Challenges for ECommerce
Author: David
Categories: E Commerce Business Advice
Tags: ECommerce Challenges |
5 Common Challenges eCommerce Businesses Face
Just like any online business in any other industry out there, an eCommerce business is not without its challenges. However, there are just some challenges that are so common that most business owners, especially the new ones, tend to overlook – and that’s exactly what we’ll talk about here.
Without further ado, here are 5 of the most common challenges that an eCommerce business normally faces:
1. Attracting the Right Customers
The fact that sellers and buyers can easily meet online through eCommerce platforms means that the traditional process of buying and selling has become a lot easier. However, this also brings the challenge of hooking the right audience.
Nowadays, starting an online business is fairly easy. In fact, almost every business out there has its own online store. However, what’s most important for businesses is that they know who their audience is and where they can find such an audience.
In other words, if you want to grow your eCommerce business quickly, you should look for the right platform in accordance with your business requirements. Through this, you’ll have a better chance of driving sales and profits.
2. Purchase Order Fulfillment
Since it’s an online venture, you’ll most likely expect customers to flood your store sometime soon. At some point, you’ll have a hard time dealing with more orders than you’re prepared to handle. Your order fulfillment resources could possibly get overwhelmed. How exactly you overcome this will depend on which route you take.
You can choose to open various delivery stations in several regions so you can batch your orders. On the other hand, you can choose a third-party to do all the order fulfillment for you. However, you have to make sure that you only work with reputable people who are known for their excellent customer care.
Alternatively, you can use a software application such as PoSimplify. Basically, this application allows you to create purchase orders which you can send to your dropship suppliers. By linking it to your shopping cart, you’ll be able to create professional purchase orders and even have the ability to track them. This will essentially save you a lot of time and could even remove any possible errors caused by manual entry.
3. Working on Your Online Visibility
Possibly the most common challenge faced by most online businesses, particularly the new ones, is online visibility. After all, how can you expect to get customers if they can’t find your website in the first place?
If your website won’t show up on the first pages of search engine results for relevant keywords, then it will be hard, even impossible, for your potential customers to find it. Do keep in mind that in order to establish an online presence for your website, you will need a substantial amount of traffic flowing toward it. This is where optimization comes in.
Investing in SEO is highly recommended for eCommerce business, more so when starting out. Keyword research, on-page SEO practice, content creation, and other forms of SEO will all have a significant impact on your website’s visibility if done right.
However, you have to keep in mind that as you work on your SEO efforts, your competitors will be doing the same as well. Therefore, you should also incorporate other marketing strategies in your campaign. For example, you might want to consider marketing your business on social media or working with an influencer to help promote your website. However, that would also depend on who your target audience is and where you’re most likely to find them.
4. Making a Good Product Return/Refund Policy
Your product return/refund policy could either make or break your business. A statistic at ComScore revealed that 60% of online shoppers tend to check an online store’s product return/refund policy before they make a purchase. Not only that, but it’s also been revealed that 50% of online shoppers won’t wait for more than 5 days before their order is delivered.
These statistics simply mean that if you have a poor product return/refund policy, then your customers might think your products aren’t worth their money. In most cases, if a customer sees a “no return or refund” policy, he’ll likely think that the purchase isn’t worth it since it’s risky or even a scam.
If you want your eCommerce business to succeed, then you should make customer satisfaction your main priority. Therefore, you should make sure that the products you offer are the same as what you’ve advertised. The best way is to create a smooth and easy return/refund policy. Don’t make it too complicated, and make sure that your customer won’t have to go through any hassle just to return an item.
5. Ensuring Security
Technical issues that happen in the world of eCommerce can be one of the most difficult challenges that eCommerce businesses have to face and overcome. Moreover, if those issues have something to do with data security, then it would be an absolute nightmare. After all, cyber hackers won’t just infect your eCommerce website with viruses and be done with it. In most cases, they’ll also expose confidential information that could ruin your business.
In the event of a cyberattack, startups and small businesses can’t afford to suffer from downtime since their financial success is hinged on every transaction that they can make. And since small eCommerce businesses depend on those transactions, keeping data safe and secure through the help of a proper cybersecurity framework is a must.
Apart from that, it also helps to have an incident response plan in the event a cyberattack happens. Through this, it will be possible to reduce operation downtimes, allowing your business to still continue catering to your clients via other means.
Final Thoughts
eCommerce business owners no doubt have a lot on their plates. However, even the most common challenges like the ones mentioned above shouldn’t be overlooked. Always keep in mind that in order for your business and your customer base to grow, you should have the capacity to overcome the said challenges.