Running an online shop is exciting – particularly when orders start coming in and you see people choosing products you’ve worked hard to create. But it’s not always quite as straightforward behind the scenes.
As an e-commerce business grows, little problems quickly become big headaches. Customers abandon their baskets. Returns start stacking up. All of a sudden, the stock count on your website doesn’t match what’s actually sitting on the shelves.
Sound familiar? Don’t worry – these are common problems, and there are ways to get on top of them.
Keep reading to learn more.
1. High Cart Abandonment
Few things are more frustrating than watching someone add items to their basket and then disappear without buying anything.
There could be plenty of reasons for this. Maybe the delivery cost came as a surprise. Perhaps the checkout was too complicated. Or maybe the customer simply wasn’t ready to commit.
The first thing to do is make the checkout as easy as possible. Don’t ask customers for loads of unnecessary information. Be clear about delivery costs from the very beginning. No one likes getting all the way to the final payment screen only to discover an unexpected charge.
It’s also worth testing your checkout on a mobile phone. If it’s awkward to navigate or takes ages to load, you could be making it much harder for people to complete their purchases.
2. Complex Returns
Returns are just part of selling online. No matter how good your products are, some customers will change their minds, order the wrong size, or decide that something simply isn’t right for them.
The important thing is to make returning an item as painless as possible.
Start with a clear returns policy. Keep the language simple. Explain exactly what customers need to do. If someone has to hunt through your website to figure out how to return an order, chances are they’re not going to be particularly impressed.
As your business grows, it’s also worth getting some help with fulfillment. A service – such as Ryder’s e-commerce fulfillment – could take some of the day-to-day pressure off your team. This is especially useful when you’re dealing with a growing number of orders and returns.
3. Inaccurate Inventory Tracking
Here’s another classic e-commerce problem: Your website saying something is in stock, a customer orders it, and then you discover you’ve actually sold the last one. Not ideal.
Keeping track of inventory gets tougher as your business grows. You’ve got new stock arriving. You’ve got orders going out. You’ve got returns coming back. You might even have products being sold across several different channels.
Using inventory management software makes life far easier. Instead of relying on spreadsheets and trying to remember what’s where, you have a system keeping track of stock for you.
Regular stock checks are still a good idea, too. Mistakes happen. Products get damaged. Things occasionally end up in the wrong place. You can work to prevent these problems.
To conclude, you don’t have to solve every e-commerce problem overnight. Just start with the areas that are causing you the biggest headache. This way, you’ll combat issues and create a stronger foundation for growing your online business.