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Which affiliate marketing niche is right for you?

Is the anxiety of picking the wrong affiliate marketing industry preventing you from getting started in this profitable industry? Finding a niche is one of the most critical aspects of building a successful campaign and making ...

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The best affiliate marketing niche in 2021

Is the anxiety of picking the wrong affiliate marketing industry preventing you from getting started in this profitable industry?

Finding a niche is one of the most critical aspects of building a successful campaign and making money through affiliate marketing. There are several niches to choose from, you’re better to take time before settling on one.

By choosing the right and relevant niche, you will have a greater ranking on Google, and get a lot more traffic than if you cover a broad topic with a less popular niche.

To assist you in learning more about affiliate marketing and selecting a successful and relevant niche, we’ve compiled the top affiliate niche ideas for 2024.

I. What’s affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing is the process of making money (commissions) by promoting and selling a firm’s products or services. You will get compensation for any successful referral orders for the advertisers.

Let’s take a closer look at the components of an affiliate marketing system.

The brand (also known as the merchant, the advertiser, the seller) are firms selling products/services.

You’re an affiliate marketer (sometimes referred to as the publisher) responsible for selling the merchant’s product/ service to your sizable audience.

The consumer is what keeps the affiliate system afloat. There are no commissions to distribute and no revenue to split if there are no sales.

Every time you refer any products/services to your customers for the merchant successfully, you will get the commission according to the program you join.

So what is an affiliate program?

Affiliate programs are commission-based initiatives in which a business promises to pay you for particular outcomes such as purchase ad clicks, impressions, and referral traffics.

II. Top 9 affiliate marketing niches for affiliate marketers in 2021

Fashion 14.6%
Sports & Outdoor 14.88%
Beauty & Health 16.37%
Gaming 14.22%
Home and Tools 15.27%
Hobbies & Entertainment 14.32%
Electronics & Technologies 17.24%
Travel 13.1%
Grocery & Food 14.11%

Average commission rate on UpPromote Marketplace

1. Fashion

The fashion industry is at the top of the list. According to AM Navigator, the fashion industry accounts for around 25% of all affiliate programs and a quarter of all online retailer affiliate programs.

With an avast number of retailers and diverse items, the apparel market opens more options and opportunities for affiliates.

Furthermore, individuals are becoming more aware of their attractiveness and appearance, leading to a need for more dazzling items and products. As a result, many fashion companies are expanding, offering lucrative commission rates to make it alluring affiliates to join and help them earn a commission easily with this popular market.

Becoming a fashion affiliate partner does not require being an expert in the field. You may need a little bit of unique taste in fashion.

For its popularity, there’re many affiliates in the fashion market, that’s why to sell products effectively requires affiliates to have a certain distinct advantage if they want to compete in the long run.

Moreover, the commission rate of the fashion industry is usually not high as the others. For its popularity, there’re many affiliates in the fashion market, that’s why to sell products effectively requires affiliates to have a certain distinct advantage such as unique fashion taste, fashion knowledge if they want to compete in the long run.

Fashion niche
Fashion niche

2. Sports & Outdoor

By 2022, the worldwide sports sector is predicted to be valued at at least $614.1 billion, based on a CAGR of 5.9%.

What a figure, huh?

No matter how you slice it, it’s a big sector to get into, full of profitable prospects and driven by a passion that shows no signs of slowing down.

Moreover, this category covers many other subcategories such as specialized equipment for sport, sportswear, and protective gear or other supporting equipment. Some typical items that bring in significant revenue today like cycling, baseball, golf, gym, etc that many affiliates should not ignore.

However, the various subcategories of the sports market also have disadvantages. Like selling jockstraps and shoelaces isn’t going to be easy.

That is why you should look for interesting sports affiliate programs that are right for you, such as joining a sports gear affiliate program if you already have a fashion site but want to target a sports audience.

3. Beauty & Health

This industry is strong and getting stronger day by day.

It’s expected to reach $716 billion by 2025, up from $483 billion in 2020 to $511 billion in 2021. As emerging markets gain purchasing power and become more globalized, several firms may see opportunities to join the industry and offer a pretty high commission rate with an average of 16.37% (stat from UpPromote Marketplace).

Although the beauty & health category is extremely competitive, this is a huge benefit for affiliate marketing. Affiliates, such as video bloggers and influencers, are the key source of advertising in this area, therefore businesses are vying for their attention.

For beauty items, this implies larger affiliate commissions. Furthermore, the beauty sector is on the increase with many people paying attention to their outlook that’s why they spend a million dollars in this industry.

There is also space to expand in this evergreen affiliate marketing sector in terms of picking sub-niches, such as hair care, nail care, skincare, and beard care, etc. So many for you to select from.

Affiliates can build a profile to expert in a particular area, for example, to become an organic supervisor to sell organic skincare products.

However, the individuality in the products of this beauty and health industry is quite high, so affiliates need to deftly identify, classify and, if necessary, focus on only a few objects they want to build a good profile targeting potential audience.

Beauty and health niche
Beauty and health niche

On the other hand, health is a sector encompassing all activities aimed at improving a consumer’s physical and emotional well-being. Yoga, healthy eating, personal care, beauty, nutrition, weight reduction, mediation, spa getaways, workplace wellness, and wellness tourism are some of a few of the options.

People are eager to test new items that will help them improve their general health, so making sales in the health sector is very simple. However, because this vertical has a lot of competition, newbies should seek sub-categories such as fitness, bodybuilding, weight reduction, and wellness.

4. Gaming

The gaming niche is one of the most affiliate marketing competitive industries. It offers several popular featured niches such as video games, board games, actions, racing, etc.

