As time passes, the importance of eCommerce has only increased for businesses. Today, a good portion of companies in a wide array of different industries make the largest portion of their revenue from goods and services sold over the internet. However, building a successful eCommerce business is not as easy as it may seem. There are common and significant pitfalls you must avoid when building an eCommerce business.
1. Not Performing Market Research
One common mistake among eCommerce entrepreneurs is assuming a generic marketing plan that doesn’t differentiate between consumers will be adequate enough for products sold over the web. While it is true that the internet can reach pretty much any demographic group, not targeting specific groups of consumers will pretty much ensure that the people most likely to buy your products will never be made aware of them. Like any business, quality market research is essential to find out which groups should be targeted with your marketing efforts and how you should go about doing so.
2. Not Integrating Offline Selling Strategies
While ecommerce may be very important to your overall success, you should be aware of the fact that many companies find the most success by integrating eCommerce with other offline selling strategies. The classic example is the retail store website that allows users to pick up purchases at a brick-and-mortar store. There are also other strategies you should consider as well. One is direct mail retargeting. For example, if for whatever reason a purchase was never completed by a customer, direct mail in the form of a postcard or some other kind of printed material can be mailed to that consumer in an attempt to retarget them after a certain period of time, either by you or by someone like this company providing direct mail services in Carol Stream, IL who you may decide to work with. This is an excellent form of lead generation you should not ignore.
However, for whatever reason, the purchase was never completed. After a certain point, direct mail in the form of a postcard or some other kind of printed material can be mailed to that consumer in an attempt to retarget them. This is an excellent form of lead generation you should not ignore.
3. Not Considering Online Marketplaces Other Than Your Website
While you could open your own digital storefront through your website, you may not be maximizing your profit potential by doing so alone. Many companies make the lion’s share of their income by getting their products listed on shared online marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Bonanza, and more. According to Forbes, Amazon, for example, has 2 million sellers utilizing the website to sell products. Getting your products placed on such high traffic websites may be a better strategy than going it alone.
4. Ignoring The Importance of SEO
Something you can’t ignore if you wish to find ecommerce success is search engine optimization or SEO for short. In today’s world, the primary way people research future product purchases is through the internet. Typically, this happens through simple search queries made through Google on consumers’ smartphones. If your products do not appear on the first page of Google search results, you will likely be passed over in favor of competitors that do have good SEO and were able to obtain better search rankings.
5. Not Creating The Right Landing Pages
When consumers click-through a digital advertisement or a search result on Google, they are taken to a “landing page.” What is on this page is extremely important. It will either convert that visitor into a paying customer or result in a high “bounce rate” in which people immediately leave after loading the page. Try to fine-tune your landing pages to increase your success rate. Track metrics like the conversion rate and bounce rate so you can make the appropriate adjustments to increase your successful sales.
6. Incorrectly Pricing Your Products
Another serious mistake is one shared by offline retailers as well. If you do not correctly price your products, you will fail to sell them. You must always consider the law of demand when it comes to pricing. This is even more so the case online. With brick-and-mortar retail stores, many store owners depend on the fact that consumers will not have quick alternatives to avoid paying their high markups. With ecommerce, however, finding a more reasonably priced alternative will only take a few clicks.
Closing Thoughts
Ecommerce provides businesses with significant advantages over traditional brick-and-mortar retail. Selling your wares online, however, does not come without its own unique challenges. Make sure to avoid issues like the ones listed above if you wish to maximize your profit potential and make the most out of your ecommerce efforts.