Every facet of an e-commerce firm faces challenges and obstacles. Here’s a look at some of the most pressing concerns and what may be done about them.

1. The rivalry

Small firms face a variety of challenges, particularly in the e-commerce sector. You must stay on top of competition pricing, products, and services, all of which are vying for the attention of your target consumer.

“You can overcome pricing competition as a small firm. By having a very clear company value proposition that consumers couldn’t get anywhere else, it can overcome as mentioned” said Calloway Cook, founder of Illuminate Labs.

Due to no fault of your own, the e-commerce industry has become so crowded that separating apart from other e-commerce enterprises has become difficult.

“Standing out and gaining new clients for your business requires distinguishing yourself from your competition,” said Harsha Reddy, co-founder of Small Biz Genius. You can also focus on a narrower population by delivering a unique product or service, making it easier to grow your domain authority.”

2. Order completion

Everything does not have to fall on the shoulders of the small business owner. Outsourcing order fulfilment and e-commerce delivery in this situation can reduce your effort and improve the customer experience.

“For enhanced efficiency, order fulfilment should be outsourced to a third-party fulfilment provider wherever possible,” Cook added.

3. Customer satisfaction

As an e-commerce company or one that does some selling online, you may find it difficult to provide your consumers with the same level of service that they would receive in a physical store.

“When launching an e-commerce initiative, customer experience is extremely crucial since customers want better than they are in person.”

Companies are struggling to satisfy these new needs, according to Dunham. He mentioned that because it necessitates careful handling of pricing, analytics, and client segmentation.

4. Increased website traffic and conversions

“You need a website that is current, clean, user-friendly, trustworthy, and virus-free to convert your traffic into clients,” Chu added. “Because every sector is different, it’s critical to identify your target audience before building a website that speaks to them.”

However, creating a successful business website is only the beginning. The second – and arguably most crucial – step is to optimise the content on your website using SEO.

“You should undertake extensive short-tail keyword research to guarantee you’re optimising your pages for relevant search terms,” he advised. “Because the competition for these phrases is likely to be low when [they are] just starting out, long-tail keyword research should be undertaken to identify the relevant ‘what,’ ‘how,’ ‘who,’ and ‘where’ within your niche,” says the author.

Tan noted that in order to compete in the noisy e-commerce industry, e-commerce SMBs must first understand who they are targeting. This is in order to build a customer base that will be a consistent source of revenue and loyal customers.

5. Visibility

If people can’t find your site, how are you going to acquire quality traffic and convert visitors into customers? It’s a major issue for e-commerce enterprises, and it has the potential to make or break a company.

“It’s doubtful that prospective clients would find the company if it doesn’t appear on the first page of Google’s search results for relevant terms,” said Michael Anderson, marketing and SEO specialist at GeoJango Maps. “Investing in SEO is the greatest approach to overcome this obstacle. Keyword research, on-page SEO best practises, and developing high-authority connections to a website are all things that e-commerce businesses should do.”

According to Anderson, if all of the above is done correctly, it will result in improved search exposure and lead creation.

“Influencer marketing works well for clothing businesses, but if your e-commerce business is built around a product that solves a problem, getting your website to rank on Google for keywords related to that problem through SEO efforts may be your best bet,” said Nicholas Rubright, a digital marketing specialist at e-commerce market research firm Zik Analytics. “Knowing your audience is essential for determining which marketing channel will create traffic that results to sales.”

6. Policies on returns and refunds

A robust return and refund policy could mean the difference between success and failure for your business. That may sound extreme, but it is accurate.

“If you want your brand to stand out, consumer happiness should come first. Whatever you’re offering should match what you advertise,” Syed Ali Hasan at Film Jackets, said.

Yes, in an ideal world, the thing you’re selling would never have a flaw, but that isn’t always the case. The buyer may have buyer’s regret or discover that the item is not what they expected.

Hasan advised, “Be transparent and build a seamless, fast, and easy return policy.” .”Make it simple to comprehend and not overly rigorous so that the customer does not have to go through the inconvenience of returning an item.”

People are less inclined to believe you’re selling something worth the money if you don’t have a decent policy. “When a website declares ‘no returns or refunds,’ a client is considerably more likely to believe it’s a dangerous purchase. This is because internet enterprises are less well-known.”

Source: ecommerce platforms , online selling platform