If you run a shopping cart website, you don’t need reminding that the industry is highly competitive and it can seem like a nightmare to a young entrepreneur. There is much to do when setting up an e-store; domain name registration, website design & build, setting up payment gateways, hosting the site and let’s not forget order fulfillment.
Here are a few e-commerce mistakes to avoid when setting up a new store.
1. Too many products – Some store owners think the more products they have on offer, the more they will sell, and while that might be correct to some degree, you are better off sticking to a manageable product line, which you can add to at any time. Resist the temptation to cram your virtual shelves with products, as a big site is harder to navigate and as you grow, you can add pages and categories that you have researched.
2. No order fulfillment strategy in place – If you receive a couple of orders a day, it isn’t a big deal to handle the picking, packing and delivery yourself, but when your marketing kicks in and you are getting upwards of 100 orders a day, you won’t be able to cope and products will arrive late. Search online for an ‘e-commerce fulfillment system’ and that will resolve your logistics issues once and for all.
3. Overpricing – The 21st century shopper is armed with Google, which can quickly find the best deals and if you aren’t competitive, it will be tough to survive. Do your homework on your rivals and their prices and see how you compare; if, for example, you are getting a lot of site visitors but low conversion, this could be down to price.
4. No SEO – Search engine optimisation is a critical service that every e-store needs; millions of online consumers use Google to find products and services and if your e-store is fully optimised for Google, this will drive organic traffic to your landing page. If you would like to learn more about SEO, search for a local SEO agency and see what they have to say; many successful e-commerce businesses have a monthly SEO budget, which they regard as essential. Some would go as far to say that a high Google ranking equals success. Click here for tips on digital marketing.
5. Poor UX – If your site pages load slowly or the site is hard to navigate, this will affect sales; the user experience is a critical aspect of your business and you should constantly be looking for ways to improve the UX. Ask for feedback from users and take a tour of the site and see things from a visitor’s perspective. Do you have all the right search functions to aid the shopper to find what they are looking for? If you are planning to set up your business in Thailand, there are many incentives for foreign investors from the Thai Board of Investment.
It takes a lot of planning, research and hard work to set up and manage a successful e-store and by avoiding the above mistakes, your business should enjoy sustained growth.
