Experts have predicted annual eCommerce sales to climb from $4.2 Trillion in 2020 to $6.5 trillion in 2024, contributing to 22% of global retail sales. Though the eCommerce industry is growing at a fast pace globally, there are challenges that any eCommerce business may face if they are starting.  Here are the top challenges that most eCommerce stores face.

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1) Cart Abandonment 

It is an essential business metric for retailers related to customer conversion rate and business revenue. The average cart abandonment rate across all industries is the highest at 69.57%

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According to the Baymard survey, here are the top reasons for cart abandonment during checkout:

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• Extra costs too high (shipping, taxes, fees)

• Had to create an account

• Delivery was too slow

• Complicated checkout process

• The website has an error or crashes

• Delivery too slow

• The returns policy wasn’t satisfactory

• Lack of payment options

• The credit card was declined

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How to solve the cart abandonment problem?

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A) Implement single click checkout

Here is how single click checkout helps reduce cart abandonment:

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Faster checkout: The average multiple page checkout takes 1 minute and 40 seconds to complete, while the average single page checkout takes 53 seconds.

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Increased customer conversion: A case study found that a single-page checkout converted at 21.8% higher than a similar multi-page checkout.

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Increased sales: Get more sales from increased customer conversion.

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B) Provide guest checkout options

Customers swiftly check out the cart if there is a guest checkout option instead of forcing them to register their email id, address, and mobile number.

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C) Send an email immediately after cart abandonment

The first few hours are the golden opportunity to regain lost customers after cart abandonment. A customer is likely to purchase the abandoned product after receiving a reminder email within 1 hour.

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‍D) Boost site speed

‍If your site is slow, customers will not think twice before leaving immediately. Most customers will wait for 6-10 seconds before they abandon the website pages.

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E) Optimize for mobile

Faster loading times, optimized images, and eliminated popups on mobile sites mean fewer customer barriers in completing their transactions. Sometimes customers tend to abandon their cart due to payment failure, high delivery charges, or account creation.

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Retarget your customers with Fynd Platform’s abandoned checkout feature that automatically sends emailers to customers who have left their cart to increase conversion.

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2) Nurturing customer loyalty

Customer loyalty is based on mutual trust and brand integrity between a seller and a customer. A business may struggle to establish itself without customer loyalty as acquiring a new customer is five times costly than retaining an existing customer. Here are some proven strategies to nurture customer loyalty:

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A) Develop an irresistible customer loyalty program 

Here are some creative ways to incentivize customers and develop an irresistible customer loyalty program:

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Use point program: The more you shop, the more points the shoppers earn, redeeming in the next shopping.

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Use paid program: Paid programs require a monthly or yearly fee to join your VIP member's club. E.g., Amazon Prime offers premium customers faster delivery, great deals, and a lot more.

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B) Offer a superior quality product

88% of shoppers consider product quality to be the foundation of brand loyalty. It is advisable to not compromise on the product quality and deliver the product as displayed on your website.

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C) Gamification

Gamification adds excitement to customer’s shopping experience, fosters positive reviews of the brand, and helps drive repeat customers for purchases. Example: Spin to win games are trendy on eCommerce websites.

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3) Crushing competition from retailers or manufacturers

It is a prevalent and threatening situation in eCommerce wherein the retailer or manufacturer's products that eCommerce businesses offer on their platform are sold by retailers directly to the customers.

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This way, a company that once was your partner becomes your competitor. Another important thing! You can't prevent them from selling to the customers directly. It may seem confusing for the customers as they face difficulties making shopping decisions like which way to go and purchase the product? – the retailer or the eCommerce brand.

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Here is the solution:

Offers your products at a lower price with additional benefits: This is an easy way to provide more value to the customers, boost sales and attract more customers to your eCommerce brands.

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Partner with manufacturers less likely to sell products directly: The best way is to collaborate with smaller brands specializing in producing and delivering goods to shops rather than selling them directly.

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Forge a contract with the manufacturer: Include a condition in your agreement that prevents them from selling a particular product directly to the consumer.

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4) Providing omnichannel experience

Multichannel shoppers spend three times more than single-channel shoppers. Customers can reach a brand through several touchpoints like brick & mortar shops, eCommerce stores, live chats, social media channels, and a lot more. 

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Retailers must develop an omnichannel customer strategy and help customers reach their brand seamlessly. But there are multiple challenges in its implementation like

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• Improper utilization of customer data

• Inefficient content strategy

• Improve customer engagement

• Failure in implementation

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Here is the solution:

A single view of the customer data: Capture customer journey by collating customer data across multiple touchpoints and view it as a single data to offer better products and services.

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Optimize important channels: Identify important channels like live chat, online store, and social media channels and optimize personalized customer experiences.

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Conclusion

As the eCommerce industry continues to grow and evolve, so will the challenges online stores face. We hope that this blog will help you in improving your eCommerce store. If you have any other questions or concerns for us in the future, please feel free to contact us anytime. Thank you for reading, and happy selling!