Niching

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The process of concentrating efforts on a specific market segment to improve reach
2. The practice of identifying and serving a targeted niche to optimize marketing effectiveness
3. The act of directing business strategies toward a particular group to enhance appeal

Etymology: The word "niche" began as a verb in Old French, "nicher", meaning "to make a nest," and it came from the Latin "nidus," the word for nest. A bird settling into a sheltered spot was the original picture, and the idea of a snug, sheltered place for something to sit gave rise to the sense of a recess in a wall where a statue could stand. Its English relative, "nest," traces back to the same ancient root, so the two are cousins rather than borrowings of one another. Niche entered English as a borrowing from French, keeping its French spelling and pronunciation for a long time. Its shift from a physical hollow in architecture to a metaphorical place in the market came much later, when "niche" started to describe a secure, well-defined spot for a product, person, or business. The verb "niching" is simply the present participle of that later sense, meaning the act of finding and targeting such a spot.

Synonyms: segmenting, targeting, specializing, focusing, differentiating

Antonyms: broadening, generalizing, mainstreaming, unifying, merging