So, what are the best evergreen niches for small businesses?
Learn what products and services are in perpetual demand. We’ll cover what evergreen niches are, how you can make money from them and how to find them. Then we’ll look at 10 of the top ones for making money in pretty much any economy.
What Are Evergreen Niches?
An evergreen niche is a market where buyers perpetually demand a product or service regardless of general economic or market conditions.
To illustrate with a simple example, human beings always need food, whether the economy is inflationary or deflationary, and consumers will always want information on how to prepare food to make it more appetizing. This means that there will always be a market for recipes and cookbooks, making this an evergreen niche.
As this example illustrates, evergreen niches can be competitive. There are many cookbooks and recipe websites on the market, for instance. Within such a large market, there are many subniche markets that are less competitive.
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For Example
The number of competitors publishing cookbooks is much larger than the number publishing Asian cuisine cookbooks. While the number of publishing cookbooks on Thai food is smaller, the number publishing on Thai soups is smaller still. In this way, evergreen markets can sprout new branches.
As a rule of thumb, the more specialized the niche, the less competition you’ll face. However, a more specialized niche is more subject to changing market trends.
For example, the exercise market has been around for more than a century and yoga as a form of exercise has been popular throughout most of that period. However, yoga has become increasingly more popular in the past several decades. As it has gained popularity, specialized versions of yoga such as hot yoga have carved out new business niches.
How Can You Make Money from Evergreen Niches?
Evergreen niches represent good business ideas for long-term profits because you can leverage the perpetual demand for evergreen products and services in multiple ways.
You can:
- Publish information about evergreen topics to attract traffic to a website and earn advertising revenue and affiliate marketing
- Sell information about evergreen topics in formats such as books, ebooks and videos
- Sell evergreen products and services
- Use evergreen information, products and services to promote sales of upsell products
You apply these marketing methods through both digital and nondigital media. For many years, advertisers sold evergreen products primarily through print media such as newspaper ads, magazine ads, comic-book ads and direct mail. The methods developed in these media were adopted by internet marketers and are applied through media such as blogs, email marketing and video marketing.
For example, bodybuilder Charles Atlas began building a fortune selling mail-order exercise products through magazines in the 1920s. Today, the company he founded continues to make money selling some of the same products online. So, picking the right evergreen niche can spell longevity.
How Do You Find Evergreen Ecommerce Niches?
How can you find profitable product and service business niches? Start by considering universal human needs, such as:
- Health
- Food
- Clothing
- Shelter
- Psychological well-being
- Relationships
- Financial well-being
- Leisure
- Spirituality
Many evergreen niches fall into subniches within these general categories. With this in mind, look for evergreen niches by considering:
- Your own needs and hobby interests
- Book categories and catalogs used by Amazon.com and book publishers
- Indexes used to organize collections of articles on Wikipedia
- Library book classification systems such as the Dewey Decimal Classification system
Use these types of resources to help you identify some broad categories which fall within your range of interest and expertise. Next, narrow down some subniches by using a search engine optimization keyword research tool such as WordStream. Look for niches with high search volume but low competition.
So, what are some of the best evergreen niches to get into? There literally are thousands of profitable subniches. Here are some of the most popular major categories:
1. Health and Wellness
The global health and wellness market is worth $1.5 trillion, with an annual growth rate of 5%-10%, estimates management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. This huge market divides into 6 major subniches:
- Health, including medicine, supplements, medical devices, telemedicine, remote health-care services and personal health trackers
- Fitness
- Nutrition
- Beauty
- Sleep
- Mindfulness and meditation
Within each of these subniches are many specialized markets representing evergreen opportunities for entrepreneurs.
2. Self-Help and Personal Development
The global personal development market was worth $38.28 billion in 2019 and was on track to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 5.1% from 2020 to 2027, according to market research company Grand View Research.
This market includes subniches such as:
- Mental health
- Motivation and inspiration
- Self-awareness
- Skill set enhancement
- Physical health improvement
The self-help market is growing partly because digital technology provides new ways to deliver material. These methods include podcasts, on-demand courses, ebooks and audiobooks.
3. Personal Finance
The demand for personal finance information and services can be gauged by the size of the personal finance software market. In 2019, the market for personal finance software was estimated to be worth $1.02 billion and was on track to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 5.7% from 2020 to 2027, according to market research provider Allied Market Research. Popular personal finance topics include:
- Getting out of debt
- Improving credit scores
- Budgeting
- Saving
- Investing
- Insurance
- Retirement planning
- Tax planning
Information about these topics always needs updating, making personal finance a rich field for evergreen opportunities.
