In 2017, as per global research data eCommerce businesses reached a figure of $2.3 Trillion in sales. And trends suggest it is expected to reach anywhere around $4.8 Trillion by 2021, registering a growth of more than double on those sweeping figures in four years of time!
This massive growth depicts the popularity and penetration levels in the sector. This brings forth the fast-changing trends in terms of involvement, development, competition, and opportunity in the domain.
The businesses in the trade need to be very much in their functional grasp, to keep up with this change. There’s a need for them to look into the factors of growth and sustenance against the industry uproar.
Going with the phenomenon, many experts discuss how to reach better performance figures with eCommerce businesses and how to expand the user reach with improved functional roles and optimum service value. But, before you know what you should do to improve your performance and value, you should work on the factors that might hold you back from doing your best.
1. Ineffective Pricing Strategy
Pricing plays a decisive role in proving you successful in an eCommerce business. The right pricing adds to your viability and helps you grab the attention of your audiences while helping you with a practicable earning model.
Planning the right pricing strategy is difficult than it sounds. As it is not just about working out some formula and deriving a certain value based on the cost of procurement. It takes into account a combination of factors like market fluctuations, demand and supply trends, competitive scenario, global standards, and of course your business situation and goals.
Here, you can take up a few all-purpose strategies that are universally relevant to the practice of pricing.
If you are able to avoid this eCommerce mistake and work it out well to best suit your eCommerce business entity, you are most likely to resonate with the market trends and relate with your customers. Or, otherwise, you might just lose the hold of it totally.
2. Not Optimizing Shipping
Most of the eCommerce business websites are not able to configure their shipping services right.
In most cases, businesses are unsure of what would be the right charges to set for shipping that does not upset their customers and at the same time don’t make them shrink their profit margins.
Free shipping is always the safest trick to attract customers. As per a study, 34% of customers say, they only buy products from the platforms that offer free shipping. But, that’s not feasible at the business front. You need to plan flat charges based on easy calculations. And you have to work on a solution that gets you to charge the customers fairly and keep the offer lucrative.
So, what you should do to have the right shipping plan?
Set a minimum shipping charge and apply it to products that are ranged within a certain bracket of price. Say a product below the price of $30 should be charged with a flat shipping fee of $4. Also, allow your users with options like standard and express shipping and separate premium and regular services. So, they are not forced to pay the superfluous charges for what they don’t realize value from.
Another side of the coin is choosing the right courier option. If you think you have more customers from urban A-listed city areas, you should pick a courier partner that has a broader set-up and network in these regions over a service that operates comprehensively.
Also, if your products are mostly voluminous and heavyweight, you should choose special shipping and delivery packages to keep the prices normalized. This way you can optimize your transit and delivery value and avoid going wrong with shipping.
3. Not Having a Mobile Responsive Website
Not having a mobile responsive site is another big eCommerce mistake businesses commit.
As per a recent survey on eCommerce websites, 79% of users have made a purchase online using their smartphones or tablets in the last 6 months (these refer to the trends based on the US consumer market data). A related study claims, there are an estimated 10 Billion mobile-connected devices in use in the US alone which are leveraging the mobile-driven market contributed by 230 million smartphone owners. This clearly establishes that an e-commerce platform cannot do without adopting the m-commerce rendition of its business.
So, if you do not have a mobile responsive website, you need to get one created. Or you might just lose your business to your trend-aware competitors who are consciously leveraging the growth of m-commerce. Also, you need to keep the mobile eCommerce business platform served with leading mobile-first features and resources and keep it updated to be in the best shape to serve the ever-evolving mobile commerce user needs.
As you do this, just make sure you do it for all screen sizes and display options, so that you have the most of the possibilities covered. Also, taking expert help is highly recommended here, as only an experienced mobile eCommerce developer with a proven track record can serve you effectively with the functional traits and value proposition delivered right.
4. Limited Payment Options
Providing limited payment options to your customers is another reason for them to abandon shopping at the checkout. The reason is simple, everyone has their preferred mode of payment owing to the reasons of security, convenience, and privilege. So, if a user prefers to use a transaction service through payment cards like VISA or Mastercard over any payment gateway like PayPal, you should have it on option.
Also, these days many users prefer to go with different mobile wallet options like PayTM and Google Pay to avail offer and loyalty benefits. So, it is only wise to keep them as an option on your payment page. In addition to this, you should offer them more choices within different modes of payment. So your users get to go with the most preferred service option.
Another important aspect of the payment that you can’t afford to miss on is ‘Cash on Delivery’ or ‘Pay on Delivery’. As most of the users who are buying it for the first time from your website or those who just don’t want to enter any payment information on the site, tend to buy against payment in cash at the time of delivery.
So, in order to cover the most possibilities of sales, it is always recommended to keep more payment options open for the customers.
5. Poor Structure and Presentation
This is probably the trickiest and most prolonged part to address in an eCommerce product.
As per a study done in the US in 2019, over 60% of businesses lose their customers because they lack the first good impression. And this is a common eCommerce mistake businesses do most of the time and can’t do enough to get rid of it.
The structure and presentation need to be addressed taking an expansive reference of different communication and user experience factors. The first thing you need to work on is the layout and navigation scheme of your platform. It should be optimized to offer the user a smooth passage through the service channel. You should consider designing and placing the functional interface, navigation funnels, transition layers, display headers, product menus, and event placeholders, to accommodate the product categories, service resources, and communication assets in a well-structured and well-directed manner.
Further, you need to optimize the presentation from the perspective of visual merchandising and display attribution. Here, you should have a well-directed interface plan and strategy to display the products. Also, you need to keep them presented in the right format, combination, and pattern.
You need to be very particular about the content you place. The images you select for the products should be relevant and of high-quality and the product descriptions should be serving both SEO and user perspective well. The product picture should have all the details and aspects covered and the communication should be inclusive, assertive and user-friendly.
The way you structure and present your product decides how well you would be able to drive the audience to the bottom of the funnel and convert them into your loyal customers.
Conclusion
These are certainly the direst eCommerce mistakes businesses commit and drive their users away from the website. These eCommerce mistakes cost them a lot of good business, revenues, and reputation, if not their destiny (at its worst). If addressed properly and dealt with the right action plan, taking cues from the points discussed here, these eCommerce mistakes can be avoided to help you achieve desired results with your eCommerce endeavor.