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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The Right B2B E-Commerce Platforms to Sell Your Used Machinery

Any business person aims to make many sales to stay afloat. Choosing the right B2B marketplace help, you grow your business to a whole new level. There are many B2B marketplaces on the internet that makes it hard for sellers to choose on that best suits their needs. Whether one decides to go for a leading B2B European marketplace or a small dedicated niche website, it must help a seller get buyers and offer the customer good shopping experience. The latter especially is very important if a customer is to keep shopping at the same B2B marketplace. So how then can a seller find a B2B marketplace that best suits their needs? 1. You should agree with the policies and objectives of the platform: Because there are numerous B2B marketplaces on the internet, they are bound to be different in the way they conduct business. As a seller, you should agree with their business model and make sure that they do what they promise to do for you as a seller. Consider their payment policies, seller agreements, commissions, user support among other important things. In case you are in doubt, ask questions and keep doing your research until you are satisfied. If you and the platform have different goals, then you will struggle with sales on the platform. 2. The cost of doing business on the platform: Different B2B eCommerce platforms exist because they earn a certain percentage every time a sale is made. If as a seller you factor in everything all the costs of selling your used machinery on a certain platform, you should make a decent amount afterward. Avoid platforms that overcharge you on commissions and make you shoulder a lot of the expenses. This is important especially to people that are selling used machinery as a business and not as a one-time thing. 3. How easy to use is the platform? With many e-commerce platforms in the market, people will gravitate towards those that are easy to access and use. If a platform can be accessed even on the smallest device and still performs the same as if one is using a PC or laptop, then that’s where many buyers would be. The platforms should be responsive and offer the best user experience. It should allow the buyer and seller to communicate with each other and offer easy payment plans within the platform. This not only protects the seller form fake buyers but also the buyer from fake sellers. 4. Is one’s business on the platform scalable? Again, this may not apply to one-time sellers because once they have sold the equipment, they don’t need the platform anymore. For people that are looking to start used machinery resell business, they have to consider that their business will grow and they will need a platform that will take that into account. How e-commerce sites do this is by providing features on the website that allows one to create more than one storefront. This allows the seller to target the audience they want by offering different products. Each storefront can be used to sell individual products. 5. Personalization and customization: When choosing a good B2B platform, ensure that it is flexible enough to suit your needs at different stages of your business. It should allow you to scale up and down whenever you want. You should be able to change the appearance of your storefront from the backend. Make it suit your needs and that of your potential client. For example, you can choose the features that you think are important for your clients such as an increase in the number of photos you can upload a product. For personalization, choose a platform that targets customers with something they are interested in based on their recent searches. This ensures that potential customers are made aware of your products and are directed to your storefront. There are many popular and smaller, dedicated B2B e-commerce platforms to choose from on the internet. You need to choose a platform that takes care of your needs as well as those of the customer. Also, if an e-commerce platform can help customers discover your page with ease, it is the right platform for you. Read Also: How Social Media Can Boost Up The E-Commerce Industry 7 Ways Technology Can Help In Customer Management And Sales Tags In E-Commerce: This Is Why They Are Important Top 10 Features To Have In Marketing Automation Platforms 5 Reasons To Use Magento For Your Next Ecommerce Website

Make Your Business Popular Online

Start Your Website: Almost for every businessman, whether small or big getting the highest rank on search engines is a dream. To achieve this, you should build and manage high-quality and useful for customers website. Let get the insight of the most important reasons on commercial site search ranking. For every website, the home page is very influential, so the presentation part is more important. If they find the improper link or irrelevant link, they ask you to edit it. Content, keywords, and the website design are essential things for SEO marketing. The content play a very important part in website promotion therefore content should be very clear and relevant. Unclear and illogical text can get the trouble for your website as Google can block it. Use of keywords should be appropriate and limited. It should not be repeated more than thrice. If your website has hyperlinks which do not take the user to the right page, it should be corrected or deleted. Also, it's very important to create clear, well-structured and easy to use website design. It should allow users to find any information in not more than three clicks, that will be loaded quickly as on desktop as on mobile. Use Social Media: The next step is related to social media marketing ideas which will improve the outlook for your online business It's likely that you're aware of the potential effect of social networking around the world. Do you know that internet websites are also great for promoting your business? Below are some ways you can use social internet marketing that will help you increase your organization. Create your post's headlines clever or attractive. The very first thing the various reader's views is the heading. Your headline must be interesting, useful, and also beneficial. Set some real attempt into great headlines. If you are planning to create a social networking profile, you must be prepared to regularly upgrade it. Staying updated will keep your articles new. Therefore folks think that they're studying something new and also interesting. Enhance your websites many times per week to enhance the standard of your articles. One great way of boosting your readers is by providing discount coupons as well as special discounts to them. Your customers will increase your gains and provide you extra product sales after they feel they're in a membership that is special. A highly effective Social Media Marketing strategy requires more than just good articles; it requires to resonate with buyers and also readers. So just be sure you do not change all your focus on one area like video clips and that you utilize resources like Facebook tweets or Twitter posts to assist you to market your products or organization. The objective must be to get and keep a reader's interest for as long as essential to deliver information. The long activity, obviously, is to have recurring site visitors. Do not let social media's popularity mislead you; you still have to make a cogent strategy to take benefit of this promoting. You must know how social media marketing can assist you and exactly how you can manage issues that come along with it. Managing a campaign with both training and organizing beneath your belt can help you defeat your rivals and build much more efficient techniques. Develop a competition for your clients through Twitter. Many people appreciate joining a contest or competition. By running either a contest or competition on your Twitter, the attraction of your web page will increase rapidly. These kinds of marketing promotions can help increase the popularity of your brand name. Utilize some network marketing sites for the best success. Facebook is hugely preferred. However, Myspace still has a following, as well as Twitter is growing in popularity. You have a higher possibility of success if you implement various kinds of media outlets. By using these tips, social networking sites will help make your organization. Social network sites now go beyond the occasional rank replace or discussed picture book; these days, these websites offer important chances for organizations. By applying the knowledge you have figured out above, you'll be able to use social networking to boost your business position. Read More : 1. The 10 WordPress Plugins Every Successful Blogger Uses 2. Building A Brand For Your Small Business About the Author: Carol James is an EssayLab writer and senior editor. She has an MA degree in social sciences and is an excellent specialist in this field. Moreover, Carol writes articles, reviews on the different subjects interesting to her readers. So, if you have any questions, suggestions on the writing, feel free to ask her!

