Retail Blog

Who exactly are you selling to? The answer to this question should form the core of every smart retailer’s strategy, but for independent retailers, in particular, having a good handle on your target market may actually be the difference between success and failure.

The traditional thinking on target markets held that the broader your brand’s appeal, the greater your chances of success were likely to be. Today, though, a growing number of retail experts are warning that the era of mass appeal may be coming to an end. Independent retailers have long been on the leading edge of this trend, staking their claim to slender but clearly-defined slices of the market.

Because many independent retailers cater to relatively narrow or niche markets, a strategy aimed squarely at the needs, aspirations, and habits of your core clientele can do wonders for your bottom line. On the other hand, if your business model isn’t sufficiently mindful of your base, you could wind up missing the mark altogether.

Do you have a clear understanding of your target market? Who are you selling to today? Who would you like to be selling to in the future? If you’re unclear on any of these points, it may be wise to set aside some time to take a long, hard look at your past, current, and prospective customer base.

Whether you’re aiming your wares at a neighborhood or a nation, you need to give your target market a name. Here are a few guidelines to help you get started.

• ‘Everybody’ isn’t the right answer. As retailers, our impulse is often to cast as wide a net as possible when it comes to defining our ideal market. That kind of inclusiveness and ambition is admirable, but it contradicts the fundamental purpose of this exercise. Suspend your plans of world domination for the moment. Instead, think hard about exactly who your products and services appeal to.

• How do you rule? What do you do better than anyone else? What do you offer that no one else can? In business-speak, this holy grail of uniqueness is referred to as your core competency. Defining it — and creating a strategic plan to capitalize upon it — can go a long way towards helping you understand exactly who it is your business is catering to.

• No pain, no gain. To define your target market, it may help to think in terms of what marketing experts call the “pain point.” Which kinds of problems are you uniquely equipped to solve for your customers? Many purchasing decisions are made based on the buyer’s pain, dissatisfaction, discomfort, or unhappiness. How can your products and services alleviate these sources of pain? Whose problems are you well-positioned to help solve? Answer this question honestly and accurately, and you’ve just done a lot of the work of defining your target market.

• Put on your prognosticator’s cap. Understanding your target market as it exists today is only one part of the equation. In order to plan strategically for your business’s future, you have to be able to “read the tea leaves” –in other words, to make an informed guess as to whether new and emerging changes and challenges in your market will shift the boundary lines that define your core customer base. What are the current and future economic prospects in your neck of the woods? Is the area on its way up or on its way out? How is the community expected to develop in the years to come? By considering all of these factors, you’ll be able to develop a far-reaching profile of your target market that is more likely to stand the test of time.

• Does your business model pass the smell test? Independent retailers know from first-hand experience that having an optimistic outlook can play a big role in keeping a business afloat. But when it comes to defining your target market, set your rose-colored glasses aside for a moment and try instead to adopt a view of hard-eyed realism. Does your definition of your target market make rational sense? Will the urban hipsters gentrifying your neighborhood really have an interest in your scrapbooking supplies shop? Can your upscale décor boutique survive when that planned IKEA finally gets built? Solicit input from a range of impartial outside observers to make sure your target market definition passes muster.


What’s your take on the target market question? What hurdles have you faced in finding out more about your customer base? Feel free to share your experiences in the comments.