Oh, Crop! Killer E-commerce Mistakes You Need to Conquer

Published on: 10 August 2017 Last Updated on: 11 September 2024

One of the most lucrative and fast-growing industries is the e-commerce industry. It has risen in popularity over the years due to the convenience and accessibility it provides for the consumers, and even for the sellers themselves.

A lot of people have been trying to start their businesses from home, yet they don’t know where to start, and they have no idea about the wide variety of industries they can invest in or the right tools they should use.

Aside from knowing what to do with your new venture, you also need to know the common mistakes and blunders you can commit. Lapses, no matter how small, can be highly detrimental to your business. But as worrying as it all sounds, don’t worry.

You can learn how to spot, avoid, and remedy these mistakes with this simple guide. Without further ado, here are five mistakes you need to avoid to keep your e-commerce business bug-free and in full swing.

Mistake #1: Forgetting Your Market

One of the biggest and most common mistakes online entrepreneurs make is forgetting what their market looks like or who their target audience is. Aside from spending most of your time and effort in honing the perfect product, without actually creating a need for your customers, you also have to know your customer demographic.

Wouldn’t it be ideal to have customers before creating a product, rather than having a product beforehand and then looking for clients? All of your efforts will be rendered fruitless. Know how to target your audience or your buyer persona. A buyer persona is a representation of your customer’s demographics, such as age, gender, profession, and social status.

To paint you a clearer picture, if you’re a designer in the print industry, you need to know your target audience before you begin selling. You won’t sell cheap business cards to upper-class professionals looking to spruce up their portfolios just as you wouldn’t sell overly-priced prints for low-quality products.

Mistake #2: Lack of Social Media Presence

The regular person owns at least five social media accounts. And on average, we spend about an hour and 40 minutes browsing these sites. Can you believe that the number of online shoppers in the United States alone will reach 224 million in 2019! Numbers aside, the stats are telling us to leverage social media in getting our brand out there.

Say hi to social media. Brands are using social media marketing for some highly useful and practical reasons. Some even devise different loyalty program for their avid followers on social media channels. Some of these are because it provides:

Low-cost solution. Social media platforms are an excellent way to get bang for your buck advertising and brand exposure.
Customization. From Facebook Insights to Google Analytics, you can customize your pages to your heart’s content and receive detailed reports on your customers’ demographics and browsing behaviors.
Excellent customer service platform. According to a recent study by Venturebeat, 51 percent of the respondents say businesses need to be available around the clock. If e-commerce brands are now adopting customer service chatbots with 24/7 messaging services, so should you.

If you’re still not convinced, you can think of your social media accounts as your company’s very own affordable business cards, showcasing your brand and the services you offer virtually.

Mistake #3: Neglecting Mobile Optimization

Mobile is everywhere, and the world is accessing the internet through their smartphones. With 80 percent of internet users owning a smartphone, failing to recognize the need for mobile optimization, could mean losing half of your potential e-commerce market. Poor user experience can negatively impact your conversion rates.

If you shift your focus on creating the ideal mobile user experience for your customers, you can increase your brand reputation and customer retention, and avoid losing 61 percent of your clients due to the poor website experience.

As an internet-based entrepreneur, use whatever tools you have at your disposal to provide an optimized user browsing and shopping experience. Bank on your best assets and give yourself an advantage over your industry rivals.

Mistake #4: Faulty Shipping Flexibility

When you first decided to run an e-commerce business, I’m guessing you did for the flexibility it gave you in doing your daily tasks. You didn’t have to meet people face to face, and you could make your timetable to suit your needs. You can now do all of your work at home, and nobody would have to see you in sweatpants.

The same principle goes for your consumers. All customers like to have options, especially when it comes to shipping. According to research, only 1 in 4 online shoppers complete a purchase? 44 percent of cart abandonment cases are due to high shipping costs, and a whopping 93 percent of online shoppers say they’ll buy more if they got free shipping.

Free shipping can increase sales and improve customer loyalty. According to a study from E-tailing, 73 percent of purchasers consider unconditional free shipping as a decisive factor in shopping online. But like all other business aspects, weigh the pros and cons of your business before making a decision.

Mistake #5: Failing to Measure Performance

If you want to succeed in the competitive world of e-commerce, you need to know how to gauge and evaluate your performance. Take note of your business habits, particularly regarding expenses and marketing. Use your business plan as a roadmap to help you steer your way throughout your business venture.

Check your statistics regularly. Update your ledger and see if your business is thriving or failing. Look at your consumer insights and keep up with the masses’ latest trends. Be as specific as you can with your data. Don’t inflate your figures and understand the areas you lack to improve them further.

By monitoring your performance, you are helping your business achieve greater heights compared to passive management. And the good news is, there’s always room for improvement, be it for you or your business.

