E-commerce is exciting but challenging. Common Ecommerce problems and dilemma pops up right from choosing workable CMS platform to setting up an online store, A/B testing of payment system, online fraud identification and handling, shipment control and configuration, charge-back handling, refund setup, customer grievance handling, performance tuning and digital marketing.
ECommerce venture opens new scope of business opportunities and finances. It also throws up challenges and new set of ecommerce problems which are common but sometimes tricky to resolve. At times, these are technical, strategic, operational, legal or country specific problems. E-commerce business operating rules and SOP are not same across the world. European union has recently updated rules, USA has different and India has different.
There is a lot of misleading and non verifiable information floating about starting an eCommerce business that creates confusion. There is a lack of clarity on how to start building and deploying an eCommerce business and the important considerations and mistakes to avoid. Lack of transparency and awareness are driving an enormous amount to myths on doing e-commerce business.
For making a successful e-commerce venture you will need to
alleviate all myths around e-commerce and ready to face the real but common challenges and problems associated with eCommerce businesses. Lets not allow the common problems frustrate you after the launch of your business. Business specific eCommerce challenges and their solutions can be tackled as an ongoing adaptation and response to problems.
Important: An eCommerce business is as challenging as the brick and mortar business. It include technical challenges that are less likely in older form of businesses.
It is important to find and resolve critical e-commerce challenges which affect your business operations. These have to be resolved before you take your store online and start receiving orders.
You have to focus on resolving issues and challenges like shipment, transactions, refund, fraudulent and customer care before launching your store. One of the challenges is to select a good suitable eCommerce platform. Once, you tackle these very fundamental issues, your business will take off as your system is able develop trust with customers which is the most essential for success.
Convert Ecommerce Challenges Into Opportunities
The challenges and problems that eCommerce venture throws out, are hindrances to average, but not for smart businesses. Market has always proved that someone's loss is someone's gain. These challenges if resolved properly, present huge sales and profit opportunities that could make your business rise like a phoenix.
So, start planning with a list of challenges (prioritize in order of criticality) and resolve one by one before your store go live. Make sure that every operation is tested rigorously before launch. This will allow you to focus on business growth and avoid day to day nagging concerns when your business go critical.
Commons e-Commerce Problems Listing
As we are dealing with common eCommerce problems before they haunt and destroy business operations, here is a checklist of common problems eCommerce business face before going live:
1. Setting up online store
This is the first question that will surface, but mind it, this is the easiest of the problem to face and you will have an easy solution for this problem.
You have many choice:
- If you are not conversant with the web technology and e-commerce frameworks / CMS, you can outsource setting up your online store. The developer will guide you in the entire process and take your input on store design, its implementation, transaction handling, return of goods etc. and finally setup a store front that you want.
- If you are technically competent and relatively good knowledge of website operations, then you can use any of the free e-commerce frameworks ready available like WooCommerce, Magento, KartRocket etc. Simply download the appropriate e-commerce framework and install that on your server. Configure its operations, upload products and details, test and let go the shop online.
2. Online payment system integration
Payment gateway
integration word looks daunting when you face it for the first time. This is the commonest problems among building an e-commerce solution. It is the most essential part for an e commerce venture and you need a sure shot and robust solution for this. If you are delving into e-commerce for the first time, do outsource it and get it implemented. You can also implement it if you have little knowledge of programming or integration. There are many gateways available for you to choose from like
Paypal,
ccAvenue,
payUMoney etc. Setup an account with them and follow their instructions to integrate with them. These gateways also provide services for integrating your website with them.
3. Market access and visibility - most common & critical problem with eCommerce
Online store gets customers automatically is a myth. Customers never knew about your store. So you have a critical market access crisis. You have to use your marketing channels to let customers know that you exist and you have products that people need. You may need to advertise online or prime media channels about your online venture. Promotion and offers are the initial tools to bring customer to your store.
Starting an eCommerce venture and taking it to your potential customers are two different things. Sales and marketing is a difficult part. The launch of online store is the first step. The next step is outreach and branding. You require a well thought out documented strategy for every aspects of marketing issues like PR campaigns, online and offline advertisements, email campaigns,
search engine marketing[1][2][3][4] and social media marketing etc. You will need to work hard on this after the launch of your venture. Maekrting could be easier if planned in advance before roll-out. Alternate ways of digital marketing include blogging, guest posting, comments, affiliate marketing, video shows (youtube channels)
Google Adwords
and similar advertising platform, participating in discussion forums etc. The
earned media
has vital role in the success of e-commerce retail. Get detailed ways on getting
earned media[1]
4. Ensuring customer's trust
There are two facets of it.
