Internet revolution has given birth to different industries. Internet can be used for a number of operational purposes. E-Commerce is one such industry which was conceived as a result of this revolution. E-Commerce has become a major platform for customers who are willing to buy products from domestic as well as foreign sites. A huge number of E-Commerce sites are being launched every year. New sites make a variety of new products available to the customers all over the world.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The competition amongst these E-Commerce players has been growing day-by-day. To stay ahead of their competitors, better services are being introduced. According to a statistics, only 10% of E-Commerce businesses survive after the first year. Many challenges have to be faced and overcome in order to run an efficient and smooth E-Commerce business.

1. When People are not aware of your site:

If people are unaware of your site or they are not able to find it easily on the internet, it will result in a lack of visitors to your site. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be a solution to both these problems. To make good use of this solution, you have to be aware of what people are willing to search. You need to have a deep understanding of the mindset of the customers. You site should be stuffed with important keywords and good content.

Another solution to lack of visitors is advertising. “Google Ad words” is an example of an advertising service on which ads of your site can be displayed.

Another medium to direct the customers to your site is through social networking sites such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc. You cannot directly sell your products on social media, so you have to engage your customers in a sought of conversation. For example, a catering service can talk about the town’s food and festivals, so when they want to book a place to visit the festivals, your business would cater to their demands.

2. Low CONVERSION rates and Cart abandonment:

If your site is easily found and people are browsing through it, but are not making a purchase, you have to find a reason behind it.

To understand this problem, you can use Google Analytics. It is the most widely used service of its kind in the world. It can help you to analyze why and how people use your site. It makes possible to separate your major problems from minor issues. If your home page is not designed well enough, people will leave the site immediately. May be your marketing is not upto the mark and people are not able to find the desired products on your site.

Product description must be stated very clearly. People should be able to ascertain the size, specification, etc, of every product easily. When a customer has decided to buy a product, but does not go through with the payment process and leaves the site, it is called “Cart Abandonment”. More often it is because of the checkout process. Either the checkout process is not clear enough to the customer or he/she is not secure about it.

People are often required to register before making a purchase. Sometimes this process takes long time to be completed. People are not comfortable about giving their personal details online. You should evaluate which information is most required about the customer apart from the billing and shipping information. Shipping or delivery costs should be made very clear. If a customer is not made aware of the shipping costs initially, it may annoy them and result in their leaving the site.

3. Lack of verification measures:

When a customer signs up on an E-Commerce site, the site has no knowledge of the customer except the information the customer has entered. The site has no clue whether the customer opts for cash on delivery (COD) purchase, the uncertainly heightens. There is no way to find out whether the customer is a genuine customer or not. Many E-Commerce players have suffered huge losses when the details given by the customer has proven to be false.

In order to counter this problem, the site can send a text or email message to the customer to verify the authenticity of the details. When a customer issues a COD order, Interactive Voice Response (IVR) or an automated call can be dialled to the customer to ask him/her to verify the delivery address.

By doing this your purpose to verify the address will be fulfilled and the customer will also not think that they are being fooled in any way.

4. Cost a major issue and measures to cut cost:

People think that E-Commerce is a very expensive business to run. While in some cases it is surely true, but by taking a few sensible steps you can cut the cost of running an E-Commerce business considerably. The main cost consuming process is the designing of a site. While major players invest about 300 to 500 $ per day on designing, every small E-Commerce businesses cannot afford to do the same.

Sites like Big Commerce and Shopify, etc, offer solutions where by paying a monthly fee you can get an efficient E-Commerce site designed. These sites handle everything from imagery, security, customer reviews, etc. Basically you get fully featured and fully designed site. These sites are the best option for smaller businesses and for those who are just starting an E-Commerce business.

5. Customer issues and complaints going un-noticed:

In an E-Commerce business, customers hold the away. They can purchase products from anywhere they feel secure and satisfied. A survey shows that 75% of customers who buy online are bound to make complaints. If their complaints/concerns are not answered in the proper way, it can cause problem for an E-Commerce business to maintain its image.

To take care of the complaints and concerns of the customers, you can set up an easy interface which can provide information and support to the customers round the clock.

This interface is generally called Customer Service. Any customer who has any query or complaint can call a helpline number to address his grievance. This will surely help in the growth of trust between the customer and the E-Commerce business.