E-commerce has become increasingly favored by retailers and wholesalers. Selling products online is considered more efficient than selling them through a brick-and-mortar store. Instead of paying rent and hiring employees, you just have to buy a domain name or utilize the available online marketplaces to sell your products anywhere in the world.
While it seems easy, starting an e-commerce business doesn’t necessarily guarantee you more profits. E-commerce is also full of challenges and those engaged in the business are not spared from mistakes.
The existence of payment systems such as e-invoicing systems will facilitate customer payments with online payment gateways and electronic invoices. It will allow customers to make an online payment gateway. Send receipts through the same portal.
Also makes it easier for you to set different credit limits for each client based on the price of the product/service. Here are ten common eCommerce mistakes that every business owner should avoid.
Table of Content:
Table of Content
1. Choosing the Wrong Platform
One of the most common e-commerce mistakes while running an e-commerce business is choosing the wrong platform. Just because a platform has a lot of users or is highly popular, doesn’t mean it’s right for you.
This is why services like Shopify to WooCommerce migration are very popular; because many businesses did not make the right choice of e-commerce platform from the start. There are also many SEO migration services which help you with the process, so it’s even more flawless than you think
Before choosing a marketplace, you should first understand your requirements as well as your customer needs. Learn the ins and outs of the platform you’ll be choosing. Figure out their popular or best-selling product and make sure that you have your target market there.
To reach more potential customers and increase your sales, consider selling your products across multiple marketplaces at once. Using marketplace management software will greatly assist you in managing your e-commerce business.
The software allows you to access all your sales, pick up and process customer orders, manage stocks, and list your products across multiple channels through a single system.
2. Not Targeting the Right Audience
Have you targeted the right audience? You must be sure of your answer. Targeting the wrong audience can prevent your business from being profitable. This is why it’s important to determine your target audience before starting an e-commerce business.
Understand your products, whether they are custom dog paintings or other artworks, and create buyer personas that represent your ideal customers.
Also read: Know Your Customer (KYC) Explained: A Strategy to Avoid Fraud
3. E-Commerce Mistakes are Not Delivering Good Customer Service
Never underestimate customer service. Even if you are not in direct contact with your customers, delivering excellent customer service is still a must. Make it easy for your customers to ask questions related to your products or submit their complaints.
Simplify the payment (provide various payment options!), product return, and refund processes for your customers. You can manage interactions between companies and customers using a CRM system. By utilizing this system, you can serve customers with valuable and best service.
4. Insufficient Product Descriptions and Images
Your customers are unable to touch or try your products, therefore the only way to convince them to make a purchase is to provide them with sufficient product descriptions and images. Show your product images from different angles. If one product comes in various colors, be sure to display them as well or at least explain it in the product description.
The product descriptions are not less important than the product images. Include how the product works, the materials, the warranty, the nutritional information (if it’s food), and any other relevant information. Complete product descriptions will avoid unreasonable customer expectations.
5. Confusing Check-out Process Made Up E-commerce Mistakes
A complicated check-out process prevents your customers from paying immediately. To avoid this, you should be able to make the checkout process quicker and simpler. Make sure that your customers don’t need to encounter a lot of pages to get to the payment process.
Give them social login or guest check-out options so they don’t need to create an account which takes a long time. Also provide some payment options to speed up their payment process, for example via mobile banking or virtual accounts.
6. Not Offering Appealing Shipping Options
One of the things that often escapes the attention of e-commerce business owners is the shipping methods. You may think that providing one shipping method is enough. You’re more likely to choose the one that best helps you. But, what about your customers?
You should also consider the shipping methods in your customers’ favor. Customers will rethink purchasing from you if there’s only one shipping option, especially if it costs as much as the product they’re buying. Using multiple shipping methods, including the versatile ‘Magento 2 store pickup‘ option, will help you ensure your order fulfillment.
If your favorite delivery service is inactive, you can still fulfill your orders by switching to another one. Outsourcing your eCommerce order fulfillment to a third-party logistics provider can also provide you with access to a wider range of shipping options, as well as specialized services such as expedited shipping, real-time tracking, and international shipping.
7. Neglecting Social Media
Not taking advantage of social media when selling online is one of the biggest e-commerce mistakes. Facebook and Instagram can help you bring in more leads, perhaps more than you expect. So, make sure that your e-commerce site, developed by a skilled e-commerce development team, looks good in mobile view. Better still, you can allow your customers to view your products seamlessly on any device they’re using.
You can also use marketing automation systems to optimize your product marketing efforts. This system will make it easier for you to create a marketing campaign to be on target so that you can build a good relationship with customers.
Also read: How to Effectively Generate More Leads for Your Business
8. Not Designing a Mobile-friendly E-commerce Site
Most of your potential customers may more often transact via smartphones than desktops. Making purchases via mobile requires minimum time and effort, and it can be done anywhere. So, make sure that your e-commerce looks good in mobile view. Better still you can allow your customers to view your products seamlessly on any device they’re using.
9. Forgetting SEO
How are people going to find your e-commerce site? They may be looking for products you sell by entering specific keywords in search engines like Google. Generally, people will only choose websites that appear on the first page. For your e-commerce to be listed on the front page, you need to optimize your content to be more SEO-friendly.
10. Bad Website Navigation
Don’t get too focused on beautifying your e-commerce site while putting your website navigation aside. Poor navigation can cause your potential customers to run off even before they see your products. Besides this, it will be a big mistake not to use VDS Servers for website speed.
Hard-to-find information, lack of buttons, and too many font types and colors can make your visitors frustrated. Avoid that situation by providing easy navigation. Make sure that your visitors can easily find the information they are looking for, go from one page to another, and get the options they need.
Conclusion
In the e-commerce business, there are some common e-commerce mistakes to avoid, namely: choosing the wrong platform, wrong target audience, poor service, incomplete image description, complicated check-out process, etc.
In addition, your retail business can also face several other problems, such as the display of e-commerce that is not mobile-friendly. This of course you need to avoid because it can directly affect product sales and the profitability of the company. The solution of all these problems can be solved with Retail Software from HashMicro.
Hash Retail Innovation is software that can help companies license various business processes in the retail industry. You will get a wide range of information about the sale and stock of goods in many warehouses, locations, and branches of your retail business.
There are various features, such as customer management, inventory management, and accurate report generation, which can optimize e-commerce business. Contact us immediately and get the best deals and free demo!
