Starting an ecommerce business is challenging. And it's even tougher when you have a business that's struggling.
Maybe you have been running your ecommerce business for a while now, and you are wondering what to do next. You are no longer satisfied with your current results and are looking to take the next steps.
Should you start over in a different niche? Take a break? Or try again to make your current business work?
This article will be a guide to starting over in a different niche.
It will outline how you need to research other niches before you switch, the steps you need to take to start over in a different niche, and give you a few tips for deciding what's best for you.
When should you start over in a different niche?
You may be tempted to start over in a different niche if your business isn't running too well, but when should you make that decision?
If your store isn't performing that well, it's important not to give up too easily.
You may think that there could be thousands of reasons for it. While that may be true, almost all reasons can be grouped into four main causes, which originate from the ecommerce purchase funnel:
This is an overview of the main steps a customer goes through until they purchase your product.
When analyzing your store using the funnel, you will usually see a significant dropoff in customers in a particular step. For example, you may find that many people are adding your product to their carts, but few of them actually initiate the checkout!
Therefore, it's often a good decision to try and find a solution for your problem first before you decide to start all over again. You can check out this article for help!
Usually, it comes down to either your marketing, store design, pricing strategy, or product.
After improving your store, you may find that your product is simply very hard to sell online. It may have too low of a profit margin, it may be commonly available in local stores, or there are other reasons people aren't tempted to buy it from your store.
A common mistake is “marrying a product”. This means that you are trying far too hard to try and make a particular product work, while in reality, it won’t sell whatever you do.
Therefore, it’s better to find a different product or niche!
Pros and cons of starting over in a different niche
Is starting over in a different niche the right step for your business?
Let's take a look at the pros and cons to help you make that decision!
Pros of starting over in a different niche
Let's start with the main advantage of why people start over in a different niche; it gives them a new chance to succeed!
As I have mentioned above, it may be that your current product is simply very hard to sell profitably online.
In that case, starting over in a different niche can give you the chance of picking a winning product that will be much easier to sell!
Another pro of starting over in a different niche is that you can learn from your previous mistakes.
If your current store is your first experience in ecommerce, it could very well be that you made some beginner mistakes that hindered the potential success of your business.
For example, you might have spent too little effort on your store's design, which made it look plain and effortless, such as this one:
By starting over in a different niche, your previous knowledge will help you create a much better ecommerce store!
Lastly, you will also be able to further expand your experience and learn about a new market when starting over in a different niche.
That way, you will learn even more things about ecommerce!
Cons of starting over in a different niche
While starting over in a different niche offers several advantages, some things may be holding you back from doing it.
First of all, you don't really know how much it still takes to make your current store successful.
There may be many things wrong with it, which is when it would be a good idea to start over in a different niche. However, it could also be that you just need to change a small thing on your current store that will make it successful and profitable!
Furthermore, starting over in a different may give some people the feeling of giving up.
But in my opinion, you shouldn't think of it like this.
You have learned a lot from your efforts of starting your own ecommerce store. And as I said earlier, this knowledge will come in very handy when starting over!
5 Steps to start over in a different niche in 2024
If you have decided to start over in a different niche, it's time to take some action.
Starting over in a different niche isn't as difficult as some people make it out to be. You could argue it's even less work than starting an ecommerce store as a complete beginner since many things won't be new to you anymore.
Let's now go over the five main steps of starting over in a different niche:
1. Choose a new niche
After deciding that it is time to dive into a different niche, one of the first steps is doing niche research to find out about your options. Then, you can choose the best-fitting niche for your new store!
There are seven main methods you can use to find new niches.
My favorite method is thinking about a niche that you’re passionate about or that other people are passionate about, like kitchen tools or pets.
By building a store around a niche that you are interested in, you will learn even more about it, and it will motivate you on hard days to always keep going until you succeed!
But that’s not all.
It will also help you choose the best products, write more accurate product descriptions, and perform better customer service.
Of course, there needs to be an audience for the specific niche that you’re passionate about.
This is why it's crucial to find out if a niche could be profitable before starting a new ecommerce store in that niche.
Note that "profitable" doesn't mean it’s 100% sure that you’re going to turn a profit with that niche.
It just means that it has a better chance of turning into a profitable niche store, compared to your other niche ideas!
4 ways to find out if your niche could be profitable
The first one is checking if any other ecommerce stores are operating in that niche.
Because why would they keep their store open if their niche is not bringing in any money?
