Everyone is aware of the fact that about 90% of the e-commerce startups end up being failed. If you’re the owner of an online start-up or other business, then this fact will make you shiver. Though, there are other startups also which are not stable in the long-run and fail soon. In the article, you’ll find the top reasons for e-commerce start-ups’ failure. Also, stay tuned to know the solutions for having a good start-up without failing.
Are you planning to start your e-commerce firm? Is it your first startup? Do you feel nervous about it? Well, almost everyone feels the same when starting an e-commerce business for the first time. And due to this, many of them make some common mistakes at the beginning itself. These mistakes result in failing your business. Though, you can employ some ways to get over those mistakes or avoid such errors in ensuring a non-failure start-up.
Most often, people adopt the strategies or learn from the business owners who have successfully reached to an excellent position. Though, you can also learn from your failures. If you want to know about the top 10 reasons behind e-commerce business failure, then continue your reading.
Top 10 e-commerce failure reasons
1. Poor quality content
Once you’ve successfully launched an outstanding product, your confidence level will boost up high. Also, you have conducted a good research on the market. All these things don’t work well unless you’ve presented a good content. That coarse picture is not going to give your product any attention. You need to stay watchful of the world as everyone is staring at your product and business. If you’re showcasing your product with bad grammar or poor English, it is not going to work. With a gnarly impression, your product won’t give your business any gains. Though, it can be a major reason behind your business’s bad image.
It is the eyes that look at the things first before hearing what you’re speaking. If the image of your product is not attractive or capture with a good camera, you won’t be able to get attention from the customers. Don’t be in a hurry and take your time to click the best photo of your product.
It is not only the picture that can be enough in capturing the customer’s attention. Along with the picture, you should focus attention on the product description. You need to describe your product with the description. Not even a single detail should be missed. A clear and short description is worth catchy than an overstuffed unclear description. By your description, you’re going to engage the audience with your product. In this regard, the bullet points can be eye-catching to post about the plus points linked with your product.
The customer wants to know about the benefits of using your product. So, be clear with it in the product description. Also, mention the correct specifications for your product and describe it in a readable format.
2. No loyalty towards the customers
You’re searching for a summer outfit? Find the best one and added to the basket! In the next stage, you click on the checkout option. Now, it demands you to enter your delivery details, residential address, your hobbies, family members, and an essay about your plans and so on.
You might feel that the explanation got a little exaggerated. Though, it is an obvious condition seen in several businesses. Most often, the e-commerce businesses complicate the checkout procedure a lot, which waste customer’s time and lose their interest. This is a major reason or it can be said as the No. 1 failure reason why several customers leave the car without reaching the payment stage. With this learning, one can learn that a clear and simple checkout process is always entertained by customers. This simple thing can bring a huge change in your brand image.
Also, the trust signals are necessary when working over the checkout procedure. Generally, consumers feel dubious about new brands or unfamiliar websites. To gain customer trust, get a partnership with trusted payment sources.
3. Maddening notifications or pop-ups
When visiting a website, potential customers feel annoyed with the pop-ups disturbing in seconds. This is the biggest disadvantage for an e-commerce website as it can be a major reason why e-commerce startups end-up failing! Although, it is for the wrong things about the pop-ups which appear on your site. Though, it is better with a certain time and place. When a potential customer visits to the site just to look about the products or services, a notification or pop-up immediately coming non-stop can be a disturbing element. Also, with no exit button, it seems more annoying. This will ultimately result in decreasing your potential customers as they would leave the site.
If you want to fix a pop-up system on your website, it is good when it appears after consuming a few minutes. Once a user visits your site, the pop-ups should appear within a proper time interval and not just seconds. As a better strategy, it is good to choose a pop-up system for your website when a certain action is seen on the site. For instance, when a user adds any product to the cart. At this point, it can be an encouraging thing to make the customer buy the product. Your pop-ups always excite the users when it is any freebie, coupon, and so on.
4. Saturated niches
Most often, you won’t enter into the niche which is picked by many people. The general niches come with plenty of options for the customers. When you start selling products like a dog collar, it won’t give you a good chance to shine. Though, when you change your product into dog collars for military dogs, it could give you an excellent chance to shine.
The main thing is that a general or too common niche won’t give you a speedy boost in your e-commerce start-up. For instance, products such as watches (fitness purposes) or dog collars. All these generic products are being sold by everyone. To achieve success, it is important to go down into the niche. You might not be willing to start selling the products which have gained a widespread presence with the competitive brand names appearing in the top list. And all those products such as a sneaker, apparel, and others which stand in the dominated list of the brands would stand unsuitable.
5. Poor and unclear policy for return cases
No doubt, all the businesses, whether a highly successful or low one, returns will always be there If you want to gain good credibility for your business, it is important to change your unclear return policy in an easily understandable one. When a user is not able to find the return policy or is not clear with it, it can be a major factor in decreasing your brand’s value.
It is important to rectify the return policy and ensure it is available under every product showcased on your website. If someone buys a product from your site, make sure to send the return policy in attachment with the emailed receipt.
6. No proper planning and testing process for the products
Most often, people have a thinking that the customers just have to choose a particular product and this will automatically double your business’s value. It can be a great dream. Though, all the e-commerce start-up business owners should stand in reality. It is not only the launching of the product which can gain a speedy success without any testing or planning.
As a business owner, you need to employ software for conducting proper market research and analyzing the competitors for increasing your outcomes. Proper software help to reach easy solutions related to product tracking, sales data monitoring, reaching to the opportunities, and so on. The software helps to eliminate the chances of losing in the products.
7. No SEO optimization
Using SEO optimization for your e-commerce start-up site is a thing that you might employ at a lateral stage, but it can bring good chances of success when you employ it at the beginning itself. You would like to establish or showcase the keywords which you’ve picked up. It is always a good thing to choose the keywords standing in the lowest rivalry. This can be a great way to get a good rank on the search list.
8. Hidden fees or no price alignment
This is a blundering thing which can make your potential customers run away from your site. It is something which you’re acting like stealing customer’s money. These uninformed fees or hidden charges behind the product’s cost can be a disturbing element to bring down your rank online. Some e-commerce websites charge a higher amount for the packaging which is not needed or should be told to the customers before buying a product. For the cart desertion, hidden fees are a major contributor.
9. No proper investment and money handling
It is always a crucial thing to know that money should always be with you when you’re starting or running an e-commerce business. To ensure proper cash flow in your business, you should be equipped with the cash amount. Moreover, inventory management is also a necessary thing. When you over-stuffed your products, it might take a long time in selling your products. Conduct a proper test in some inventories to ensure a good supply to your customers.
10. Indigent navigation on the site
It is crucial to make your site easy to use and handle the navigation. Among the elements of navigation, the critical ones include showing the visuals, labels, and so on. People get to turn off with the site which is operated with bad or indigent navigation. All your potential customers are willing to get an easy to use navigation.