Succeeding in eCommerce is challenging enough by itself. But many entrepreneurs who enter the space actually sabotage their own efforts. Here’s what they get wrong:
Making It Hard For Customers To Buy
Today’s internet users are compulsive creatures. They want to be able to click on a product they like and immediately get what they want. They don’t want to have to wait.
Unfortunately, that’s not how some budding eCommerce entrepreneurs set up their websites. Instead, they force customers to fill out complicated forms or jump through multiple security hoops before getting the goodies that they want.
While this might seem like a good approach for collecting data and keeping personal information safe, consumers don’t want it. For them, speed of service is everything.
Failing To Maintain Your Stores
eCommerce businesses are not “set-and-forget” enterprises. For them to be successful, they need constant updates and improvements.
For instance, Magento maintenance helps keep sites up to date by checking their current SEO strategy, monitoring security, configuring extensions, making updates and upgrades, and applying security patches. Missing out on any one of these elements can seriously compromise user experience on the site.
Failing To Target The Right Customers
Poor customer targeting is one of the main reasons eCommerce businesses fail. They make the mistake of believing that they have to please everyone and, ultimately, please noone.
The key here is to accept that not everyone will automatically be interested in your website. There are vastly different consumer groups out there, each with specific preferences.
Do your research and find out more about who is buying from you. Then adapt your website accordingly.
Ignoring The Importance Of Marketing
“Build it and they will come” is perhaps the most misleading concept in the entire eCommerce sector. Even if you have a killer website, it won’t make any money unless it has visitors. And paying customers are highly unlikely to show up unless you start marketing.
When it comes to getting the word out, there isn’t always a “best” channel. Therefore, you’ll need to do some experimentation. For clues, look at what established competitors are already doing. Find out how they market their companies and how you should follow them.
Going Too Tight On Margins
Many entrepreneurs view tight margins as a good thing in the eCommerce space. They want to remain as competitive as possible, and they believe that the way to do that is to cut prices as much as possible, hoping that they will eventually reach a critical mass that will make them profitable.
Unfortunately, this isn’t how the real world works. Worryingly, losses tend to get baked in, and it becomes hard for eCommerce brands to suddenly raise their prices or find more customers when they don’t have spare cash for marketing.
Loss-making incentives can sometimes work, but they are risky. The key here is to add value in a way that will encourage users to part with their cash, even if they know they can get products cheaper elsewhere. By building trust and focusing on the customer experience, you can often avoid the temptation to slash prices to the point where it damages profitability.
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