Choosing your luxury niche

In Lesson 1 you wrote down three answers: the luxury categories you know, the people you already reach, and the hours you can give each week. Today we turn those answers into a niche, which decides what your store sells and who it sells to. A clear niche makes every later step easier, from pricing to marketing to Black Friday.

Why "designer fashion" is not a niche

A store that sells "everything luxury" competes with the biggest platforms in the world, on their terms. A small store wins by being the obvious choice for one kind of customer. "Designer bags for women who travel" or "Italian menswear for the office" tells a visitor in two seconds that they're in the right place. Trust is the core product in luxury, and focus builds it faster.

The three-circle test

A good niche sits where three things overlap:

• What you know. Categories you can talk about with confidence: shoes, bags, leather goods, accessories or clothing.
• Who you reach. An audience you already have access to, through your social following, your community, your city or your language.
• What the market wants now. Products that are in season, in stock and searched for.

If one circle is missing, the niche will be hard work. If all three overlap, you have a starting point.

Ways to define a niche

Pick one angle and stay with it until Black Friday:

• By category: sneakers, handbags or small leather goods.
• By customer: men's workwear, occasion dressing or gifts for her.
• By style: quiet luxury, streetwear designers or Italian classics.
• By market: one country or language you know well.

Check it before you commit

Spend 30 minutes on these checks:

1. Search your niche on Instagram, TikTok and Google. Are people talking about it and buying it?
2. Look at three stores already selling it. What do they do well, and what's missing?
3. Check that your supplier has enough in-stock products in your niche, across sizes and colours, to fill a store of at least 50 products.

See you Friday. We're pricing for profit.