The first one deals with the security of your e-commerce store. This is easier to solve. You need to enable SSL 128/256 bit encryption security. Ask you developer and it will be taken care of.
The second one is related to trust deficit in your after sales services, refund, delivery and somehow related to quality of your products.
The simplest solution is that don’t hide any details and it will not be a problem ever. Show them up with good past records, customer care numbers, company address, company phone numbers, direct call numbers, official email account details and legal recourse that is available to your customers. If you have assigned your own appellate authority, don’t hesitate to show that to customer.
5. Delivery of orders & orders tracking
There are many solutions some integrated one and some as separate services.
You have many options here:
- You can tie-up with existing local logistic services and get your e-commerce store integrated with them.
- You can setup your own logistics if your operation is extremely local.
- You can also avail services from reputed fulfillment services like Amazon or e-bay.
- You can also integrate with national postal services.
- You can also take a route of mixed approach or relatively new hybrid approach.
6. Return of goods
Return of goods and services has to be tackled in the best possible manner. You can not guess the reason of return and hence be clear on the condition on return of goods. Be absolutely clear to avoid litigation. You must provide your customers safe and easier options to return goods. The process shall not be cumbersome; otherwise you will find very few returning customers once such issue is encountered by them. You should also print a label on shipment about the returnable address.
7. Customer grievances Handling - Customer Care
This is one grey area of most of the enterprise. They hesitate to deploy dedicated and serious resources on that. Take it that returning customers are more valuable than acquiring new customers. Put all possible efforts to keep your customers satisfied and resolve the problems amicably. This will also induce trust and you will get more recommendations and good word of mouth. Setup a customer care system in place once your store becomes operational. Always remember the same products are available on many online stores but customers visit you in expectation of good services and this is where most online SME (Small and Medium Enterprises) fails.
8. Charge-back issue with Credit and Debit cards.
Chargeback is a common phenomena in commercial transactions. Charge back is filing a complaint against merchant from the customer citing an issue with the product or its delivery. you must have all the tools ready to handle this problem as this will prove to be a serious loss to your revenue and credibility.
In case, a customer pay you using his credit card for shopping and later issues a chargeback citing that the product sent was not is a condition as specified on the site when he/she purchased, the card issuing company lodges a complaint against the merchant and the amount of purchase will be held back by the issuer bank unless settled within a stipulated period of time. So it is imperative that the merchant would be responsible to provide evidence of transaction and condition of products in his favour satisfactorily to the issuer bank and only then the chargeback is settled in favour of merchant. The solution to this is to always keep communicating with customers during transactions and delivery and keep records of them. Ask your customers to fill a feedback form about the product experience. It will help your case, when such issue happens to you. This also indicates that a return of goods facility must be in entire process of operation.
9. Identifying and resolving fraudulent orders
When your are running an online store or other e-commerce operation, these problems may arise anytime and you shall be ready with all tools beforehand. This solutions to this problem are in two parts. In first part, you can try to detect the nature of order technically and raise a red flag on those seemingly fraudulent orders for further scrutiny. This can be done pragmatically. On red flagged orders, do a manual verification from customer care before you go ahead with dispatch of shipments.
The other aspects is that keep as much proof as possible for the transaction and communicate those with your customers. Keep communicating with your customer on every action you take. When such deliberate fraud case arise, they will end up most probably with chargebacks. Show up your customer care number on your site so that they contact you before they think of a chargeback option. This way, you will get an opportunity to convince your customer about your the products, shipment and terms of use. In case, customer is not convinced, return the product and refund without any delay.
Keep all record of communication for at least 6 months from the date of purchases and use those as proof so show you are not guilty.
10. Protecting business from fake orders
Your store shall have a solution to these. In case, you think that the order is out of ordinary, verify with your customer.
Typically a fraud can happen when:
- The order value is unexpectedly large
- The order is booked from behind a proxy server to hide identity
- Repeated attempts were made to book this order
- Card used is listed in some directory of questionable operations
- Multiple orders are placed from the same account and same location
SUMMARY
Enterprize operations vary in nature, so there will be no ready made solution to every problem that arises from online store. With the knowledge of common e-commerce problems and their solutions, you can build a tailor made solution to prevent in first place, to resolve in second and to handle at the end. With prepared answers to e-business scenario, you can operate your business with ease and plan better for the future.
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Final word: Sell your products though your online store by making the process of buying a pleasure for customers.
In Document References:
Smart Ways To Earn Money From Website or A Blog10 important tips to boost your SEO page rankingTop 30 Off-Page SEO Techniques To Rank #1 in GoogleBest On-Page SEO Techniques To Boost Page RankBest Strategy To Get High Quality Backlinks10 Common Web Design Mistakes To Avoidearned media