Secondly, you should check if you can get free traffic in that niche. Because if there is, there is a high chance you can sell your products without paid advertising as well!
Also, you can check social websites like Reddit to see if there is an active community for your niche. This can be another confirmation that there is an audience for that niche.
Next up, you can check Amazon and AliExpress and see if products in your niche are selling well there. If you see that products in your niche are getting a lot of orders, then that’s a great sign there is money being made in that niche!
Lastly, you should check the paid advertising options to see if there are people inside your niche on these platforms.
For more information on checking if your niche could be profitable, check out our detailed article here.
This still isn't all information related to starting a new niche online store.
Take a look here to see more tips for starting an online niche store in 2024!
For example, did you know that some themes are designed for specific niches?
If you are using Shopify, you can filter the themes in their theme store based on the industries (a.k.a niches) they are most suited for:
2. Get a new domain if needed
After choosing your new niche, you should decide if you would like to get a new domain for your store.
You will need a new domain in most cases because your current domain doesn't fit with your new niche.
For example, if your current domain is petparadise.com and you are starting over in the kitchen niche, keeping your domain wouldn't make much sense!
Luckily, changing the domain of your ecommerce store is pretty easy if you are using Shopify.
The first step is to buy your new domain. We suggest using the domain registrar called Namecheap.
You can click here to register your domain name on Namecheap. As their name implies, they are one of the cheapest on the market!
Another option is Porkbun. This is a great option if you're looking for a domain registrar with cheaper renewal fees. (Usually, the second year is more expensive than the first year)
We suggest picking a .com domain extension for your store's new niche since it's one of the most popular domain extensions.
If your domain name is not available, but you really like the store name you came up with, you could also try using the .store extension.
What if you're using Shopify?
If you're using Shopify, be aware that when changing the domain of your Shopify store, you won't be able to change the .myshopify.com URL that you use to log in.
However, if you’ve added a custom domain to your store and selected it as your primary domain, then your store visitors never see the original .myshopify.com URL.
But, if it’s important to you that the .myshopify.com URL matches your new domain, you will need to create a new Shopify account.
Luckily, there are ways to duplicate your Shopify store as well, so you don't lose anything you have done so far:
If you want to learn more about duplicating your Shopify store, then I suggest reading this guide from Shopify.
3. Set up a new name for your ecommerce store
When starting over in a different niche and getting a new domain, it's rare to keep the same store name for your ecommerce business.
Just like for the domain, your current name probably won't fit with your new chosen niche!
When using Shopify, changing the name of your store is simple.
Go ahead to your Shopify store's general settings and edit your store name:
Tip: Need help with coming up with the perfect name? If so, check out this article!
That's it!
But, remember to check your theme settings and see if any other things need changing regarding your name.
For example, you will probably need to upload a new logo:
4. Create new accounts for your ecommerce brand
When starting over in a different niche, some accounts from your previous ecommerce store can't be reused.
These include social media pages, such as your Instagram and Facebook page, as well as your business email and potentially other accounts needed to run your store.
Therefore, you will have to create new accounts for these things.
Luckily, most of these accounts will be free to create. Did you know you can even get a free business email address?
Once the new accounts are set up, you will be ready to go to the next step!
5. Continue with all other steps needed to start a new ecommerce store
Once you have set up your new niche, store name, domain, and other business accounts, you are ready to start building your new ecommerce store!
There are many things to do when it comes to creating a professional ecommerce store, such as doing product research, searching for the best suppliers, adding ecommerce apps, and optimizing for conversions.
Since there are so many steps involved, we cannot cover them all in this article. However, don't worry!
If you landed on this step, use this complete guide on creating your ecommerce store in 2024.
That article will contain everything you need to know if you want to start a successful ecommerce store, including a step-by-step tutorial and links to further resources!
Conclusion
There you go!
I hope this article helped you decide whether or not you should start over in a different niche. Furthermore, if you did decide to start over in a different niche, the five steps given above should help you to make the process that little bit easier.
Remember, don't think that starting over in a different niche is a failure.
After all, picking a profitable niche to start with is never 100% guaranteed, especially if you are a beginner and still have to develop your intuition in the ecommerce industry!
Besides that, starting a new ecommerce store in a different niche will be even more straightforward than creating a new store as a beginner since you will be able to reapply the knowledge you have learned previously to your new store.
As a result, the chances of your new store becoming a success will be even higher.
Good luck with starting over in your new niche, and let me know if you have any questions in the comments below!
