Top Ecommerce Business Challenges and How To Solve Them

While there are thousands of ecommerce platforms and software solutions available in the market, not all of them are set up for success. Ecommerce is a complex business with many different factors involving conversion, UX, marketing, and product strategy. Regardless of your niche or industry, as long as you're running an eCommerce website, then there are a number of problems you need to be aware of.

With the right product, an understanding of your customers, and good implementation of retail strategies — anyone can have an eCommerce store that reaches great heights. This infographic covers the most common problems that eCommerce businesses face and ways to solve them. 

Identifying and Solving the Top E-commerce Challenges

Consider that eMarketer’s forecast predicts that by 2024, global eCommerce will generate $6.4 trillion in sales. This is a huge market with potential for profit. Ecommerce's share of the retail market increased as much as it did five years ago. These numbers show that eCommerce is a powerful force in the retail industry and will continue to gain momentum in the years to come.

Businesses that have been in operation for a long time have had to adapt to new challenges and changes in the market. The same is true for eCommerce businesses. In order to survive, these companies must be able to solve their top eCommerce challenges.

Challenge 1: Fostering Brand Loyalty

Brand loyalty is a big challenge for eCommerce companies. People have so many options to choose from and they do not hesitate to try new brands and products. One of the biggest issues with eCommerce is that it's difficult for brands to foster loyalty and build trust with their customers.

To solve this problem, you need to find a way to make your customers feel special and encourage them to buy from you again and again. If you want to encourage repeat purchases, then you need to understand what makes your customers stay loyal and get more out of them than just one-off sales.

Create a Brand that's Captivating`

The most important thing when it comes to eCommerce is building a brand that's captivating. If your customers don't connect with your brand and feel like they can trust you, then they won't buy from you. In order to create a great brand experience, you need to make sure every customer interaction feels personal, from the first time they visit your site until after they've made their purchase.

Use Consistent Messaging to Build Trust

Don’t be afraid to change things up in order to stay relevant, but keep your core values at the forefront of your messaging. Have a clear vision of who you are, what you stand for, and why you do what you do. If you can communicate this clearly, people will join the movement.

Challenge 2: Improving Customer Retention

The most common eCommerce problem is customer retention. You have all the data you need to understand what your customers want, but you can't seem to keep them around.It's not that your customers don't love your business. It's that they don't know how much they love it. You have a great product or service, but you haven't given your customers a reason to come back for more.

Create a Mobile-First Experience

Make sure your website is designed with mobile users in mind, so they can easily find what they're looking for no matter where they are or how much time they have available to spend online. This includes making sure all links are functional on mobile devices and providing easy ways for customers to contact you if they have any questions or concerns.

Customer Service

Make sure you have the best customer experience possible. Customers want to know that their questions will be answered quickly and that their concerns will be addressed professionally and courteously.

It’s important to have a phone number and email address available for customers to contact, along with an online form that can be filled out quickly and easily. Make sure all of your employees are well trained in customer service. They should know how to answer questions about products and services, as well as any other concerns customers may have.

Product Reviews

Your product reviews are also very important for improving your business. When it comes to online shopping, people tend to rely heavily on reviews when making decisions about what products they want to purchase. If your product has low reviews, then chances are that people won't even consider buying it from you. Make sure that each of your product has at least one positive review before listing it on your website. This will help increase trust among potential buyers, who may not be familiar with your brand yet.

Challenge 3: Integrate Social Media into Your Strategy

Social media is a great way to get your products in front of new customers. It also provides a way to interact with people who have already purchased from your site, which helps build trust and loyalty. However, many eCommerce companies struggle with social media because they feel like it takes a lot of time to manage multiple accounts and platforms.

Integrate From the Beginning

One solution is to integrate social media into your eCommerce strategy from the beginning — rather than adding it later down the road when you realize it's something you need to do. The key here is using the right tools so that managing multiple platforms isn't overwhelming or time-consuming for employees. The more you can make social media part of your everyday operations, the better.

Challenge 4: Growing Traffic and Sales

If you want to be successful in eCommerce, you need to attract traffic and convert them into customers. And at the same time, you need to keep your existing customers happy and make sure they don’t leave for other competitors who can offer better service at lower prices.

Use SEO to Drive Traffic and Conversions

Use keywords in the title tag, description tag, and URL of your site. Your website needs to show up in search results when people search for the products or services you sell. Use keywords in these places so that Google knows what your site is about.

Optimize Your Product Pages for Conversion

Optimizing product pages for conversion means creating pages that provide helpful information about the products you sell and that makes it easy for people who visit those pages to make a purchase. You can do this by adding reviews from customers, answering common questions about your products, and showing related products on each page so people see what else they might want to buy while they're on the website.

Challenge 5: Personalizing the Shopping Experience

Ecommerce companies need to find ways to make the shopping experience more personalized for shoppers so that they feel like their needs are being met. This means offering a variety of products, but also taking into account things like size and color preferences.

In addition, companies should use data insights to help them understand what products customers like as well as what they don’t like or would prefer not be purchased together (i.e., if someone buys running shoes and socks, they might want to offer them together in future offers).

Know Where Your Shoppers are Coming From

One way to improve search results is by looking at past searches customers have made — whether on your site or elsewhere — and then putting these items into an algorithm that will suggest related terms when someone enters into the search bar on your site.

