A recent news story tells of an American who opened a store where everything sold was “Made in the USA.” The products in his store ranged from wooden toys to maple syrup.
His eclectic selection of products could be considered odd, even unwise by some experts.
Some thought that the store was doomed to fail. Instead, it became an instant hit. He had apparently struck a raw nerve with the buying public. The American man’s nationalist streak was triggered by seeing some of his friends and relatives losing their jobs because US manufacturers were seemingly surrendering to foreign competition. Either that or the manufacturers themselves were farming out their production to overseas companies. Our man rightly believed that there are still numerous US-made products to be proud of, and that his fellow Americans wanted to buy those products if only they knew where.
He simply put one and one together, and came up with a winning formula. He had tapped into a market that was always there, but which no one had recognized as well as he had. Perhaps many other businessmen had thought of the brilliant idea, but no one took the necessary action of actually putting up the Made in the USA store until he came along.
We say bravo to him, a classic example of a niche marketer.
And he hasn’t even gone online yet, but we can expect him to do so in the not too distant future. Meanwhile, the smart entrepreneur is considering opening a few more branches of his all American store in the coming months.
If you have what you believe to be a brilliant or inspired idea for your online store, you can take the cue from him.
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