Niche Opportunities: Online Business Ideas for the Philippines

Interested in unique niche opportunities? There is no better time to venture into the world of growth and endless possibilities than now.

A niche is a portion of a market united by a common interest. Knowing how your customers behave and what they like would be best as a budding entrepreneur. But this is not just about your potential customers but also about you, the aspiring online business owner.

This article will help you better understand the niche opportunity you are looking for, which fits perfectly for you. Let’s get started!

Introduction to Niche Opportunities in the Philippine Online Market

Let’s be honest, working 8 hours daily with overtime in a real-life and real-time working environment is tiring. People often wonder what it’s like to own a business and be an entrepreneur or business owner, but most need help knowing where to start.

Building a brick-and-mortar store can be challenging, starting with all the start-up and building costs; that is why many people are shifting to finding great ecommerce business idea.

With the undeniable rise of the internet and digital age, online business ideas are emerging everywhere in the Philippines. There are a lot of niches or market segments for business ideas scattered all around the internet. But which ones would suit starters like you? Here is a list of niche opportunities in online business that you might be interested in.

Good Online Business Ideas Philippines For Starters

When it comes to online selling, you can start with one of these three categories: affiliate marketing, e-commerce, and dropshipping business.

Below, we will review each one of them in detail.

Affiliate Marketing

This type of online business is where you promote other people/business’s products on your own website or social media platforms. You will earn commissions in this type of business if you have made sales through your referral link.

Affiliate marketing is better if you have many followers on your social media account or an extensive supporter base on your website. You can see an example of this niche opportunity in one of the hottest social media platforms right now – TikTok.

Suppose you are familiar with TikTok and are skimming through the app watching videos. In that case, you will see some videos of people promoting products and urging you to click the “yellow basket” button near the username of the video owner.

This button will lead you to the store where you can purchase the product. After you purchase the product, the video owner will get commissions. This is a good niche opportunity if you are also on the entertainment side and you want to become your own boss.

E-commerce

This online business is about selling products through an e-commerce platform. In order to start, you will need to find products to sell online and develop an ecommerce website on your own.

Depending on your choice, you may consider building the website yourself, or use an ecommerce platform of your choice.

Dropshipping business

Dropshipping is another online selling business wherein you must create an online store with whatever product you want to sell.

You won’t need a warehouse to store the products you will sell because you will only act as the intermediary or middleman between the customer and the supplier of the product.

How you earn in dropshipping is you will set a retail price for the product you will sell; after customers pay for your products, you will pay the product’s wholesale price to the supplier, and the rest is your profit.

E-commerce: Selling Local Handmade Products and Crafts

If you are interested in e-commerce and planning to sell local handmade products and crafts, here are some tips for you and your online business.

You must identify your products’ niche market before you find the right e-commerce platform for your business. Filipinos are known to be crafty and creative; hence, many local and handmade products are sold to many tourist destinations in the Philippines.

Selling your local handmade products online can be challenging, especially if you are still determining your target market, but this great online business idea can help you earn passive income.

Here are some of the emerging local handmade products that will guarantee you sales:

• T-shirts and printed clothes/merchandise/printing business;
• Handmade jewelry;
• Handcrafted gift boxes;
• Candles/Scented Candles;
• Handcrafted flower bouquet;
• Sweets/Delicacies.

Also, you may consider selling some handmade goods and products.

Dropshipping: Partnering with Local Artisans and Manufacturers

If you think that dropshipping is the best niche opportunity for you and your online business, here are a few tips before you start dropshipping as your own business.

How Dropshipping Works

The dropshipping business model is quite simple. You do not need to physically have the product in order to ship it to your customers.

Learn more below:

• Find and partner with a local supplier/artisan/manufacturer that sells your desired product.
  
• Put the products on your website with the marked-up or retail price and promote/advertise them.
  
• You will receive your customer’s payment directly when they order.
  
• Relay the order details to your supplier/manufacturer and pay them with their wholesale or original prices.
  
• Be at peace because the supplier will be responsible for shipping the products to your customer’s doorstep.

Now repeat the process! We suggest you find more suppliers to partner with for a more significant profit.

Digital Services: Freelancing and Remote Work Opportunities

You can market your talent and passion. Online service solutions/digital services is a business where you will offer people your service. These include online tutoring business, programming, virtual assistant roles, online writing, content branding, content creation, etc.

You offer people your service; they can reach you through your social media platforms or website.

Here is a clear list of service offerings you can start with.

