E-commerce keeps getting more popular every year. Statistics show an increase in the number of people that choose to do their shopping online. There are a lot of myths that appeared connected to both e-commerce customers and businesses. We have made a list of ten e-commerce myths for businesses and explained them.
1. It’s easy
A lot of people think that running an e-commerce business is easy, but the reality is different. There are a lot of obstacles to overcome. If you open an online store, this doesn’t mean that buyers will come. You need to take care not just of the website, but also of customer service, marketing, logistics, taxes, technical issues, delivery options, and many others.
2. You should focus on selling globally from the first day
It might be tempting to target everybody all around the world, but it’s not the best approach when you just started your business. A considerable benefit of e-commerce is that you can expose your business to customers everywhere on the globe. But, especially in the beginning, it is better to focus on the local market, and after you have established your presence and practices, you can start expanding towards international markets. SEO is essential for selling both locally and globally.
3. It’s free
Even if you start your store on an open platform, in the end, you will have costs. The costs include a monetary part (for example for marketing and advertising) and non-monetary part (for example the time you spend on doing tasks that would be done by the developers if you would have chosen a custom solution).
4. Pictures provided by your manufacturer are enough
Usually, manufacturers provide stock images to all of their sellers. If you want to differentiate yourself and make your website stand out, you should either take the pictures yourself or hire a photographer to take them. Show your product from different angles. Make sure your customers are offered as many details as possible.
5. I must have the lowest prices
Pricing is not the only thing customers take into account in the decision-making process. They take other things into account, such as website design and responsiveness, complete information about ordering, shipping and delivery, reviews, etc.
6. Personalization is a waste of time
Customers have a set of personal criteria they use when making a purchase. This is why you need to appeal directly to each one of them. This problem can be solved by offering a good level of personalization for everyone that visits your website. Make sure you have useful recommendation algorithms.
7. My products are excellent, so I don’t need to market them
Some people say that word of mouth is still the best form of advertising. Word of mouth is indeed very powerful, but it’s not the only way your customers should find out about your products. Even if you have the best products ever, people must know about them. Otherwise, your business will shut down. Build a good marketing strategy and stick to it.
8. E-mail marketing is not important
Don’t underestimate the power of e-mail marketing. It is still one of the most effective ways of converting customers. Also, it is easy, inexpensive, and effective. You can customize it and make it tailored to your audience’s needs. Thanks to mobile phones, people still check their e-mail often. Make sure you don’t send too many e-mails (every day is too much), but, also, not too rarely (once a month is not enough).
9. Revenue is everything that you should care about
The ultimate goal of a business is profit, but you should take a close look at other metrics, such as conversions rate, bounce rate, traffic per channel, and session durations. It is essential to see the percentage of traffic that is converting, how long does traffic stick around once they get on your page, where your traffic is coming from and how long are your potential shoppers staying on your site.
10. Mobile users do not convert
The truth is that in recent years, online traffic from mobile devices has grown significantly. Make sure that your website is optimized for mobile devices. Otherwise, you will lose customers in favor of other competitors.
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