Do you know the refrain from that popular advertising campaign? “There’s an App for the that.”
Well the same goes for business. Just replace “App” with “Niche.” There’s a niche for that.
What that really means is whatever your business, or whatever segment of a particular marketplace your business occupies, there’s a potential customer base.
It just comes down to HOW you POSITION your business. And how WELL you TARGET those prospective customers.
Here are four examples of businesses that are exploiting unexpected niches to GREAT financial reward.

Pricey Smokes Net BIG Returns

It’s hard to find a product more in decline or more vilified than tobacco. And not just tobacco, but pipes and pipe tobacco – as in the thing your dad smoked in his basement rec room next to his wood paneled schooner bar whilst un-ironically donning a burgundy turtleneck.
So how did founder SmokingPipes.com, Sykes Wilford, make a $13 business out this darkening corner of the world’s least popular vice?
-Three Keys to Success
Rule the high-end. Instead of selling cheap, commoditized pipes, he sold expensive, rare and unique art-pieces that turned a considerable profit and attracted discerning customers.
Targeted devoted pipe smokers with highly personalized marketing. Sure, email is great to shill typical wares to average customers. But when hunting big game, enticing customers who already spend in excess of $1,000 per month to go deeper, you need something more… Sykes’s highly trained sales staff contacted customers directly to offer recommendations on their most high-end items.
Invest in making employees product experts. Sykes realized the more knowledgeable and informed his staff was about their products, the better prepared they would be to SELL.

Indie Rock Donuts

When it comes to donuts, you wouldn’t guess many consumers are looking for anything unique or out of the ordinary.
In fact, when giant East Coast donut chain Dunkin Donuts – as straightforward a donut merchant you’ll find – launched their first two Southern California locations in late 2014, both grand openings were total MOB SCENES.
So why then did successful Indie Rock producer Mark Trombino completely ditch the music industry and open a high-end, artisan donut shop (yes, that’s right, I said “high-end” and “artisanal” in the same sentence as “donut shop” – deal with it) called Donut Friend in the Glassel Park neighborhood of Los Angeles?
The only thing more shocking than Trombino’s inexplicable transition is the fact that the store’s a bona fide sensation.
-Three Keys to Success
If you’re going for a unique niche, might as well go all the way and REALLY stand out. Donut Friend’s menu boasts creations named in puns on famed indie rock bands and songs, including S’MORRISSEY (which features a chocolate donuts sliced in half, stuffed with toasted marshmallows, topped with a gooey marshmallow and dusting of graham cracker crumbs). Other favorites include Gorilla Biscuits, Husker Blu and Fudgegazi. Or make your own creation with items from the toppings and fillings bar (how about a donut ice cream sandwich?).
Location counts. Donut Friend’s store on York Boulevard in the Glassel Park Neighborhood of Northeast Los Angeles is at the epicenter of a major gentrification wave seeping Downtown and Northeast Los Angeles. Unique retailers and restaurants are springing up everywhere in these areas and along York Boulevard in particular. Donut Friend is perfectly positioned to ride the crest of this growing wave.
People will pay a high price for a unique creation. Your average donut is less than a dollar. Donut Friend’s offerings range from $2.50 to $5.00 for menu items, and the sky’s the limit when it comes crafting your own custom creations. Customers happily pay $5.00 for a SRIRACHOSIN (a traditional donut stuffed with peanut butter, strawberry jam, regular or coconut bacon, and a dash of sriracha sauce).

The Starbucks of Nail Salons

These days in most urban centers, you can’t throw a stone without crashing through the front window of any one of a jillion nail salons – they’re seemingly EVERYWHERE.
And by-and-large, consumers are focused on the best deal for a “full set” (industry jargon for a combo manicure and pedicure). The net effect is the commoditization of nail salons.
With such an overcrowded, price-conscious marketplace, why launch a new, high priced nail salon? And why make it a national franchise, when nail salons have, historically, local-cetric businesses?
The founders of MiniLuxe, a Boston based nail salon itching to burn $23 million in investment capital on national expansion, looked at other businesses that reinvented their niche. Starbucks offered the perfect model. Once nothing a local Seattle café, the ‘Bucks started changing $4 for a cup of coffee and took their enterprise worldwide.
Why not do the same with nail salons? An industry that generates an estimated $10 billion annually certainly has potential for new growth.
-Three Keys to Success
Make it REALLY classy. From upscale locations with suave interiors, to medical grade hygiene and equipment, to their own line of non-toxic polishes, MiniLuxe adds all the big flourishes and little detail touches that purr affluent luxury.
Effective time management makes a difference. Staffing needs are notoriously difficult for nail salon management to predict. You just never know when you’re going to have a wave of walk-ins and wind up grossly understaffed. So MiniLuxe took steps to combat this all too common problem. First, they hired a data analyst to chart customer behavior. Turns out rising temps increases customer volume and rain isn’t a deterrent. Second, they instituted a 24/7 online scheduling system and are debuting a mobile app any day now. In a hurry? No waiting and no worries.
Invest in your employees. 200 part-time employees staff MiniLuxe’s eight Boston locations. All receive company healthcare, paid time off, profit sharing and have access to a company matched 401K. If a company wants employees who care about the job they do, the company has to show they care about the employees.

What About You?

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