Ten reasons why eCommerce stores fail – Part 1

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eCommerce stores offer fantastic revenue opportunities, the ability to be open 24/7 and traditionally, fewer overheads when compared to bricks-and-mortar retailing.

Yet, despite the fact that more than 12 million Australian consumers shop online, and we are experiencing year-on-year double-digit growth in online shopping, a huge number of eCommerce business struggle to be profitable, or in many cases, survive.

If you own an eCommerce store, or are planning on building one, here are five of the ten crucial items to be aware of that will have a significant impact on the success or otherwise of your business.

1. Poor-quality images and product descriptions

When shopping online, customers are unable to pick up a product and have a good look at it. Instead, they rely on the images your store provides along with matching descriptions.

If you have poor quality photos, or offer limited descriptions, you’ll almost definitely lose sales due to a lack of interest.

Always offer images that display the product from multiple views, using only high quality images, and unique detailed descriptions. Don’t use generic product descriptions from the supplier. Don’t rely solely on price. Entice visitors with great imagery and product detail.

2. Missing contact information

It seems like a small issue, doesn’t it? However, not displaying full contact information, or trying to bury it deep in the site is a major trust barrier for potential customer. Before they buy, they will look for this information, as they want peace of mind that if they need to contact you, they can. If you refuse to show location and contact information including a phone number, you are going to have a hard time establishing trust with potential customers.

3. Complicated checkout

Amazon pioneered the simple purchase process. And when they did, it revolutionized eCommerce. Consumers were begging for simpler checkout methods, with fewer steps. A complex, multi-step checkout process is a frustrating experience for customers, and they’ll likely give up before completion.

Avoid frustration by offering a very short checkout process. Additionally, ensure you don’t require registration for checkout. Let customers go through the process and choose the option to register and save their details at the end, in case they want to come back again, otherwise checkout as a guest, without the need to register.

4. Hidden fees

This is a big one. Cart abandonment is high as a result of this issue. Shipping rates should be shared upfront, at product selection. Hiding them until the very end is guaranteed to anger the buyer.

Provide your customers with a shipping calculator that works based on the items they’re interested in and their postcode. This is technically easy to achieve, and there’s no excuse to not offer this.

5. Big screen, small screen

We’re a society moving more and more to mobile. This is especially true for eCommerce. If your online store hasn’t been properly designed for mobile, you will be offering clutter, poor navigation options, and incredibly difficult user experience for mobile users. Make sure your site is mobile responsive.

Next week, we will discuss the other five items that can significantly impact the success or otherwise of your SME.

Nathan Sinnott, Chief Executive Officer, Newpath WEB