Women are the most powerful consumers in today’s economy, and their impact is growing every year. Beyond their buying power, women share traits that influence them in what they buy and what services they choose, so it’s important to understand how to market to them.

With the success of my first article on marketplaces with high revenue potential, I decided to write about women-centric marketplaces to give entrepreneurs more specific markets to focus on. Estimated to reach 18 trillion dollars in 2018, it’s certainly a good place to start. Although this article is focused on women, men can also get on board with these ideas, especially if their current business is aligned with the following:                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

1. Winter clothing and accessories

If you’ve ever lived somewhere with minus 40 degree F11/20 winters, you realize how important it is to bundle up before leaving your front door. But why create a marketplace devoted to winter wear if Amazon covers this already? Perhaps you’re someone with fashion sense and could hone in on clothing or accessories that, although used, are sought after for being on trend that season. From parkas to scarves to gloves, winter gear is a necessity for many people living in the northern hemisphere, and can be expensive when you add it all up. A new snow suit for three kids could run parents up a small fortune, so creating a one stop shopping marketplace would make it very convenient and affordable to stock up on these goods.

2. Caregivers, babysitters or tutors

I would really love for someone to approach Near Me with a proposal such as Care.com. At first I thought about a marketplace solely dedicated to caring for the elderly as there will certainly be a need for it with all the aging baby boomers. This type of marketplace concerns, not just women, but anyone caring for an aging relative. It fulfills an essential need and if you already have experience and knowledge of caregivers and their community, it would be easier to launch such a site. What I like about Care.com is it includes a wider range of services, but you could still focus on one industry like HomeHero. This is just one example of a service type marketplace that has already earned 20M funding. Babysitting, personal chefs, personal assistants even a marketplace for gardeners could take off if planned out properly and you  find people to list these services.  

3. Vintage jewelry

One of our clients, Erosy, has built a marketplace to resell and buy engagement rings. Their mission is to provide discounted prices and reduce the negative impact caused by “Blood Diamonds.” A vintage jewelry marketplace would use a similar model but with a broader array of jewelry such as vintage watches, necklaces, earrings, broaches and bracelets. Vintage jewelry can have a unique place in a person’s wardrobe as the piece is one of kind and stands out amongst modern versions.

4. 5 Spritz or Less: A Marketplace to Buy or Resell your Perfume

The perfume industry is projected to reach 45.6 Billion by 2018, so if you own a percentage of this market you’re in good shape. Perfume is a very personal decision for most women, and many often search for their “signature scent.” While doing so, however, they might end up owning more bottles than needed. To see if there could be a market, I logged onto Fragrantica.com, a well known fragrance and perfume forum. It turns out that women who are unhappy with their purchase resell their bottles on sites like Amazon or Ebay. Many women say that this is the only way to go as perfume bottles are very expensive, ranging from fifty to over four hundred dollars. So as you can see, it would make sense to have a marketplace where you could buy or sell fragrances and even create a perfume community like Fragrantica, allow reviews and create a blog educating your followers about everything perfume related.

5. Formal dresses, evening gowns and tuxedos

With this type of marketplace, you could create either a consignment type model where people purchase used clothing, or rental. The latter would require the renter to ship the item back, so you’d have to make the right arrangements with a shipping company.

Events come up in life, so spending hundreds of dollars, or even thousands on a beautiful evening dress just isn’t in the cards. If you are already familiar with haute-couture and have a good fashion sense, you could help guide customers towards the right styles with high quality photos, reviews and suggestions. It’s true that we live in an era of mostly jeans and casual wear for everyday, but there is a market for formal wear because it’s so much more affordable and convenient in this day and age.

The women’s market is huge, but it isn’t getting the full attention it deserves, especially by the tech space. There’s no better time than now to start building this type of marketplace.

If you have an idea but aren’t sure if has the potential to make money, feel free to reach out and talk to us about it. It’s important to get your idea out there so you can test it and get a feel for running your own marketplace.