It’s never been easier to start an online brand. But that doesn’t make it easy. If you’re entering the world of eCommerce, there are many things to watch out for. While the list is long, we’ve picked out 9 common eCommerce blunders that you’ll need to avoid.
Pricepoint Too Low
Many startup brands that sell via eCommerce try to disrupt the market by entering with a super low price or offering heavy promotions. While this may generate short-term sales and help to gain initial traction, you must consider the long-term implications this decision will have on people’s perception of your brand.
Quality and price go hand in hand when it comes to brand perception. We associate low-priced items with low quality and high-ticket items with high quality. Therefore, discounted items may work for a budget brand but if you want your brand to be seen as luxury or high quality, resist the temptation to undercut your competitors.
Not Considering Organic Growth
It can be easy to assume that the growth of your business is exclusively reliant on how much money you put into it. While money is a factor, you should also consider what organic measures you can take to grow your eCommerce brand, and not just because it’s the cheaper alternative.
The era of influencer marketing has been great for online brands, but many examples today come across as inauthentic as consumers wise up to the fact that the influencer has a monetary interest when it comes to promoting the brand’s products.
Consider how organic socials and user-generated content (UGC) can be used to fuel your growth as this comes across as far more genuine.
Not Considering User Experience
Something else to consider is UX (user experience). Even if you’re able to drive traffic to your website, and display your products in a great light at the right price, users won’t be prepared to put up with usability issues.
Things like site speed, responsiveness, and ease of navigation all contribute to a site’s usability. If you don’t have the budget to work with a UX agency, consider carrying out user testing to identify any potential issues with your website.
Not Considering SEO
One of the biggest mistakes you can make as an entrepreneur is assuming that your product will sell itself. Having a great product is one thing, but it’s only one small piece of the jigsaw. One of the other important pieces is SEO, and incorporating SEO into your eCommerce products can ensure that potential customers are able to find your products.
When naming products and writing product descriptions, consider high-volume searches. One of the common trends in eCommerce is using cities or names to name products. If you’re a new brand, consider the fact that simple names such as ‘black and white cushion’ may help with SEO rankings.
Lack Of Consistency
Consistency can refer to many different things but one thing’s for sure, consistency breeds trust amongst customers. When it comes to eCommerce, the message that you convey online must match up with your offline actions.
For example, if you’re a sustainable eCommerce brand selling homeware, you must also consider sustainability when it comes to packaging and delivery. For example, if your homeware products aren’t being delivered in a sustainable manner, it creates inconsistency that makes your core messaging appear less sincere.
Similarly, if you’re a luxury brand that uses cheap packaging, the user experience may not align with the rest of your brand.
Copying Competitors
When starting an eCommerce brand, it can be tempting to look at competitors. While drawing inspiration from competitors can be useful, it can also be dangerous. Copying an existing brand, whether it’s in terms of product or marketing, can lead to you launching a second-rate version of something that already exists.
If you’re looking to disrupt the market as a new brand, bringing something different to the market should be your ultimate goal.
Too Much Focus On New Customers
Attracting new customers will help your business grow, but loyal customers and repeat orders will help you survive, especially in the early days. Many eCommerce brands focus heavily on new customers with things like a discount on your first order or in return for signing up for a newsletter.
You should be putting as much, if not more, focus on existing customers as new customers. But don’t assume that the only way to keep people coming back is through offers and discounts. Instead, try to create a community, offer great customer service, and have an attractive loyalty scheme to persuade people to keep coming back to your business. You’ll often find your most loyal customers will act as mouthpieces for your company, promoting it via word of mouth to their friends, family, and social media followers.
Targeting everyone
There’s an old saying in marketing that if you’re selling to everybody, you’re selling to nobody. To avoid this, ensure you have a target demographic and tailor your decisions to match their needs and interests. For example, if you’re a vegan fashion brand, you’re target audience is going to be vegans and eco-warriors. But also consider factors like age, gender and salary.
Don’t underestimate how much this feeds into your organic social activity too. Talking about animal rights and sustainability should appeal to your target audience and can bring you closer to the people who are more likely to buy your product.
Poor Product Photography
When it comes to eCommerce, images sell; especially when it comes to fashion. Getting your imagery right on your site is a vital ingredient when it comes to eCommerce. If you’re launching a fashion product, make sure you use high-quality images on your site and also show the product being worn by a model.
Many eCommerce fashion sites use a variety of models to best display the product too. For example, if you have a men’s full tracksuit listed on your site, use models of different body shapes to display the product in different versions.