You can use this information to tailor your content strategy so that it appeals to these shoppers. It’s also important to know where your audience is coming from so you can create content that will be shared on these platforms.

Challenge 6: Accelerating Checkout Speed

The average online shopper spends only four minutes browsing before deciding whether or not to make a purchase. To keep them engaged and encourage them to complete the checkout process, you need to optimize your site and focus on reducing friction.

One of the most important factors in achieving this goal is accelerating the checkout process. If you want people to buy from your eCommerce website, they need to be able to complete their purchases quickly and easily. That’s why it’s so important that you remove any obstacles that might slow things down.

Make the Checkout Process As Simple As Possible

The average e-commerce checkout takes about 7 seconds. People want to get in and out of your store as quickly as possible, so it’s important that your checkout process is quick and easy with as few steps as possible. So make sure that you don’t ask for too much information upfront.

Some sites will allow you to sign up for an account and save information before making a purchase so that they don’t have to enter it again when they come back later.

Use Multiple Payment Gateways

PayPal and Stripe are two of the most popular payment gateways used by eCommerce sites. However, there may be other payment gateways that could offer lower fees or even better conversion rates. Test different solutions and see which one works best for your website.

Use a Single Add To Cart Button

It’s important that customers know exactly what they’re paying for when they add items to their cart — especially when there are multiple sizes or colors available. By using a single Add To Cart button, it will be clear where the item will appear in their cart and how much it will cost them at checkout. This can help eliminate any confusion on behalf of the customer and increase conversions.

Challenge 7: Making the Most of Data

Data has become an increasingly important part of retail over recent years. It helps us understand our customers better and make smarter decisions on pricing, stock levels, marketing campaigns, etc. This is why data analytics is such an important tool for retailers today: it gives us extra insight into how customers behave and what they want from your products and services.

Optimize for Voice Search

If you have a website that offers products or services, it’s important to make sure that it’s optimized for voice search so people can find what they need quickly. This means using keywords and phrases in your content and on your site’s pages that people would use when searching for a product or service. It also means making sure that the content is easy to understand and provides quick answers so that people can find what they want quickly.

Challenge 8: Engaging Customers Post-Purchase

In the world of e-commerce, the customer journey is more important than ever. The customer experience is what will determine whether or not they return to the site again, or if they’ll take their business elsewhere. One way to ensure that your customers are happy is by engaging them post-purchase.

Offer Follow-Up Emails After Purchase

Send out a ‘thank you for your order email within 24 hours of purchase. This should include information about delivery times, any relevant tracking information, or questions about returns or exchanges (if applicable). If you don’t have the answers to these questions at hand, let them know when they will be available and how they can get in touch with customer service if necessary.

As a next step, Thank your customers 7 days after they make a purchase. This email should provide an update on any outstanding issues from the previous email, as well as new offers and promotions that might interest them based on their recent orders/behavior on your site.

Challenge 9: Ecommerce Security

Today, eCommerce sites are prime targets for cyber security criminals. The data you collect from your customers is the most valuable asset of your business and it needs to be protected at all costs. As an online merchant, you need a robust security solution to protect your customers' data. Many businesses don’t have enough money to invest in security, but it’s a necessity for every eCommerce store. Your website needs to be protected from malicious attacks and data breaches that could cost thousands of dollars in lost sales and reputation damage. To solve this problem, you should get a good SSL certificate and make sure it’s enabled on all pages across your site (beginning with checkout). Make sure that all passwords are strong, and use two-factor authentication wherever possible.

Implementing an SSL Certificate

One way to ensure eCommerce security is by implementing an SSL certificate on your website. With an SSL certificate, you'll be able to encrypt data between your customer's computer and your site's server. This will help prevent malicious actors from intercepting credit card information or personal details as it travels from your customers' computers to yours.

Challenge 10: Find the Right Shipping Technology

The cost of shipping is one of the top eCommerce challenges, and it's an ever-increasing problem. Customers are becoming more and more aware of how much they're charged for shipping, so if you don't have competitive shipping rates, they'll shop elsewhere.

Understand Your Customers’ Needs And Expectations

The best way to control your shipping costs is by understanding how people shop online and what drives them to buy from you instead of another website or store in your local area. If you can identify the most common points of sale for each product category, then you can focus on optimizing those points rather than trying to compete on price alone.

Offer Free Shipping

This is one of the most popular ways to attract customers and increase sales. However, make sure you have an accurate shipping cost calculator in place so you don’t lose money on your shipping expenses. Make sure your customers know about it too, so they don’t feel tricked into paying for shipping when they thought they were getting something for free.

Make Sure Your Product Descriptions Are Complete

This way, customers will know exactly what they are paying for (and not paying for) when making purchases from your store. It also gives them peace of mind that they won’t be surprised by extra charges when their order arrives at their door step.

Aligning Marketing With Business Goals

These are the top eCommerce challenges and a few ways to solve them. While your specific eCommerce challenges will differ based on your unique business goals, these are among the most common pain points that many of eCommerce companies struggle with. Becoming familiar with these issues will help you recognize them in your own business and take steps to address them head-on in your next eCommerce project.

Icreon has helped a large number of clients achieve success in their eCommerce journey, right from setting up an eCommerce website to building an effective personalization strategy. The range of eCommerce solutions we have can help you build and evolve your eCommerce website to meet your business goals, without compromising on performance and security.