If you’re running your own online shop, it’s inevitable that you will experience challenges. Whether these challenges are large or small, they can affect the profitability of your business if you don’t deal with them. It’s wise to prepare ahead for problems you may run into and be proactive rather than reactive.
Here are some of the problems you’re likely to encounter and how you can solve them
1. Fierce competition
There will always be competitors who sell the same or similar products to you. You have to give customers a reason to want to buy your products instead of those offered by your competitors.
The solution is to analyze your competitors, find out how much they’re selling their products for, what platforms they’re using to connect with customers and how they’re generating leads.
Once you have this information, you can make sure you’re doing more than them to attract customers. For instance, prioritize products in high demand and offer superior customer service.
2. Online fraud
If you’re selling products online, you will inevitably encounter fraud at some point. It’s difficult to tell the difference between someone who enters false details and someone who enters their real name and contact information.
Software solutions for identity verification, such as LexisNexis, can identify fraudulent behavior. They verify identities and use multi-layered authentication for fraud control. It is possible to stay a step ahead of hackers and control online fraud attempts without sacrificing customer experience.
3. High shipping costs
A giant retailer like Amazon can offer free shipping because it has the resources to do so. If you’re a smaller retailer, you need to do some research to find out how you can deliver your products to customers quickly and at a competitive rate.
A great solution is to use e-commerce fulfillment providers to handle inventory management, order packing, and shipping, as well as other related services. Some of them cater to small businesses, and most of them offer specialty services, such as secure storage or oversize shipping. The right solution for you will depend on your product mix and shipping requirements.
4. Customer loyalty
It costs far more to find new customers than it does to retain existing ones. The success rate of selling to customers who have already bought one of your products is also much higher than selling to a new customer.
The only way to ensure you have loyal customers is to offer them excellent service. Creating positive experiences for them will build their trust in you. With opt-in tools like exit-intent, you can capture emails and connect with your customers. Be transparent and authentic and send them emails regularly. Regular helpful blog posts can also help them understand what makes your company tick.
5. Product Returns and Refund Policies
ComScore reports that over 60% of online shoppers say that they look at a retailer’s return policy before they make a purchase. Customers also tend to abandon shopping carts when they see delivery dates – many of them aren’t willing to wait more than five days for delivery.
Product returns and refund policies are obviously important to customers – they need the peace of mind that they can return products they aren’t satisfied with.
Be transparent and make sure customers can easily find details about your return process. Make sure they can access your refund policy on your website without difficulty and include FAQs to make your policies easier for customers to understand.
Conclusion
If you understand what obstacles you may face, and think about how to overcome each one, you have every chance of being successful in the world of eCommerce.
