There are a ton of reasons why eCommerce websites fail. But we decided to gather the best ones and help you realise how to avoid making such mistakes.
Selling goods through an online store is an enticing endeavour and one that can help anyone achieve financial independence. In fact, eCommerce is the backbone of the digital economy. Platforms, such as WordPress, combined with powerful eCommerce plugins, such as Woocomerce, make the website creation process a breeze.
So what’s left for the entrepreneur? To come up with the idea and click a few times to register and create the website, right? It’s easy as that! Well, not so much. Let’s go through the most common reasons for why eCommerce websites fail to get off the ground.
1 – Mismanagement of Investment Funds
One of the core reasons why most eCommerce websites fail is the mismanagement or misappropriation of investment funds. An online store can be built from the ground up and operate with a little-to-no-investment if done correctly. But before you head out and start buying domain names and hosting plans, you should adequately allocate funds for each of the foundation marks of such an endeavour.
In the most basic of terms, the five pillars of an eCommerce website include the following.
- Website Development (Hosting, WordPress, Plugins, etc.)
- Content Strategy
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Digital (and Social Media) Marketing
- Supply Chain Management
Keeping in mind your current knowledge of these marks, you should adequately allocate your investment funds. Also, don’t go “all-in” from the very start. Keep a portion of the available finances for unexpected or additional expenses. Most of the marks, including SEO, Digital (and Social Media) Marketing and Content Strategy often require periodic investment.
2 – The “I can Do It Myself” Attitude
Another common reason for failure when creating an online store is a harmful “I can Do it Myself” attitude.
While there is nothing wrong with dealing with matters on your own, you have to be able to review your knowledge and allocate any additional time appropriately needed. Spend time to learn the new skills you need. Also, if it’s your first time testing a new ability, be prepared for further challenges that may arise. Hiring the help of experts is not always needed, but it can undoubtedly help kick-start aspects of your business. Be sure to properly research the market and the experience of your selected service and consider whether the resource value is ultimately worth investing.
3 – Not Realising Conversion (and Advertising) Potentials
Search Engine Optimization and social media management will help you increase your traffic. Without the implementation of proper conversion methodologies and strategies within your website, you won’t be able to realise its full potential. With most eCommerce website owners completely missing out on conversions, it’s easy to see why online stores fail.You can argue that the most prominent issue with eCommerce websites that end up failing, is the lack of product focus and proper design.
Another standard issue with most eCommerce stores is that most online store owners don’t realise the potential of online advertising. A lot of hosting services, for example, offer free AdSense credit that some people don’t even use. Not to mention, Social Media ads let you target specific individuals within your target audience.
The lack of conversion optimisation indeed is among the top reasons for why eCommerce websites end up failing.
If you want to learn more about the different ways you can boost your online conversion, make sure to check out [link to article on conversion]our blog.[/end link]
4 – A non-existent (or irregular) Review and Adapt Process
Last, but not least, no business or marketing endeavour can be successful without a proper review and adapt process. Tweaking your business and marketing strategies and adjusting them based on an overview of the analytics of the previous period is crucial. Without doing so, you will be missing out on the potential of your eCommerce website. Making the sites and leaving them be is one of the main reasons why most eShops fail within their first year of operation. Even if you have a successful period and you hit the first ranks in the search engines for your selected keywords. Unless you act upon and change your business according to the analytics, you won’t be able to achieve long-term success.
To properly review and adapt your business, you must make sure that you have the proper analytics tools in place. Almost any professional or business endeavour requires patience and persistence to achieve success. Make sure that you prepare for how to deal with an eCommerce business, before starting out. Want to know how to increase your conversion rates? Check out our tips on the best strategies that will help you do so instantly.
Another reason your website may fail is due to a lack of the correct support, click here to read about why having website support is crucial!