The world of online shopping is on a constant upward trajectory. Most retailers are now moving towards e-commerce, as that’s where customers are moving as well. However, this incredible growth brings incredible challenges. Running a successful online store is difficult as many things could go wrong and have to be managed the right way so that you don’t lose any of your customers.
Here, we share some of the most common online store problems and the best ways to handle them.
1. Online Identity Verification
Does it matter if the person coming to your online store is genuinely interested in buying from you? Are you sure that the information they’ve entered is accurate? You never know if they're entering false information or engaging in fraudulent activity.
It may lead to revenue losses and security issues, which can be huge problems. That is why it is vital to do online identity verification for every potential customer who enters your store.
How to Handle:
- Be watchful of dubious activities;
- Send a verification link every time a customer registers;
- Employ automated calls for order confirmation to ensure customers’ validity in the case of COD purchases;
- Use software solutions for user verification.
2. Shopping Cart Abandonment
Irrespective of the size of the online store, shopping cart abandonment is an issue that every online retailer faces. Online shoppers are reported to abandon their carts 68% of the time. It is a major problem that can cause a lot of harm to online stores.
How to Handle:
- Redesign your shopping cart to make it more user-friendly, simpler, and quicker;
- Ensure a mobile-friendly shopping and check-out procedure;
- Provide live support to your customers while they’re shopping with you;
- Eliminate unnecessary long forms and bugs;
- Add visual tools to address customer queries during the checkout procedure.
3. Skyrocketing Customer Expectations
These days, with so many options available to customers, their expectations are quite high. Managing those expectations and catering to your customers is, arguably, becoming one of the biggest challenges for online stores.
How to Handle:
- Understand your target audience;
- Identify and acknowledge your customers’ expectations of your business;
- Conduct an in-depth analysis of current shopping trends and adapt your business accordingly;
- Connect and communicate with your customers to make them feel heard and valued.
4. Ever-Increasing Competition
Online selling is one of the most competitive industries today. With countless retailers and a wide variety of shopping parameters, customers have infinite options. This makes getting and maintaining a loyal customer base one of the biggest challenges for e-commerce businesses.
However, outshining this ever-increasing competition is critical if you want to make your brand known in this crowded marketplace.
How to Handle:
- Conduct comprehensive research and analysis of your competitors to understand them and remedy your shortcomings;
- Invest in promotional offers to boost your brand's presence;
- Ensure better customer service.
5. Delivering Consistency
Consistency is the key element to providing a successful omnichannel experience. Customers use multiple platforms before making a buying decision. Therefore, businesses must ensure consistency for every product or service they offer.
However, one of the biggest e-commerce problems for merchants is considering and comprehending consumer interactions across all touchpoints and exploiting them to offer a consistent user experience.
How to Handle:
- Identify key channels for your customers;
- Optimize these channels;
- Keep track of customer interactions.
Conclusion
Shopify, Shoplazza, Wix, and many other e-commerce platforms make building an online store easy. It is also becoming the most profitable industry. However, running a successful online business can be challenging.
As an online store owner, you’ll face challenges at every step. You can always try those crisis management approaches. Don’t give up, success will ultimately come your way.
(Contributed by Iram Ghafoor & Hermes Fang)
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