6 Reasons Why Infographics Are Important in Media Marketing

Over the years, businesses have shifted gears and taken a step back from traditional marketing to go digital. For a brand to be heard and seen in this age, entrepreneurs need to step up their digital marketing games. Businesses need to create an excellent first impression for them to stand out. An effective way to get noticed on the internet is through impressive infographics. If you are starting a business or have been sticking to conventional marketing, here are six great reasons why you should consider using infographics in your marketing campaign. But before that, let us find out more about infographics. What Are Infographics and Their Role in Marketing? Infographics are visual representations of data. These are used to visually present both qualitative and quantitative data, making them easier to comprehend. These also transform basic and simple marketing narratives into stories that beg to be shared. For instance, if you need to condense research and huge numbers in your presentation, you can turn to infographics. The combined text, images, and graphs are presented creatively, making it both fun and easy to read. Around 65% of brands apply infographics in marketing, especially in their social marketing strategy. Why Include Infographics in Your Social Media Marketing Strategy? Below, we will discuss the importance of infographics in your social media marketing. Keep reading! 1. They are so easy to comprehend Because humans are highly visual, we quickly understand and are captivated by images more than dull text. If you want to attract your customers’ attention better, then your content must include graphic visuals. An infographic can also tell a story in a more engaging way and create a lasting impression about your brand and message. When promoting a service or product, consider infographics because people are more attracted to illustrated text. When consumers want to check out a product, they tend to look for visual storytelling materials because most people no longer want to read essays. Trust me, more people are moving into the world of graphic illustrations for reference. That should include you. 2. They have viral capabilities I am sure you are familiar with the Share button on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other social media platforms. When people see a unique infographic, they are likely to share it with their friends and family. An attractive infographic can help boost your digital marketing campaign. With the right infographics, your brand exposure on different social media platforms will insanely increase! Just don’t forget to add widgets and share buttons, and choose the right social media channel. 3. They draw attention Visual aids, more than other media formats, help your target market pay more attention. Why? Simply because they are fun, engaging and allow people to comprehend complicated messages. Take this for an example: You are sharing the benefits of using and buying your product. However, your message is overwhelmed by large numbers and numerous reasons for using your product. To make your customers continue listening and reading, you should create graphic content. 4. They promote brand awareness Embed your brand’s logo in your infographics. This is one decisive way to market your brand on the internet. The audience wants to know where your compelling marketing content came from, so feature the name of your brand throughout your infographic. 5. They offer SEO benefits SEO, or also search engine optimization, is highly valuable in marketing — your marketing department should know about this. People turn to Google’s search bar if they want to know about something. It may be a product, a service, a term, or anything in this universe. Google links people to websites with higher algorithms. 6. They start conversations People like to talk about information they see — whether it’s from a sidewalk or on Facebook. The informative infographic that they come across while scrolling through their social media timeline can pave the way for conversations which can also help reach your specific target market. Do you have an upcoming sales promotion or concert event? Then make use of graphic materials and get people to start talking about it! But the main challenge is how to create infographics. Our reputable website, Venngage, has tools and templates that can boost your marketing content into something that can complement your brand and impact the growth of your sales and internet presence. If you are committed to competing with other brands, don’t beat a dead horse and start designing your effective marketing template with Venngage! Plus, you don’t need expert skills to design one as we have user-friendly and cool templates for you to use. Read Also: How to Get Noticed in Marketing: Improve Your Resume With These Tips 5 Ways Marketing Strategies Will Change Post COVID-19 Digital Marketing Classes: What You Need To Know

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

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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

The Right B2B E-Commerce Platforms to Sell Your Used Machinery

Make Your Business Popular Online

6 Reasons Why Infographics Are Important in Media Marketing

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

Tags

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