• E-loading business;
• Online Tutorial services;
• Content writing services;
• Virtual assistant roles;
• Editing services;
• Graphic designing services;
• Social media marketing services.

These online businesses, especially online tutoring businesses, are popular among students who enjoy earning money online, as they only need an internet connection to start.

Online Food Delivery: Catering to Local Cuisine and Specialties

Since e-commerce in the Philippines has been booming ever since 2020, many small businesses had the chance to put their business online. Among the best business ideas for selling online was a food delivery business.

Many Filipinos took the home-based business ideas seriously and started their own food or catering businesses. This profitable small business makes you your boss. With the food business, you must begin with a small capital of 20,000 PHP to establish a profitable business.

With a starting capital as low as 20,000 PHP, you can guarantee that you will save up more, especially if you are only going to cook at home with a small space you can provide for your business. Unlike building a physical store, it would guarantee more that you will earn money with the resources you can have.

As for food delivery services, you don’t need to have a food business to offer this type of service. You can use social media platforms, join social media groups of home-based food owners, and provide your delivery service. Car owners also have an advantage in this type of service.

Here are some of the online food profitable businesses for starters:

• Baking business (Bread, pastries, etc.)
• Rice retailing business
• Beverages (Coffee, Milktea, etc)
• Frozen food business

Filipinos want convenience in any way possible and find food delivery services with excellent and easy fulfillment process. That is why they prefer ordering using their mobile devices rather than going to convenience stores or physical stores.

Virtual Events and Workshops: Capitalizing on the Digital Learning Trend

If you are learning about your niche market, such as small business ideas or businesses in the Philippines that you can start and afford, you need to use the advantage of the digital era more.  

There are many Google trends that you can see on some social media platforms; these trends are workshops you can find online where you can register and learn more about the workshop you chose. 

One of the websites that offers free webinars for Filipino small and local businesses is MSME Caravan. 

MSME Caravan offers a variety of free virtual workshops every week. You can find these workshops streamed on YouTube. Each workshop is led by passionate digital marketers, business owners, or volunteers who are experts in the field.

Personalized Gift and Subscription Box Services

As many people want to make DIY gift boxes, many don’t have time to spare, so they purchase online. These handcrafted personalized gift boxes are very trendy for the young generation, wherein they will not need to craft their package with letters anymore; they prefer it if they could purchase it online and choose the design of their choice.

This type of business is trendy now, wherein you can merge creating art and technical skills. This can help you create a personal brand because you will create your brand and not just retail other people’s brands.

You can sell products online using e-commerce mobile apps or online marketplaces, like Facebook marketplace. In this way, you can easily be visible to your target market.

It is essential to make various designs so your customers will have a variety. With this product, you can make at least a 20-40% profit margin.

Health and Wellness: Online Fitness Classes and Coaching

The fitness industry has also gotten bigger since the pandemic. Many Filipinos enjoy exercising and working out, especially since most work from home.

If you want to become a health coach and wellness coach, consider finding a suitable location in your home for your coaching, but before you become one, you can take courses online.

Travel and Tourism: Offering Unique Local Experiences and Tours

One of the many business ideas in the Philippines is to help boost the country’s tourism industry. Suppose you are living in an area that is an absolute travel destination. In that case, you must remember that building a traditional business like a sari-sari store in that area is a great idea.

You can also make souvenirs and sell those products online. Print-on-demand businesses are also significant, primarily if your area is known, printed t-shirts, mugs, bags, hats, etc. You need to take advantage of your good location.

Tourists love souvenirs, that is why most businesses you can see in tourist landmarks have sari stores or souvenir shops.

Sustainable and Eco-friendly Products: Tapping into the Green Market

There is a growing demand for sustainable products in the Philippines, but not many have business models in this sector. The Department of Trade and Industries (DTI) is urging Filipinos to buy more eco-friendly products, which is why the demand is slowly rising.

With this demand, as a budding entrepreneur, this niche is a way to start a business with limited competitors. Application for your eco-friendly products is not mandatory but is highly encouraged to gain the trust of your target market.

Here are some eco-friendly products you can start with:

• Bamboo Cutlery;
• Edible Straws;
• Recycled Rugs;
• Flashable Tissue;
• Bamboo Tumblers;
• Recycled Plastic Toothbrush;
• Eco-bags.

Being new to the online business landscape of the Philippines is not something to be afraid of but rather something to look forward to. Not knowing your niche is okay because, eventually, you will find out what niche you want for your business; considering the points from this article, we hope you can get that growth and opportunity in no time.