4 Reasons Your Online Store is Failing and How to Fix This
Over the past few years, ecommerce has become an integral part of any sound business strategy. The trend continues to gain momentum with online sales expected to account for a huge 17.5 percent of all retail sales worldwide by the end of 2021.
Whether you’ve recently set up your online store or you’ve been a player in this new field for some time, you already know that there are a number of challenges to overcome. It can feel like, despite your best efforts, you just aren’t getting the sales and attention you deserve.
That’s why we’ve put together a diagnostic list of 4 reasons your online store may be failing and how to address them.
1) Your Digital Presence is Weak
A huge part of any successful online business is exposure and credibility. If you run your business through your website only, you’re missing out on thousands of potential leads.
Through social media bios like this one, you can market your product to the correct userbase. Start with all the usual suspects, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Along with generating leads, it will give you the opportunity to interact with buyers and solicit feedback.
2) You Don’t Have A Marketing Plan
With so many drag and drop features and easy to use websites like Shopify, it can be tempting to think of your online business as a ‘set-and-forget’ situation.
No matter how good the shopping interface is, you need a marketing plan. At the very least, you need to be able to monitor important trends, such as how long users spend on your site and which items end up stuck in the virtual cart. You can do this using analytics tools (many available for free), such as Google Analytics.
3) Your Prices Are Too High
A common mistake is to mark product prices up too high. With fierce competition, your product needs to be unique and coveted to command an exorbitant price.
Monitor your competitors to determine a reasonable price point. If you got your item from Aliexpress, for example, do not mark it up by 500%. Prospective customers will know with a simple Google search and lose faith in your business.
Additionally, using analytics discussed above, you can identify which products users abandon in their shopping cart, as ill advised pricing (or high shipping costs) are likely stopping customers from completing the purchase.
4) No Unique Selling Point
In an oversaturated market, you need to set yourself apart. That means determining your unique selling point. Your product does not have to be unique, but your delivery does.
For example, if you’re re-selling jewellery from a wholesaler, set yourself apart from competitors by taking your own product photos to add legitimacy. Also consider adding a hand-written note to each order to endear customers and make your business more memorable.
Running an online business will always be challenging, but by observing the above, you will almost immediately see your sales start to raise.