Gaming has long since become a mainstream industry. As a result, gamers are purchasing not just video games but also a plethora of in-game stuff. Furthermore, the majority of gaming items are offered online, creating an ideal setting for affiliate marketing.

Consumers with varying interests and preferences in genres and game styles are seeking trustworthy product reviews to assist them sort through the vast range of games available, which is something affiliates can take advantage of.

Many people’s desire to become hyper-focused on gaming and spend a great deal of money on this industry is what makes this a lucrative niche.

5. Home and Tools

Home and Tools is one of the most profit-making niches. Since many people are decorating their home with these appliances or renovating their home/ apartment they have already purchased.

The average cost of decorating or upgrading each room in a home is between $500 and $5,000. While the average commission rate of homes and tools is about 15.27%, isn’t it fruitful?

However, people often buy these items on special occasions, only when they fill up their new-home gear or replace the old ones, that’s why you cannot sell these products frequently like fashion or beauty products.

Moreover, one drawback is that customers will only prefer products shipped within the province to avoid expensive shipping fees. Don’t forget to join the program of merchants living in the same area with you.

Home and Tools niche
Home and Tools niche

6. Hobbies & Entertainment

Because various people have different hobbies, it’s doubtful that you’ll discover a larger consumer base in this market than in the others listed above.

This isn’t to say that focusing on these highly particular niches isn’t profitable, especially if they prove to be quite popular.

People are constantly looking for creative life hacks and crafting projects they can do at home, so it’s no surprise that sites that offer DIY instructions and tutorials on nearly everything have a large following.

That stated several subtopics that come under this category: Cooking, Gardening, Knitting, Photographing, Painting, etc.

Even though these pastimes differ from one another, they all include a product or service in some way. And, because hobbies are naturally enjoyable activities, individuals will undoubtedly spend a significant amount of money on them.

Keep in mind that certain activities are more costly than others.

In reality, you want to pursue those outstanding niche ideas, which means you should investigate niches that appeal to middle- to high-income clients with extra cash.

If you do that, you’ll be able to profit from one of the top 9 affiliate marketing categories in no time!

Hobby niche
Hobby niche

7. Electronics & Technologies

By the end of 2021, the consumer electronics sector is estimated to generate about $150 billion in revenue.

That’s true; the days of going out to buy a dishwasher, microwave, or television in person before purchasing are long gone.

Customers are happy to spend money on technological products that they’ve done their homework online. As you may have guessed, this presents a great potential for affiliates like you.

And, because production costs in the electronics business are rather high, there are large commissions to be had. As the stats showed, the Electronic and Supplies Category offers the highest average commission rate, of 17.24%.

Moreover, this industry falls under many additional categories including computers, software, phone and telecom, IT devices. And the best thing is that you can upsell the products easily.

When you recommend a consumer to buy a laptop, for example, you may upsell them to buy a mouse at a price that they wouldn’t get if they bought both separately.

One thing to keep in mind before getting into the market is that you should have a good understanding of the goods you will be selling and you’re only selling HIGH-QUALITY items as customers’ quality demands are super high in this case.

8. Travel

Travel has become more accessible after a post-pandemic world. Many hotels and airlines offer attractive discounts to encourage visitors. It is significantly safer now that the majority of folks have been vaccinated.

Over the previous decade, online travel and tourist spending has steadily grown, reaching $817.54 billion in 2020 (Statista). Travel is one of the most popular affiliates marketing niches, with plenty of affiliate offers and items to promote.

You may establish an affiliate site for a certain location and propose hotels and flights, or you can start a review site and recommend things for individuals planning travels to other countries and destinations.

While a 13.1% commission rate may not seem like much, when you consider that the average order value is above $1000, it becomes a lot more appealing to join a travel affiliate program.

The nicest part of affiliate marketing in the travel area is the variety of “commission rate” offers available. You have the option of receiving money or traveling to the venue for free.

However, the travel time is seasonal so that there will be a time of the year when you will merely recommend fewer guests than at other times. Furthermore, while the COVID-19 case intensifies, certain nations are forced to postpone flights, resulting in the cancellation of already booked hotels.

Travel niche
Travel niche

9. Grocery & Food

One thing we all have in common is that we all need to eat. The fast-food sector is worth roughly $110 billion per year, whereas organic food sales are worth more than $65 billion.

Affiliate marketing has a lot of potential in this big sector. Combining your preferences into a niche market website might be both enjoyable and profitable if you have a certain sort of cuisine that you enjoy.

If you have a food blog, a health-related company, or a “recipes” section on your website, you can make a lot of money marketing the correct food affiliate programs.

Because food demand is constantly high, affiliate marketing in the grocery and food sector will provide you with a large and diversified consumer base.

However, not all food affiliate programs are created alike, depending on the value of each product varies. You can join many programs at once.

III. Take time to choose the right niche 

One thing is certain: it is a lot simpler to do so now than it was a few years ago. There are several methods to earn money from the comfort of your own home, and affiliate marketing is at the top of any list. While selling things online, especially for others, may appear tough at first, having a concept of what products to offer may considerably lower this barrier.

The categories indicated above are not the only ones where selling things can be lucrative. These are only a few of the most popular ones where sales are easy to come by. Making a living as an affiliate marketer necessitates more than simply understanding which niches pay well; you must also devise a strategy for achieving your goals.

Get access to thousands of brands for FREE on UpPromote Marketplace. With 20+ popular categories, you can easily earn commissions by partnering with the world’s most widely recognized brands and promoting their products/services.

Joan, a creative mind and author behind UpPromote blog. Writing has always been my sanctuary, a place where I can explore my imagination and share my unique perspective on the world of eCommerce. Through my words, I strive to explain the complexities of the digital world and showcase its potential for innovation, growth, and limitless opportunities.