11 Most Profitable Retail Businesses You Can Start

The list of the most profitable retail businesses you can start will present you with the eleven business ideas that can bring you awesome investment returns. The fast rise of eCommerce has turn retail into one of the most profitable and the most successful niches.

Apart from the fact that consumerist craze has never been bigger, the required investments for opening a retail business is much lower than before. Today, entrepreneurs can easily run online retail business empires from their home computer, while using their garage as a storage room. These small retail businesses can compete with the biggest corporate retail chains, especially if they focus on building a powerful online brand, through SEO and social media marketing.

The best thing about these trends is that the retail niche will continue to grow at least for a next few decades. Location based stores, on the other hand, are more relying on personalized offers and services that encompass both selling and optimizing the items for customers’ needs.

When someone mentions retail, most people think of big fashion brands and clothing boutiques. Still, there are thousands of other successful businesses outside of the clothing industry. We have tried to make our list as diverse as possible and encompass many different retail niches. If you are more interested in the successful clothing brands and stores, take a look at our list of the top 10 clothing retailers in the world.

These types of lists require elaborate research that takes into consideration both financial data and the latest market trends. We have used the information from several articles, from well-known, authority websites, for creating our list and ranking its entries. Forbes has listed the four retail niches that offer the best profit margins. The Ecomdash research provided us with the list of trending eCommerce niches for 2017. In addition to these two articles, we have also used two huge lists of profitable and lucrative retail businesses. Profitable Venture shares the small business ideas most beginner entrepreneurs can implement, while 99 Business Ideas focuses on the profitability and the possible ROI of various retail niches and business models.

While making our list of the most profitable retail businesses you can start, we have tried to find as many matches in these four articles and surveys as possible. Every list entry from any of these four articles that have received at least one match got the place on our list. We have ranked the chosen businesses by giving them two points for each list mention, and from 4 to 1 point for the place in the Sageworks research published on Forbes.

11. Tire Store

Score: 2 points;

Tire store is the only business on our list that has only been mentioned in one source article. Still, since several other sources point out that selling spare car parts is one of the most profitable retail niches, we have decided to add it. In addition to the profitability of the tire market, this is also one of the simplest businesses you can start. You can sell tires online and send them to your customers, although shipping heavy tires from one coast to the other or overseas can be quite expensive. If you decide to open a location-based tire store, try adding a few extra services to your offer, like patching or changing wheels.

10. Pet Shop

Score: 4 points;

People love their pets and are carefully choosing products for them. Pet equipment and food market are one of the fastest growing retail niches. If you decide to open a pet store, that is on the 10th spot on our list of most profitable retail businesses you can start, in your neighborhood, try to find a location close to a popular park, where locals take out their pets every day. The store should provide goods for different types of pets from standard cats and dog walking equipment to fish food, aquariums, and terrariums. You can also add a separate section where you are going to sell special pricier dog and cat treats. These should be made from the best ingredients and need to satisfy all sanitation rules and regulations.

9. Mobile Phone Store

Score: 4 points;

Although you can find dozens of mobile phone stores in every neighborhood, this niche is so big that there’s enough demand for everyone. Your best bet would be to open a mobile phone store in a smaller town or a desolated or rural area. Try to make a deal with the most popular mobile operators and offer their cards together with the devices you are selling. In addition to the smartphones, try selling various phone accessories that you can order from big wholesale platforms like Alibaba. If you are a skillful repairman or an engineer, you can also offer phone repair services to your customers. Now, let’s see what else we have on our list of most profitable retail businesses you can start.

8. Art Supplies Store

Score: 4 points:

A few years ago these stores were very hard to find. With the emergence of Pinterest, the handcrafted pieces and the DIY home décor have become incredibly popular. Since then gifted individuals are flocking both location-based and online art supply stores. If you want to start this type of store, we strongly suggest that you stick to the eCommerce business model. This way you will have a much bigger audience. You can attract customers to your website or a store by promoting and selling your own artwork and running accounts on Pinterest, Etsy, and eBay.

7. Automobile Spare Parts Store

Score: 4 points;

This retail niche has been growing for the last 50 years, together with the car ownership figures. In the last couple of years, the car part market has also moved to the internet. Car parts are easily sold online, and people are sending the whole engine blocks across the country. If you want to open a location based car parts store, stick to suburbia and the areas close to big freeways. You can also make a partnership with service stations or car mechanics and provide them with necessary parts and tools.

6. Baby Equipment and Clothing Store

Score: 4 points;

We are continuing our list of most profitable retail businesses you can start with baby clothing and equipment that is expensive, mainly because people don’t spare money when it comes to their newborns. That is why baby equipment and clothing shop received a reasonably high ranking on our list of the most profitable businesses you can start. There are dozens of baby brands and equipping your store with the most popular parent choices will guarantee high returns. If you make a partnership with baby clothes fashion designers, you can double your income by selling branded clothing items to rich parents. Since children usually outgrow their clothes in a few months, if you offer good looking apparel at a competitive price, your goods will fly off the shelf.

5. Medical or Pharmacy Store

Score: 5 points;

Running a pharmacy is a traditionally lucrative business. For opening your pharmacy store, you will need to get licensed. This business niche is highly regulated and requires solid starting investment. Still, you can solve this issue by taking a business loan or partnering with other owners or investors. The success of pharmacy store business depends on the store’s location but either way it is one of the most profitable retail businesses you can start. You can also run an eCommerce pharmacy scheme. This will open a huge market for your products and relieve you from many strict regulations.

4. Organic Food Store

Score: 6 points;

The whole world went wild for organic produce. You should use this hype and open an organic food store that ranks 4th on our list of most profitable retail businesses you can start. Although there are already a few big organic store chains like Whole Foods, there is more than enough space on the market for smaller organic food retailers. When choosing products that you are going to sell in your store make sure that they are organic and certified by the respectable institutions. There are many different foods you can focus on, from fruits and vegetables to milk, eggs, and meat from grass-fed animals grown on organic farms.

3. Cosmetic Shop

Score: 6 points;

Many beauty companies suffer from a very bad PR, and this niche is as corrupted as the food production. In spite of that, cosmetic products are sold more than ever before. The best way to use the beauty hype and the resentment people show towards main-stream cosmetic companies for creating a successful business, is by creating an organic cosmetic store. Cosmetic products made from organic plants, milk, and honey are quickly taking over the market. You should partner with an organic cosmetic producer and promote their line in your store. Later, when your business starts to grow, you can also release your product line.

2. Jewelry and Fashion Accessories Store

Score: 6 points;

The Sageworks research has shown that the jewelry, luggage, and leather goods are the most profitable retail items. If you decide to open a discount jewelry store, add fashion accessories to your offer and target very specific types of consumers. You can optimize your offer either for the wealthier consumers who usually purchase branded fashion accessories and jewelry made out of precious metals or for the young and rebellious crowd that is looking for affordable fashion accessories and overstated imitation jewelry pieces.

1. Boutique

Score: 9 points;

A fashion boutique is the definite winner of our list of the most profitable retail businesses you can start. This type of business was mentioned in every source article we have read. The originality is the key to running a successful clothing retail business. There are much better ways for growing your business from selling branded clothing items. If you want to appeal to the young urban consumers, you should purchase regular apparel or second-hand clothes, make changes and sell it under your fashion brand. This way you will earn much more money and provide a fully customized service to buyers.