Takeaway

As John Sagel said, “What we do know now is that the ‘E’ in e-commerce doesn’t stand for ‘easy.’ Opening an e-commerce business can be overwhelming and nerve-wracking, but it can also be a highly worthwhile and profitable venture.

There is no guarantee of overnight success. However, you can set yourself up for the best chance at succeeding. To do so, grasp the basics, learn from seasoned entrepreneurs, and watch out for their mistakes to avoid committing them yourself.

Abdul Aziz Mondol

Abdul Aziz Mondol is a professional blogger who is having a colossal interest in writing blogs and other jones of calligraphies. In terms of his professional commitments, he loves to share content related to business, finance, technology, and the gaming niche.

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How to use IT to Save Your Business Money

In a world that’s focused on making your business fly, ‘return on investment’ (ROI) is a term that’s usually talked about when you’re planning SEO, PPC or social marketing strategies. In fact, IT can offer a huge ROI for your business – simply by streamlining processes that could otherwise see your team or contractors spending unnecessary time struggling with sub-par systems and devices. We’ll walk you through 6 of the best ways to save money, with nothing but IT as your tool… How to use IT to Save Your Business Money: Explore open-source software : It’s easy to forget that Microsoft, Google, Adobe and the other huge software and service providers aren’t the only companies out there who create worthwhile resources. If you’re used to working for a company, you might take it for granted that the typical applications you’ll use (think; word processing, spreadsheets, customer relationship management, accounting – and much more) are just there for you within a few clicks – but actually, those pieces of software cost a significant amount of money. The truth is, the household names are the ones we know about because they’ve got the budget to market their products far and wide – but in fact, there’s a host of great open-source applications out there that are completely free to use – you’ve just got to know where to look. Open-source is more than just a money-saving tip though, in fact, there’s a world of developers who believe open-source is the only way you can truly reflect user’s needs in the long term – and many of those developers commit themselves to maintain and adjusting the free software to suit businesses just like yours. This TechRadar list offers some great open-source applications that’ll definitely help your business save money when compared to full price alternatives. Let employees work on their own devices : ‘Bring your own device’ (BYOD) such a simple idea – yet so many businesses resist it. When you let your employees use their own devices to do company business, you’re saving huge amounts of money – and actually increasing productivity at the same time. Countless studies have shown that employees are more comfortable and more productive when they use their own devices for work tasks – and the maths really adds up: If using a device you’re familiar with only saves 10 minutes each day – that adds up to an incredible 45 hours over the course of a full working year – essentially offering you a free week’s worth of work if you’re happy for employees to use their own machines. Of course, there are security considerations to be made – and BYOD is likely to be impractical if you’re handling a lot of sensitive client information, but if you’d like to take away a huge chunk of capital expenditure from your budget, these could be problems you’d be happy to work around. Outsource support : When it comes to money-saving, good tech systems can give and take in similar measures – but one of the largest costs to consider when you’re installing IT relates to the people who are going to support it. If you’re a small company, even if you only have a very small number of employees, you’re probably going to need someone to support your IT systems – and if you don’t have that person in place, you run the very real risk of not being able to trade if your IT network goes down. So, what does the maths look like? Well, you’ve got a $40,000 basic wage for someone who comes with the skills set needed to keep a network up and running by themselves – then you’ve got to factor holiday cover, sickness, maternity/paternity leave, training and what happens if that person decides they’d like to work somewhere else. All in all, carrying IT staff can be problematic – and extremely expensive – which is why managed network providers (MSPs) are becoming more and more popular with small to medium-sized businesses. With an MSP, you’ve got the potential of 24/7 access, 365 days a year – plus no need to worry about keeping an individual up to speed with the latest accreditations and training programs. You simply pick up the phone and access the support – which, most of the time, can be applied to your systems remotely. If you’d like your tech to save you thousands – you could do a lot worse than finding a good MSP and treating them like they’re one of your valued team. Buy resources ‘as a service’ : If you’re bringing your IT support onboard as an outsourced service – why not do the same with your applications, platforms, and infrastructure? In the last 10 years, larger tech companies have realized that there’s an increasing number of small businesses becoming established year on year – and those companies simply do not have the money that’s needed to buy expensive software licenses, development platforms and costly networking infrastructure straight out of the gate. The solution? Offering all of the above on a subscription basis – pay for only what you use, whenever you need it? A result is an increasing number of people opting to move to solutions like Microsoft Office 365 and Google’s G-Suite – both examples of ‘Software as a Service’ (Saas). That said, it’s not just cloud-accessed software that’s available in this manner, Microsoft now provides email exchange servers on a similar subscription basis too – with the robust security you’d expect from one of the biggest tech companies on Earth. All these things are made possible by the cloud – the concept of storage and services that are hosted centrally, with your internet connection bridging the gap between your business and the resource. Of course, you’re going to need a connection that is stable and fast enough to allow uninterrupted access – but that’s more than realistic for most internet service providers. Interestingly – the monetary benefits of SaaS are actually likely to be two-fold, as there’s an increasing body of evidence that suggests people actually work more effectively together when they’re collaborating online, even when compared to sitting next to one another in an office space. If you want to increase productivity and reduce costs with the help of IT tech, you could do a lot worse than to explore which of your required resources could be procured ‘as a Service’. Read Also : How Does Modern Technology Propel The Success Of Your Business? 5 Affordable E-Commerce Shopping Carts For Small Business What Are The Benefits Associated With Crowdfunding For Businesses?