4. Business
In the 7 years leading up to 2017, a steady trend showed nearly 14% of the U.S. adult population pursuing an entrepreneurial activity, according to a study by Babson College.
This trend accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw Americans starting new businesses at the fastest rate in a decade, according to an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data by the Wall Street Journal. These figures illustrate why business is an evergreen market.
Popular business niches include:
- How to start a business
- Business financing
- Marketing
- Sales
- Business management
You can drill down into any of these markets by focusing on specific industries, providing a wide range of evergreen niches.
5. Relationships
The demand for relationship advice and services is reflected in that 3 in 10 Americans have used dating apps, according to market research firm Pew Research Center. Examples of relationship niches include:
- Dating advice
- Keys to successful relationships
- Managing relationship conflicts
- Recovering from break-ups
Drill down into relationship niches by focusing on specific demographic groups, such as dating advice for women under the age of 30.
6. Food
Of course, home cooking always has been a popular niche. But interest in meal preparation has increased because of the pandemic, helping fuel a 6.9% compound annual growth rate for the global cookware market, projected to be worth $20.15 billion in 2028 by market research company Grand View Research.
Niches within the food market include:
- Regional foods, such as Mexican, Italian or Chinese food
- Types of food dishes, such as meat, vegetarian or soup
- Different methods of preparing food, such as barbecuing, steaming and pressure-cooking
- Diet-oriented food preparation methods, such as ketogenic, vegetarian or vegan diets
- Food for different audiences, such as families, college students or exercise enthusiasts
- Food for different social contexts, such as parties, fine dining or cookouts
You can drill down into the various niches of the food industry by combining different categories together. For example, you could start a blog on vegetarian meals featuring Mexican food.
7. Fashion
The U.S. fashion industry is worth $2.8 billion in 2021, according to market research company IBISWorld. Niches include:
- Types of clothes, such as T-shirts, jeans and sneakers
- Fashion styles, such as casual, sporty and streetwear
- Clothing production methods, such as screen printing
- Low-end, middle-end and high-end brands
- Fashion geared toward specific genders
- Fashion geared toward specific age groups
- Regional fashions
Also, think of the synergy between fashion and media. Fashion blogs and videos particularly lend themselves to earning affiliate revenue from brands and retailers, for instance. You can earn money by reviewing products and linking to ecommerce sites or featuring ads directly on your site.
8. Home Improvement
The home improvement market reached a value of $762.9 billion in 2020 and will continue to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 4.3% from 2021 to 2027, according to market research firm Global Market Insights.
Niches include:
- Bathrooms
- Kitchens
- Additions
- Basements
- Attics
- Decks
- Windows
- Roofing
- Siding
- Backyards
- Exercise rooms
- Guest suites
- Spaces for the handicapped
- Environmentally friendly housing
Note that you can target subniches within any of these categories by focusing on specialized demographic groups. Focus on as homes for couples without children, seniors or residents with disabilities, for instance.
9. Technology
The technology market grew during the pandemic. U.S. tech sales saw a record year in 2020 and are on track to increase 4.3% in 2021, generating $461 million in revenue, according to the Consumer Technology Association. Major niches include:
- Software and streaming services, including video, audio and gaming
- Video game consoles
- Televisions
- Smartphones
- Laptops
- Wireless audio
- Smart home products
- Connected health-care products
- Electric bikes
- Business technology
New technology and tech applications are being introduced every year, making this a highly fruitful source of new subniches.
10. Education
The U.S. education market is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 3.77%, putting it on track to reach a value of $1.96 trillion by 2025, predicts market research firm ResearchAndMarkets.com. The market can be niched by:
- Grade level, such as child care, K-12, post-secondary and corporate education
- Subject, such as languages, math and science
- Delivery method, such as cloud and on-premise
Note that within each of these groupings, there are many different subniches. For example, the foreign language niche includes Spanish, French, German and other languages commonly taught in U.S. schools.
Tap Into Evergreen Niches to Generate Reliable Income
Evergreen niches let you make money in any economy by providing information, products and services which people always need. You can use many resources to find evergreen niches, from your own experience to online retailer categories and library resources. As for popular evergreen niches, they range from necessities such as health and personal finance to hobby interests such as food and fashion.
So, use our starter list to help you find your own evergreen niche and start a business where you’ll always have customers.