Discover the 5 Main Reasons Why eCommerce Businesses Fail

Launching an eCommerce business can sometimes appear to be simple. You pick a niche, launch a business, and start selling products – easy enough, yes? Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as we would have wanted. In fact, according to statistics, about 90% of eCommerce startups fail within the first 120 days! So yes, not going to lie, it’s a pretty challenging task.

However, not all hope is lost! To create and grow an eCommerce business you need to be wary of the reasons why eCommerce businesses fail and work on avoiding these icebergs that can sink your business. And in this article, we would love to share the five most common reasons and share some tips to help eCommerce businesses. 

Choosing the Wrong Niche

If there is one reason why eCommerce businesses fail, it is choosing the wrong niche. “But what makes it wrong?” – you might ask. Well, first of all – areas with very high competition. Small, new businesses most of the time just cannot survive there.

Also, many fail into the trap of selling what they like. Don’t get us wrong, sharing your passion with others is great and would make a great marketing tool, but the strategy of all the major eCommerce businesses is to be on the lookout for what buyers want and would most likely buy. 

That is why it’s a good idea to do some market research – this is a strategy that can help you create a profitable eCommerce business. 

Bad eCommerce Business Website

Do you know what all the profitable eCommerce businesses have in common? They all have a fast, responsive and appealing website. 

What you need to keep in mind, is the fact that the majority, if not all, transactions are done via the site. And when you have a glitching, slow, and complicated site, there’s a high chance that people would not want to deal with all these issues and move on. That is why one of the best eCommerce business ideas is to improve your website so it would have:

• A good mobile optimization
• An appealing, captivating design
• Helpful and simple navigation, and interface, so that even non-tech-savvy people had no problem using your platform.
• Easy and quick purchasing process.

Poor Customer Support

Customer Support is an essential part of any successful business, and eCommerce is no exception. According to research, about 58% of people at some point turned to CS for help. What’s more, 54% of them have higher expectations for customer service than even a year ago.

Thus, if you want to ensure that your eCommerce business is successful, you need to improve your customer support. You can start by ensuring that the CS is fast and replies as soon as possible, preferably within 12 hours. As an alternative, it would also be great for your site to have a live chat.

No Digital Marketing Strategy

Any profitable eCommerce businesses understand the importance of marketing, especially when talking about startups. You can have something as beautiful as Rainforest Guardians, user-friendly as Amazon, or immersive as Book of Ra, but none of this will matter if no one knows about your platform.

And that is one of the main problems eCommerce businesses – they don’t think of any good marketing strategy. But how can you avoid it?

In addition to working with experts and developing a digital marketing strategy, you can create some social media profiles to work on building followers, utilize Google Ads to improve traffic or even turn to the help of the influencers.

Not enough money

This is an issue we all face, and the reason eCommerce businesses fail. The reality is that to progress your business, you need improvements and marketing – these things cost money.

And not many understand the value of these things and naively may think that the clients will just find you. So they launch their eCommerce businesses, realize that they have no funds for improvements, and are left with no sales and customers.

So what do we recommend in this situation? Wait. Don’t rush to open your business until you have sufficient funds. You should not only open a business but also invest in marketing methods, and the experts that can help with that, improvements to your site, hiring people for customer support, etc.

Conclusion

There are many reasons why eCommerce businesses fail, some might say it’s a matter of bad luck, but that is only partly true. You can take action to prevent the downfall of your startup.

To do it, you can find out how eCommerce businesses make money and take some notes. Focus on what clients want, invest in some good marketing strategy, and provide a top-notch site and customer support. And, naturally, make sure that you have enough money!

Or maybe you know some other methods some major eCommerce businesses utilize to keep and gain clients and stay relevant? Then feel free to share your ideas in the comments. We would love to hear from you!