Ways On How to Advertise Coupon Codes in Social Media

For most e-commerce websites today, be it a small one or a big one like Verizon Wireless, Coupon Codes are essential to have the business advertised on the right portals. Most coupon sites promote your brand and keep it top in the competition with similar brands. If you thought that coupon codes essentially sacrifice your revenues to get more sales, you could be quite wrong. Sometimes, even a huge discount coupon code could help drive a major sales hike. The best way to get more traction with your audience and stand out is by using effective social media strategies. Wondering how to get it done? Check out here Set Your Goals : Before you start working on your promotional campaign on social media channels, it is crucial to set your goals. Apart from getting you new customers, coupon codes can also retain existing customers when you place them right on social media. There are many interesting ways to set up your social media promotional coupons. If you are intending to clear out stock, you could start a buy one get one offer. If you would want to do it on a regular basis, the best way to do it is by setting a weekly or monthly clear out sale for your social audience. Your weekly or monthly promo cycle could help your audience look forward to your posts on social channels. This also aids customer retention. By offering a promotion on the most popular product in your shop, you can attract new customers. Set specific goals and plan your coupon code offer that suits best. Here are some of the most popular offer types: Offer Types using coupon codes: Percentage off on a specific product - 20% off all shirts Percentage off on a sale cart - 5% off on your cart at checkout Dollar off on a specific product - $10 off on your first product purchase Dollar-off on a sale cart - Buy for $100 or more and get $10 off Free shipping coupon code Buy Two Get One offers or Buy One Get One offers Coupon codes promotion on social media at regular intervals would make your brand more popular and sought after. With short-life coupon codes, you can get a good brand following. Promotion helps you fix any market gaps that your brand might face. A perfect promo plan can help you work positively towards your goal. Create Your Coupon Codes : If you are using Shopify or Bigcommerce, creating your coupon codes is pretty simple. Amazon also offers a promo code feature that is designed for social media platforms. You might also consider using tools like Snipcart to create your coupon codes and promoting them. Platforms like Rignite offers one-stop for coupon codes on social media, you can create, share as well as track the effectiveness of your coupon code that you use. It does not matter how you create your coupon codes, what matters is tracking and monitoring the campaign to derive results. Designing Your Social Media Posts : It is important to create engaging and interesting social media posts to promote your coupon codes. When you schedule your posts, make sure that they go live at the same promotional period that you have set in the system All About Creating Your Promotional Posts : When you create promotional posts for coupon codes, place your coupon codes both on the image as well as text. When your audience sees your promotion, make it clearly standing out to help them see the value. Adding a sense of urgency like short-life coupon codes or setting up a set number of codes can help to make better conversions. Adding relevant hashtags also help to promote your posts and taking them up in the right direction. Spend On Social Media Advertising : Paid promotion on social media websites like Facebook and Twitter help reach your campaign to a specific target audience outside your main followers base. Micro-Influencers Promote Your Business : Micro-influencers are a great way to promote specific niche related coupon codes. Although their audience may be smaller in number they are usually more involved and attentive to posts. Promoted posts hold more value as the base audience are usually peers who trust the micro-influencer. To partner with micro-influencers, you can use Dealspotr to find your perfect match. Branded Videos Impact On Promotion : Another effective way to promote your coupon code is by creating relevant branded videos. One of the overlooked platforms to advertise your product is YouTube. If you find creating a video difficult, you could also contact a micro-influencer from YouTube to promote your brand. Famebit is one of the popular channels to connect you with the right influencer. Tracking and Measuring ROI : Always monitor your social media promotions to find out what works best for you. Tracking down the platform that brings you more conversions is one of the most effective ways to focus your time and money on what's most effective for your brand Social media is one of the places to find the right target audience for your brand. Instead of using bargain shopping websites like Groupon and Coupon.com, promoting your coupon codes on social media is the right way to target potential buyers. Read Also : Advantages And Disadvantages Of Coupon Codes In Your Business Ways To Spice Up Your Online Shopping Of Apparels 5 Actionable Mobile Marketing Tips That Drive Sales

Top 10 B2B Marketplaces to Grow Business!

