One of the first and most important steps in app creation is conducting research in order to get specific. You might have a great idea, but it needs to be narrowed down successfully in order to evolve into a unique app that keeps users interested. One of the best ways to do this is to focus on your niche, the category in which your app resides. Not all niches are created equally, there are some that are too unique to really be profitable, and others that are so competitive that you may struggle to break through. To help you along the way, SEM Nexus did our research and compiled the top 5 most profitable niches for mobile apps that we found. Read on to find out where your idea might fall, or to get a sense of niches you can explore.
Health and Fitness Apps
Health and fitness is one of the best niches when it comes to profitability in mobile apps. People are increasingly more health-conscious in our present age. Whether they are looking to better their diets or to become more consistently active, many users are searching for ways to improve their quality of life. This great demand makes health and fitness a viable niche to pursue.
Firstly, health and fitness apps are a profitable niche because the niche is always evolving. Health experts are always discovering and releasing new information to the general population about how to best take care of their bodies. This provides you as an app developer with the opportunity to continually update your app and provide new value, which will keep users coming back.
Additionally, health and fitness includes a wide range of variety within the niche. People need many different things to help them with their health and fitness journeys whether they want to count calories, follow a specific training program, or workout in the convenience of their own home. The range of possibilities allow you to tap into a profitable niche without getting caught in an overly competitive market. This factor alone makes health and fitness one of the most profitable niches for mobile apps.
eCommerce Apps
Creating an eCommerce app is another way to dive into the most profitable niches for mobile apps this year. Why is that? Well according to eMarketer, eCommerce sales in the US alone are projected to grow from their current 15.3% to 23.6% by 2025. This is a continuation of a trend of a growing eCommerce market in the past few years. This statistic is proof that eCommerce is a profitable niche.
Like health and fitness, eCommerce has the advantage of being an overall broad niche with many smaller possibilities within. eCommerce giants such as Amazon, Walmart, and Target have certainly made their mark, but there is great benefit in getting more specific with your market as an independent app developer. Do you want to focus on shoes, handmade jewelry, or vegan makeup subscription boxes? When you choose a specific niche under the umbrella of eCommerce is when your app will become truly valuable as you will ostensibly be fulfilling a need where a gap currently exists in the marketplace.Â
In order to truly take advantage of the niche of eCommerce apps, there are a few steps you can take:
- Examine current trends – this will inform you of the landscape of the market and help you figure out where your app can fit in.
- Find a specific need – This is the stage where you will narrow down your niche in order to truly zero in on your target audience.
- Identify your personal passions – Once you have identified the need you want to address, figure out how you can connect the need to a topic that you feel strongly about. You’ll be spending a solid amount of time and money on the development of your app, so you want its subject to be one that moves you.
- Do your research – once you’ve identified a specific need that relates to your personal passion, engage in some keyword research in order to test its competitiveness. If it’s low, but has a high search volume, you’ve likely got a winning app on your hands.
Social Networking Apps
Social media can understandably be an intimidating niche to tackle. After all, it is one of the most popular niches that people recognize. However, with over 4 billion active users on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok alone, social media is well worth your while to consider as a niche. While the social media landscape is often seen as being controlled by a precious few key players, the reality is that there is so much diversity when it comes to the communities that value social media platforms and this means that there can still be space for your app in this niche.
Your social media app doesn’t have to cater to an audience as wide as that of Facebook. In fact, this would make it hard to manage and to compete. Instead, narrow in on a more specific community such as college students, the LGTBQ+ community, or luxury travelers who are looking for a like minded community to share and connect with. This avenue has the exciting potential to become profitable through ad sales rather than paywalls for users.Â
Finance and Investment Apps
It’s no secret that investment apps in particular have enjoyed an enormous boom in the last couple of years. The Robinhood users’ swaying of GameStop’s value rocked the country at the beginning of 2021, prompting many to look further into investing themselves. Acorns is another investment app geared towards absolute beginner investors who prefer to think about investing within the framework of savings. And apps like Finch are combining investment and personal finances by enabling users to set up an all-in-one checking and brokerage account that is customized to their personal risk profile.
From these examples alone, it is apparent that finance and investment is a strong niche that will continue to go. From apps geared towards helping women invest, to apps that help couples keep track of their combined finances, there are many corners of this niche to explore and ideas to bring to fruition. If this is a niche you’re well-versed in, you could find yourself in a prime position to create a very profitable app in one of the most profitable niches in the market.
Gaming Apps
The final on this list of most profitable niches is gaming apps. There was a time when the gaming niche on apps was geared very heavily towards younger users. Angry Birds skyrocketed on the App Store in 2010 and its unofficial successor, Flappy Bird, joined its popularity a few years after. For multiple years, these types of apps were the face of the gaming section of the App Store and Google Play Store.Â
But today, the top games section of the stores boast games such as Call of Duty Mobile and Among Us (which has been equally addictive among middle schoolers and young adults). The landscape is changing and there is more room than ever within this expansive niche to create something that users will value immensely. The great thing about a gaming app is that it doesn’t have to be complicated. We have seen time and time again that sometimes the simplest concepts pack the biggest punch. When it comes to games, you’ll have no shortage of opportunity to create something unique with the potential for profit.