
> have the opportunity in the long run to make
> things right.

> Take care,

> Mike Winicki




Weathereye