Niche: only the specialists survive

Report
- Niche: only the specialists survive
- 05/07/2012
- James Harkin


From quilt-making to coffee preparation, ‘enthusiast’ or fan communities are on the rise Matt Biddulph, Creative Commons, 2012 ©

Scope
UPDATED AUGUST 2012: People are building communities around the things they love, leaving a heap of brands in the middle that no-one really cares about. As a result, brands are taking cues from niche to express expertise and rebuild authority over their product range.

There has been a rise of ‘enthusiast’ or fan communities around everything from quilt-making to coffee preparation. The result is that people's spending is polarising: scrimping on the basics, in order to pay extra for high-quality unique merchandise. Nowehere is this shift more visible that in the high street. Hit hard by the economic downturn, town centres are characterised by empty storefronts and retailers selling highly discounted goods, as the combined forces of online retail and austerity steer consumers towards new, informed ways of purchasing goods. How are retailers responding to the impact of this growing demand for niche and what are the broader lessons for brands?

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Industry	Advertising & branding Behaviour Retail
Location	United Kingdom
Keywords	Death of the Middle Neo-Tribalism Niche Experience Economy Informed Consumerism Expertise High street e-commerce Showrooming

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