We are on a mission to bust eCommerce Myths!

At first glance ecommerce business can appear to be straightforward and single handedly manageable in comparison to a more traditional concept of a physical store. However, there are very real challenges to operating a successful online enterprise as well as a few myths that could keep you from being one step ahead of the competition. We’ve created a list of what the most current issues facing ecommerce businesses are, and how you can navigate through this potential minefield.

Since we aren’t living in a fantasy land, let’s first look at some myths.

  • Top of the list is one million, in one year. If it was that simple, we’d all be doing it. It’s just not realistic. If anything, a few good years are needed to see some serious cash flow results.
  • Competition isn’t an obstacle. Whilst we aren’t competing like regular stores with eye-catching merchandising, or bold price reduction stickers, we are aiming to attract astute consumers. Customers on-line are often looking for bargains, just like physical shoppers. Similarly, product portfolio needs to stand out from the rest. There’s no use having generic images promoting your product or service if you want to get ahead.
  • Fraud won’t be a problem. eCommerce is an easy target for potentially fraudulent activity. Fraudulent orders will eat away at your profits and could put an abrupt end to trading.
  • Running a successful eCommerce business isn’t easy. It’s not as simple as building a website and sitting back. There will be many hours of blood, sweat and tears required to produce a slick operation. Whilst the internet is a treasure chest of useful information, nothing is for free. If you want to add value, you’ll need to invest some hard-earned cash.
  • Believing an eCommerce business isn’t a real business but just a hobby will make it so, a hobby. In other words, eCommerce subscribes to the same supply and demand principles of economy, and so relevant business experience and strategy are essential in order to be lucrative.
  • It’s all about the price. Whilst pricing is a crucial marketing component, selling a service on-line doesn’t always translate to the traditional model of buy in bulk, drop price and increase profits. To excel, other factors such as excellent customer service and value come in to play.

Now we’ve busted some myths, let’s consider some challenges and disadvantages to eCommerce business.

  • The tech foundations of your eCommerce business must be strong and secure. Failure to be diligent in this regard could expose you to lack of system security, reliability and consumer trust.
  • Software development is still evolving, furthermore there could be interface issues between eCommerce software and existing applications deeming the software incompatible.
  • Not all countries are running on high bandwidth, resulting in dropped connections or lagging.
  • Since the nature of eCommerce is beyond borders, product information needs to feel bespoke and personal to that market. Product Management Information software is one the latest solutions to this problem, for example, language and currency conversion that are constantly being updated.
  • Consumers are looking for that virtual experience in an intrinsic way. Augmented Reality (AR) is here, it will become a part of the landscape for eCommerce sooner than we think.
  • Research has shown that consumers want more than just the written product description. Watching a short video along with the written review is more likely to satisfy the need for product information.
  • Consumers’ touch points, smart speakers, cars and appliances to name a few, are all channels from which your eCommerce business needs to be relevant and accessible. The front-end, back-end relationship must be seamless and engaging.

Ultimately, digital consumers are still people behind a desk, or increasingly, on their mobiles or smart devices. As trends indicate mobile sales on eCommerce businesses will sky-rocket beyond traditional desktop purchases. Taking stock of the challenges and being prepared will help safe guard you against losing valuable time and money.

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