A niche market is a focused targetable portion (subset) of a market.

By definition, then, a business that focuses on a niche market is addressing a need for a product or service that is not being addressed by mainstream providers. A niche market may be thought of as a narrowly defined group of potential customers.

A distinct niche market usually evolves when a potential demand for a product or service is not met by any supply, or when a new demand arises due to changes in society, technology, or the general environment.

Niche market ventures may become profitable even though they are by nature small in comparison to the mainstream marketplace, or monopoly. due to the benefits of specialization and focus on small identifiable market segments; even without the benefit of economy of scale. Niche markets may be ignored or discounted by large businesses due to what they consider to be small potential; this in turn is part of the process that makes the niche market available to smaller businesses. The key to capitalizing on a niche market is to find or develop a market niche that has customers who are accessible, that is growing fast enough, and that is not owned by one established vendor already.

用时髦一点的词儿，”利基”市场（Niche Market）就是当今大热的”蓝海”概念，当以往的市场竞争达到白热化的阶段时，一位降低成本并不是最优选择，企业应当大胆创新，找出一个非主流的市场–尽管非主流，但市场潜力未必小，这就是所谓的Niche market或是”蓝海”。

譬如在竞争白热化的饮用水市场上，达能公司的”依云”品牌依旧保持高端姿态–法国是世界上唯一出口矿泉水的国家，依云水是其中一个品牌，三百多毫升矿泉水售价十多元。而国内也有商家正在进入这个市场，推出了8元一瓶，采集自西藏的5100矿泉水。

在碳酸饮料市场上，”健怡”或是”轻怡”可乐占领着”无热量碳酸饮料”的niche market。

乳制品市场上，”味全”占领着”低脂酸奶”这一”利基”市场，在上海市场上，该品牌提供的”低脂”酸奶号称比全脂酸奶脂肪含量低34%,起初，低脂奶与全脂奶瓶子容量相同，后来，”味全”公司将”低脂”酸奶的瓶子扩大了二分之一，也就是说，人们如果只是图”低脂”之名购买这瓶酸奶，其实实用的脂肪同引用全脂酸奶并无区别，但这款低脂酸奶销量仍旧很好，因为酸奶的主要消费群体似乎以女性为多，而这个群体实在太在意”脂肪”了！

汽车市场上，丰田、本田、日产做得都不错，它们一边进一步降低日本车的成本，另一方面也都进入了豪华车的niche market并取得了不错的成就，如今丰田的Lexus已是和奔驰、宝马并驾齐驱的豪华车品牌，而本田的Acura和日产的Infiniti也都在美国市场取得了不匪的成绩，不过，豪华车这个市场似乎已经涌入了太多的竞争对手，看来，他们有必要努力寻找下一个niche market了。