Costly Online Retail Mistakes To Absolutely Avoid

Do you know if your website's visitors think, "Is online shopping worth it?" Is your brand host to Ecommerce online shopping mistakes? It's all about customer experience! Find out how to minimize online retail mistakes...

Would you like to steer clear of online retail mistakes and focus on increasing your revenues?

If you have a website that offers the option to purchase products or services from your business, you've probably heard or read about the biggest online shopping mistakes made by brands. Whether it is:

• Items not available online (in-store only)
• Too many clicks required to complete something simple
• Poor image quality that represent your products or services

All of the above relate with customer experience. Get it wrong, and it will be costly for your company.

Want to run a successful online retail business? Here are four common costly online retail mistakes to absolutely avoid.

Failing To Know Your Niche

When you start an online retail business, you’re not just competing with businesses in your local area, but competition across the world. For this reason, niche businesses often find it easier to succeed than sometimes it is easier to know your competitors and stand out.

For your niche business to be a success, you need to know your industry inside and out. This involves becoming an expert in your niche and knowing exactly who your target consumer is.

Do market research and analyze your competition. Creating focused marketing strategies will be easier.

Skimping On Your Website Architecture

A high quality website is essential when running an online business. Even if you rely on third-party sites like Amazon to sell your products, having a site is important for brand credibility. Be prepared to consult professionals that can make your Ecommerce website more credible.

A few vital areas include:

• Responsive design: Does your site display well on all devices -- PCs to smartphones? If not, you could be steering certain customers away.
• SEO-friendly: Does your website contain keywords to help it rank well on search engines? An SEO service could be worth the investment.
• Unique and professional product images: It’s worth paying a professional photographer to take unique images of all your products. Poor-quality or generic images could affect customer trust.
• Good security: If your site does not look and feel secure, customers will not feel comfortable purchasing from your business online. Use a secure payment gateway and be sure your site has a current SSL certificate.

You can choose not to make online retail mistakes and instead get it right. Your goal should be making your website straightforward and convenient to use:

• Avoid complicated checkout processes
• Allow multiple forms of payment
• Use tools that allow order tracking and delivery alerts

Buying your products shouldn’t be a hassle.  

Overspending On Shipping

While many Ecommerce companies spend too little on their website, they often spend too much money on shipping. This can rapidly eat away at your profits.

It’s important to use an efficient delivery company with a good reputation. But this shouldn’t automatically mean huge spending.

You can save money on top-rated domestic shipping by taking the time to shop around and compare your options. LTL shipping and LCL shipping can save you a lot of money if you’re moving certain volumes.

Offering Poor Customer Service

Just because you don’t have live interaction with your customers doesn’t mean that you should neglect customer service. A good customer support system will help you to attract and develop loyal customers.

This involves:

• Responding quickly to customer concerns
• Managing a customer service email
• Managing a virtual chat box

And attending to a toll free phone line. Detailed product information and videos, as well as thorough FAQs page, can help customers get the details they need to facilitate sales conversions on your website.