B2B marketplace has become the best platform for wholesalers, retailers, or buyers to trade. It has helped so many sellers to reach their expansion selling goals. To sell your product or services through these platforms, you will have to create an ID on a particular website. The platform will work as a broker or commission agent. The best thing is that you can sell your product or services worldwide. Here we have listed the top 10 platforms, which will help you to grow your business. Here are the top 10 B2B marketplaces to grow business: 1. alibaba.com: Alibaba.com stands at the top of this list because it is considered the best leading b2b platform. Jack Ma and Pang Li, these two Chinese people founded this marketplace 18 years ago and since then offers a broad range of B2B services all over the world. It is also considered the best platform for related services, including B2C and C2C. 2. eWorld Trade: Eworld trade is also one of the best leading trade platforms for today's generation. It is because it has made the process more reliable, worthy, and secure. The well-established trade platform also offers a broad range of eCommerce services. 3. TradeLeaves: TradeLeaves makes Cross Border and Domestic Trade simple through its online platforms comprising of Marketplace, Business Listing, Information Services (BLISS), and Classifieds. TradeLeaves user-friendly digital platforms make increased visibility and exponential growth a few clicks away. TradeLeaves supplements the online platforms with its own professional services and escrow services as well as third-party services. Simply put, TradeLeaves makes it easy to buy and sell anywhere in the world—cross border or domestic. 4. EC21: The Korean counterpart also offers a broad range of marketing services all over the world. The head offices of EC21 are located in China, Russia, Malaysia, and India. Over 2 million people are engaging in services, including overseas marketing, trading educational seminars, and national cooperation. 5. TradeIndia: TradeIndia is an India-based marketplace platform that stands next to IndiaMart. It has participated in national and international trade events and offers a vast range of services, including DialB2b, Call Me Free, trade alerts, credit reports, and lead reports. 6. IndiaMart: One of the most India-based leading marketplaces is Indiamart, which is continuously growing since its foundation. There are more than 1.7 million visitors recorded on this platform and taking services like B2B and B2C. 7. En. Ofweek: The China-based marketplace is still growing but also has gained so much popularity in the electrical components trade all over the world. The fresh B2B marketplace contender is known as an in-depth reporting marketplace for its sellers. If you want to expand your business in China, you first know everything about the Chinese market. Click here to access china insight. 8. Global Sources: One of the most leading marketplace platforms of some prime countries offers a broad range of import/export services. In the countries where it is working, it has claimed millions of visitors a month and also offers a unique role in the GDP growth of those countries. 9. DHGate: Other China-based service providers have more than 40 million products listed on their trading platform. There are more than 1 million Chinese suppliers are trading with over 10 million buyers of 230 countries. DHGate is considered the most reliable platform that offers valuable benefits to both the buyer and the seller. 10. Amazon: Amazon was introduced as an e-store for purchasing several goods for personal or commercial use. The company noticed that people are showing a lot of interest in their service then they decide to start the B2B process, and now it is one of the best growing and leading trading platforms of India. Conclusion: Here is the list of the top 10 B2B marketplaces that are working all over the world. These platforms are considered the most trustworthy service provider. One can choose any of the above-listed platforms to start a new journey of earning more and more profit through the online selling method. Read Also: Why Should You Hire a B2B Digital Marketing Consultant? How a B2B Payment Solution Can Aid Your Ecommerce Company? The Right B2B E-Commerce Platforms to Sell Your Used Machinery

Oh, Crop! Killer E-commerce Mistakes You Need to Conquer

Mistake #1: Forgetting Your Market

Mistake #2: Lack of Social Media Presence

Mistake #3: Neglecting Mobile Optimization

Mistake #4: Faulty Shipping Flexibility

Mistake #5: Failing to Measure Performance

Takeaway

How to Get What You Want at Work By Strategic Negotiation

Transacting Safely In Craiglist

Abdul Aziz Mondol

Abdul Aziz Mondol is a professional blogger who is having a colossal interest in writing blogs and other jones of calligraphies. In terms of his professional commitments, he loves to share content related to business, finance, technology, and the gaming niche.

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Related

How to use IT to Save Your Business Money

Ways On How to Advertise Coupon Codes in Social Media

Top 10 B2B Marketplaces to Grow Business!

Oh, Crop! Killer E-commerce Mistakes You Need to Conquer

Mistake #1: Forgetting Your Market

Mistake #2: Lack of Social Media Presence

Mistake #3: Neglecting Mobile Optimization

Mistake #4: Faulty Shipping Flexibility

Mistake #5: Failing to Measure Performance

Takeaway

Share this Article

How to Get What You Want at Work By Strategic Negotiation

Transacting Safely In Craiglist

Abdul Aziz Mondol is a professional blogger who is having a colossal interest in writing blogs and other jones of calligraphies. In terms of his professional commitments, he loves to share content related to business, finance, technology, and the gaming niche.

Leave a Reply

Popular

Follow Us

Recent

Related