How to Avoid the Common Mistakes E-commerce Businesses Make
Statistics say that about nine out of every ten startups fail in the first year alone, and it’s only an uphill climb from there for the survivors. Therefore, if you’re going to successfully start and run your e-commerce business, you need to be prepared to take all the challenges in stride. You also need to be able to side-step all the dangers and potential pitfalls. This post contains some of the most common mistakes that new e-commerce businesses make and how you can avoid them.
These mistakes are responsible for many of the failures. Knowing how to avoid them already puts you ahead of the competition.
Mistake 1: Creating something new
If you’re honest with yourself, then you know that e-commerce isn’t a new kind of business. It has been in existence since Amazon and eBay started at the beginning of the century. The space has only gotten more crowded since then. Additionally, since Amazon is responsible for 40% of every online sale, the odds are already stacked up against you.
While creating your own platform from scratch and trying to offer customers something new might be a great idea, it doesn’t really make good business sense. It’s much more profitable for your business if you find an already established business like Shopify or Magneto. Most people prefer to shop from brands they trust, and you can use that in your favor. You can then direct your energies into developing and differentiating your brand.
Mistake 2: Redundant product descriptions
The fact that you don’t have to be present to sell your products is one of the most alluring features of e-commerce. However, it also has the potential to work against you. If you’re not there to convince your buyers, then your product description will have to do the job for you. This is why simply copying and pasting the manufacturer’s description won’t cut it.
Besides the fact that it’s going to be a boring read, Google will most likely flag it as duplicate content and punish you by lowering your SEO ratings. You need to invest in some copywriting if you want to make sales. An excellent test for this is to imagine you’re the customer. Are you sold by your product’s description? If not, then other people won’t be either.
Mistake 3: Poor user experience
As a customer to some brands, you can imagine the frustration you feel when things don’t work like they’re supposed to. If the page loads sluggish, the website doesn’t respond to your query, or your payment doesn’t go through, it can annoy you and make you change your mind. Since the e-commerce space is already competitive, you need to work hard to keep all the customers that make it to your space. This includes ensuring your processes are airtight, from your dispute response time to how your payments are processed. Follow this link to find out more on how to set up online payments | Powercash21.
Mistake 4: No target audience
Nearly every online platform, from search engines to social media, has a unique means of targeting their audiences because they know how important it is to focus energy in a single direction. The Internet is a big place, and you’re bound to blow through your marketing and advertising budget before you even make a dent if you target everyone.
You should identify your target audience and develop strategies to reach them before you ever launch your e-commerce business. Otherwise, you risk getting lost in the crowd, along with the hundreds of platforms out there who have no direction and no focus.
