Studies show that around 90% of eCommerce businesses fail within 120 days of their launch. While an eCommerce store is a lucrative opportunity, you can often underestimate the risks from the initial stages.
If you are on the verge of starting an eCommerce business, forget the rewards that come with it. You can hire a professional eCommerce web development company that can set your path. But the crucial aspect is what mistakes to avoid so that you can succeed in the eCommerce industry.
There are a billion mistakes that you will make. However, most of them would be minor and easily fixable. In this article, we will discuss the 7 most common mistakes that e-commerce entrepreneurs usually make. By understanding them in detail, you will not panic when they arise and solve them easily.
The 7 common mistakes eCommerce brands make are as follows:-
- Starting without any research
- Unable to define your niche
- Selecting the wrong eCommerce platforms
- Poor website design and navigation
- Selling the wrong products
- Insufficient promotion
- Poor customer service
Let’s have a look at all these e-Commerce mistakes in detail and understand how to solve them when they arise.
7 common eCommerce Mistakes and How to Fix them
- Starting without any research Research of an eCommerce entrepreneur should not be limited to understanding the competitors. The biggest eCommerce mistake you can make is starting without proper research.If you don’t research the market demand, your eCommerce business strategy is one that will fail. As you avoid research, you only see the surface of the eCommerce industry for your product.Fix: Analyze the market demand and supply as quickly as possible. You’ll need them to calculate the profitability. The research should include all your costs, revenues, and much more. All of those attributes to your product cost.
- Unable to define your niche Your target audience is the biggest asset for your eCommerce store. Your most significant eCommerce mistake is not knowing who your customers are. Without defining your audience, you can never know if they need your product or not.Even if you have customers, but they are not in your niche, you are losing money. Your revenue will not be generated by people who don’t want your products.Fix: Begin by determining who your customers are. You have to identify whether the niche needs your product or not. A specific target audience of 100 people will generate more revenue for your eCommerce store than 1000 non-targeted audience.
- Selecting the wrong eCommerce platforms An eCommerce platform is a tool that will define your place in the eCommerce industry. The wrong eCommerce platform will keep your online store experience extremely limited. Whether it’s Shopify development or Spree Commerce, the best one needs to match your requirements.You can select a platform like Shopify or get the eCommerce store developed from scratch by a spree commerce development.Fix: The best thing you can do is consult with different companies who can suggest which platform is perfect for you. A custom website is your best bet as you can eliminate any limitations and get the website as per your requirement.
- Poor website design and navigation User experience is the crux of your eCommerce website. Poor design and navigation will keep your customers at bay even if they want to buy the product from you. A bad design will frustrate your users, and they will go somewhere else.On the other hand, poor design will also impact the functionality of the website. There are elements that take time to load.Fix: Hire a professional software development company and get a design that matches the user requirements. Build a smooth user experience that users can enjoy while purchasing products. Your checkout process has to be much simpler and easier so that people can purchase in fewer clicks.
- Selling the wrong products Most e-Commerce businesses start by selling the wrong product. You can always be too passionate about a product. But most people won’t see it that way. There’s a high possibility that your product doesn’t even have sufficient market demand.You cannot have a lot of products until you are sure that every product has a high demand. Trying to become the next Amazon is like attempting to kill your own store.Fix: Start by selling a few flagship products on your e-Commerce store. Back up them with the knowledge that there is a demand for those products. A few products will help you create a unique and consistent brand identity as well.
- Insufficient promotion Just because you have an eCommerce store doesn’t mean that you will automatically start getting customers. One of the biggest e-Commerce mistakes that several people make is not promoting their website enough.An e-Commerce entrepreneur can lose a whole lot of money if there’s no concrete marketing strategy. If no one knows where to find you, all your investment will be in vain.Fix: You need to develop a strong brand identity and have a marketing strategy in place. If you want to build awareness and convert it into customer loyalty, then promoting your website is a crucial step.
- Poor customer service And finally, one of the most tragic mistakes e-Commerce brands make is neglecting their customer service. Of course, you need to focus on the product and promotion – but not providing customer service will reduce your base drastically. Dissatisfied customers in the initial stages will have a bad impact on your reputation. They have high expectations, and if you don’t deliver on them, you’ll not grow.Fix: Treat your customers carefully. Listen to their feedback and improve your eCommerce business upon that. You don’t have to beg customers to stay. By providing them with better service and clearing all their doubts, you can lead them to loyalty and referencing.
Making eCommerce mistakes is inevitable. You will struggle to keep pace with the industry leaders for a while. However, by understanding the above points, you can fix them as soon as they arise.
In this article, we looked at how important research is and how it can help your eCommerce business. As an eCommerce entrepreneur, you need to be aware of the audience as well. The website design, customer service, right products, and the right platform for eCommerce portal development all will help you achieve your place in the eCommerce industry.
Read More: Why Your First Ecommerce Business Failed.
This article was written for Business 2 Community by Shardul Bhatt.
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