Blog and Updates
5 E-Commerce Challenges Every Merchant Faces
June 10, 2016
By: AltPayNet
Merchants
Global Growth
e-Commerce Challenges
The e-Commerce industry is rapidly hitting its numbers and definitely moving fast. It is seen in the global growth in the online sales across the UK, US and around the world. With the arrival of several payment solutions, technologies and applications, we are definitely at the age where consumers just wanted to stay at the comforts of their homes or their workspaces and purchase practically all their stuff with one click of a button. Driving eCommerce growth is the increase in its popularity to younger consumers that now have the capability to buy using their mobile devices.
Indeed, it's inevitable that every merchant now faces several challenges just to increase their market share in this growing industry and at the same time staying at par with the other players in the market. Based from our own discussions with some key online merchants, we narrowed down 5 major challenges faced by merchants engaging in e-commerce and came up with basic solutions to eliminate these pain points:
The best ingredient to a successful eCommerce site is not just how you sell your products but also how you also market and promote your website. A sound marketing plan is vital in maintaining an eCommerce website. You cannot guarantee traffic if the website domain is not applicable to what you're selling and that, you do not know your target market. Merchants, small or big, need to strategise with their marketing teams and think of campaigns to draw people go to your ecommerce site. If you really want to gain traffic and consumer interest, bring in good deals, work on your site SEO, get product reviews and showcase your featured products.
A robust payment processing platform is definitely essential in ecommerce. Preferred payment methods and payments provider vary across the world that's why it is vital for many merchants to do some research and review what every payments company offers and how competent they are. It boils down to knowing what they can offer versus what will make your transactions move swiftly and securely. Merchants should be mindful need to accept payment in the method that the customer prefers.
In the digital world, you can't compete in the market if your website is not performing very well. People shop in the internet mainly because of convenience, then by price. Ecommerce sites should always be available 24/7 as such, facing several errors while transacting is indeed irritating and can make your consumers leave the shopping carts. Important information and a sound user interface are valuable asset when it copmes to creating an eCommerce site. Merchants should never neglect how consumers appreciate the "what's going on" in your site. It's just how you re-engineer an experience that lets your customer wanting more. Businesses with eCommerce platforms need to understand the behavior of their customers and what will make them buy to you.
Every country has their own legislation and has its unique do's and don'ts. There has been a debate on the applicability of some regulations on eCommerce transactions for every country. Imagine the consistency of tax regulations, cyber laws, and consumer laws in different countries. Therefore, it is a serious concern that every eCommerce business needed to understand and should abide by. The important thing is to have a recourse to appropriate authorities and for practical purpose, know your rights as a merchant in a specific country and live up to their regulations.
High risk merchants are always on the look out for fraudsters and hackers. You will find development teams checking every bits and pieces of the site that has sensitive information and making sure that they are not vulnerable to cyber attacks. It's good to note that many tech companies are starting to realize the importance of having solutions to remedy this concern. However, there are still many that do not take sufficient steps to mitigate these security issues at the onset and hence, bigger problems arise after. eCommerce security should always be thought of at the beginning of the website development. Merchants should also think smart, know how to handle customer financial data and protect their online businesses by fixing the loopholes.
Indeed, the internet is redesigning commerce and eventually making it a lifestyle. Merchants and businesses should be quick to resolve these issues and keep up-to-date with the developments and innovations in online business. They should never afford to lose opportunities that the eCommerce industry is enabling these days. Therefore, businesses need to realize and be prepared with the hurdles that eCommerce sites are trying to overcome to become successful and profitable. To be able to this this, make sure you partner with the right people and institutions in the industry.
Can't find one? Let AltPayNet help you.
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