Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more and more people have started to shop online. As a consequence, there is a large rise in e-commerce sales. It has also caused some traditional brick-and-mortar store owners to go entirely online or shift their focus to the online market. Therefore, as e-tailers, you have to deal with many competitors. This article looks at the most common obstacles in e-commerce and what you can do about them.

1. High Customer Demands and Expectations

The world’s current situation has increased people’s demands and expectations regarding online shopping. Some of the frequent demands include low-cost or free returns, free shipping, user-friendly website, personalization, 24/7 customer service, a consistent shopping experience across various technological devices, and the ability to use payment options of their preference.

Solutions:

• Learn about what kinds of products are trending.
• Know all the essential details of what you are selling.
• Audit your eCommerce website’s usability to keep pace with competitors and customer expectations.
• Help your customers as much as possible.
• Be clear about your return and refund policies.
• Make returns simple for customers.
• Offer at least one key digital payment options, such as PayPal, if you sell in Europe.
• Incorporate Augmented Reality (AR) to let the shoppers give a real shopping experience.
• Design personalized user experiences

2. Having So Many Options for Customers

These days, customers have so many options to choose from, which results in more potential challenges in e-commerce. For examples,

• Local e-commerce Hubs that bring you the convenience of hometown shopping online.
• Social shops and catalogs that sell products through Facebook shops or catalogs, or Instagram. These shops use users’ search patterns, and advertising feeds to offer a level of personalization that cannot be found anywhere else.
• Cross-border selling and local fulfillment where one business having the majority market share in its native country, and other international businesses are eating into that market share.
• Subscription commerce services that collect and replace items for customers (e.g., through auto-ship). They also offer membership subscriptions, which give customers access to benefits they wouldn’t have otherwise.

Solutions:

• Stay aware.
• If you are a small online retailer, incorporating a subscription service into your e-commerce business might increase sales.
• If you are a large business owner and see your sales decrease in an area served by a local hub, consider increasing advertising in a local area.

3. Attracting the Customers

• Advertising channels and platforms are constantly expanding. They are getting more and more creative. Therefore, attracting customers can be more and more challenging.

Solutions:

• Encourage your employees to look into new channels, new trends, and new opportunities.
• Use platforms such as METRO Markets to increase the traffic.
• If it is convenient, sell your products on Amazon.
• Use high-performing keywords and user information from Google shopping ads campaigns to improve Amazon advertising campaigns.
• Consider display advertising.

4. Deciding the Right Kind of Technology

An ideal technology provides you with a single source or seamless integration with your other technologies to maximize productivity. They are time savers. They can also help you remain agile and move faster, giving you a competitive edge. Therefore, it is essential to know what technology is right for your e-commerce.

Solutions:

• The best technologies for eCommerce business owners are artificial intelligence (AI) and cross-channel advertising management solutions.
• AI or machine learning utilizes algorithms to learn from customers’ repeated patterns to deliver the best results. The main advantage of AI is that it can move much faster than people. So, your employers can focus on other activities instead of manually optimizing ads.
• Cross-channel advertising management solutions let employers manage and report on multiple channels in a single place.

5. Dealing with Uncertainty

Not only the uncertainty due to COVID-19, but the everyday uncertainty that a rapidly evolving industry and technologies bring could be another challenge to your business.

Solutions:

• Be agile
• Be innovative
• Be strategic

Conclusion

If you do not tackle these challenges effectively, your customers may shop around. With growing options, they have plenty to choose from.

But do not worry, the solutions listed above are more than doable.

So, be patient and consistent.

Do not let yourself get overwhelmed and distracted by doing too much at once.

Select a few of the marketing strategies listed here that you believe will boost your sales, apply them and see the results.