Almost 90% online startups fail after 120 days whereas on the other side, the survival rate of physical businesses is 78% after first year. If you are aiming to start an online business then after knowing the rate of failure of new online businesses might worry you but do not worry because we can learn more from failures than success.
If you are a going to land an online store and it’s your first time then you will make mistakes and things are not going to be very simple for you but there are a lot of things that can help you to minimize the number of errors you make so that your ecommerce business runs smoothly. Underneath is a thorough analysis of best reasons why most ecommerce businesses fail.
Poor Content
You have a very good product and you have a strong feeling that it will succeed. Moreover, you have done your market research and you care sure you can put a new dent in the business market with your product but you have uploaded poorly written description and the pictures of the product are of poor quality then it is very much possible that your product will fail to impress your potential buyers.
If you are serious about your business then you have to make sure that your product listing is written appropriately and the pictures of your product must showcase all the features that make it different from the other products on different online stores. Furthermore, your product description should clearly describe your items. Try to use bullet points to highlight the benefits and specifications of your products. Keep the content easy to read and simple because more your customer will know about your product – more he will be willing to buy it.
No Clear Checkout Process/ Procedure
Most customers leave their shopping cart before buying the product they are willing to buy because of complex or time consuming Checkout process. Most ecommerce business owners fail to understand that Checkout process if as important as attracting a new customer to your online store through your great content. It is very important to make the Checkout process simple and quick for the customers to improve customer satisfaction as well as the user experience.
Poor Pricing and Ads Strategy
Sometimes we find something very useful and we are sure it is an amazing deal with best price so we go for it and just when we get to the checkout, it asks for extra delivery charges or it offers a survey to complete before checking out or sometimes a pop up ad appear to ruin our mood. When this happens, we close the website and never revisit it.
It is very important to manage the expectations of your online customers. Hidden charges or things like offering the customers online surveys are a wrong move. Always work on your pricing strategy and do not try to hide unexpected charges. This will not online improve your selling strategy but it will help you gain trust of your target audience. Moreover, you must avoid misleading ads or links of other pages which are not aligned with your website.
No Clear Return Policy
No matter how great your product is or how many units you sell every day there will always be someone who might return your product. If you do not have a clearly written, easy to understand return policy then your business will lose its credibility A good return policy will not only help your customers to return the items they do not need in the right time but it will also help you to protect your business and yourself from unknown legal actions against you.
Poor Money Management and Low investment
Even before starting a business, you must have money. A smooth cash flow is important to fund your business at different times. Sometimes in pursuit of perfection we overspend and in the early days of a startup it can be a deadly move. Lack of cash can lead to numerous issues therefore it is important to underspend and learn from mistakes and spend on the things to adjust and control your business cash flow.
Importance of Mobile Apps or Mobile Based Responsive Websites
Sometimes we are in hurry and we want to order something so we use our smartphone to order something that we need on urgent basis. In this case, the websites which are not designed according to mobile phone requirements fail to offer the desired services because they are not designed for mobile phone users.
Mobile apps can locate the physical location of a buyer and it also helps the seller to understand the behavior and preference of the app users.
For an ecommerce store, it is mandatory to have a mobile based responsive website or a local mobile phone app to offer better services to its customers because nowadays people prefer smart and rapid solutions and the online store which is offering them the kind of rapid shopping services they need actually wins the race.
Lack of Search Engine Optimization
One of the major reasons why people fail to sell on internet is because of bad SEO strategy. If your product is not visible to your potential or target audience then no matter how amazing your product might be, it will fail. Search Engine Optimization is necessary to for all business because it helps a website to rank better in the search results. Moreover it makes your product and services visible to the people who are looking for them.
Working in a Saturated Niche
If you are selling a product that is already being sold by many vendors in the market then most probably your business will fail because of the stiff competition. People will fail to find your product or even if they will they will be hesitant to buy from you because you are new in the market. It is also very important not to go for the products that are already being sold by big fishes like Adidas or Nike. Always try to play safe and find the product that can offer you quick profit with no big brand in competition.
Conclusion
Ecommerce business has a high failure rate but your focus should be to not to repeat the mistakes other have made in the past. If you will make a check list of all the major things that are needed to start a successful ecommerce business by keeping all the things in mind about how they mostly fail then it can be expected that you will succeed.
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