Untapped Yet Untested Market - Question on Pursuit
I have been working on my leathercraft skills for a few years and have been toying around with the idea of opening a side business selling niche leathergoods. I have a question for this group about how they might consider initially positioning the business to pursue a small target market. To be clear, this would be launching a new brand and new offerings -- which I recognize is a challenge.
I have identified a natural market (a relatively large hobby/recreational sport in which I personally participate). This market predominantly serves men; however, there seem to be an untapped opportunity with women specifically. Targeting the female market is potentially high-return, but design/attraction is generally high-risk as well.
Two ways I'm considering approaching. ("A") Standard model in Feminine materials and/or ("B") Women-Only model. Offering A is essentially a unisex design that would be offered in Feminine materials (e.g., feminine colors) as well as offered in Neutral/Masculine tones. Offering B is a separate design from the Standard model, a more refined and designer-quality approach that would almost exclusively appeal to women only.
With these approaches in mind, I'm struggling to consider where to start. Offering A is lower-risk and offers the ability to serve a broader market (i.e., Men) if the feminine materials do not appeal to the market, and is ultimately a less-costly "R&D" path. Offering B is the higher-reward path if design/execution can meet the perceived target market, but will require more investment in design, materials, and launch of an unproven style.
I am curious how this group might consider approaching the launch. Ideally, I would have both Offering A & B to launch, but that is a significant investment for a solo craftsman on a side-hustle. My gut tells me to pursue Offering A to help establish some initial brand presence/traction, while continuing to experiment with Offering B designs
and subsequently launching the Offering B later as an exclusive for women.
Hi AJ, without knowing what your sport is, or the product you want to create to cater to players, I'll give you my opinion based on gut.
Start with A, because it’s quicker to get going, you know your target market, and you can use it to test demand. If women respond, then invest in B. If women don't respond at all, changing colours to be more feminine probably won't fix that. But they might want better ergonomics, smaller sizing, lighter weight, different carry options, etc.
Everyone is going to have an opinion, but testing market demand is the way to go, and you can only do that by making a decision, even if you make the wrong decision at first and pivot later on.