Running an e-commerce or online business is not easy, it involves many difficulties. Often people focus only on bringing more customers and growing the business, but some common mistakes prevent them from moving forward. Such as – the website not working properly, ignoring the needs of the customers, or lagging behind in adopting the new things going on in the market. In this article, we will talk about some such big mistakes that people make in their online business, and will know how to avoid them so that your business continues to run well. Also, we will tell about some such brands who made these mistakes and had to suffer losses.
1. Poor Website Design and User Experience
Your website is your online store. If it doesn’t work properly, loads too slowly, or is difficult to use, people will leave without buying anything. This hurts your sales.
How to avoid this mistake:
- Works well on mobile: Most people now shop on mobile, so your website should work well on mobile.
An example of this mistake: In 2013, Target’s website slowed down due to a lot of holiday visitors. It was difficult to navigate on mobile, so people didn’t buy, and the company suffered losses.
- How it could have been avoided: Target would not have had this problem if it had prepared its website for mobile and high traffic in advance.
Easy navigation: Everything on the website should be clearly visible. Search boxes and categories should be clear so people can find things easily.
2. Neglecting Mobile Shoppers
Most people shop online these days from mobile phones. If your website doesn’t work properly on mobile, you could lose a lot of customers and sales.
How to avoid this mistake:
- Mobile design: Your website should look good on all screen sizes (mobile, tablet, laptop).
- Fast loading site: Mobile users prefer a website that loads quickly. They will leave a slow website.
Mistake example:
GAP suffered losses in 2015 because their mobile website was slow and not working properly. This caused customer inconvenience and led to a drop in mobile sales.
How it could have been avoided: If GAP had designed their website well for mobile, made it fast, and kept the needs of mobile users in mind, they would not have faced this problem.
3. Ignoring Customer Feedback
Ignoring customer feedback can be a big mistake for any online business. When people say something about your product or service, it contains many signs of your progress. If you ignore them, you lose the opportunity to know what the customer wants and what you should improve. Therefore, it is important that you listen to them through social media, reviews, and surveys and also respond on time. Like what happened with United Airlines — when a customer was treated badly and the video went viral, the company did not respond properly initially and had to face the anger of the people. If they had listened to the customers in the beginning and responded wisely, their reputation would not have been damaged.
4. Not Offering Multiple Payment Options
Offering fewer payment options can be a big mistake. Every customer has their own preference of how they want to pay. If you offer fewer options, many times customers are unable to make the payment and leave the order incomplete.
How to avoid this mistake:
- Offer more payment options: Add features like debit/credit cards, UPI, Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm, PayPal.
- Pay attention to new methods as well: Now many people have started using crypto or Apple Pay, so include them as well.
Example of mistake: A company named Best Buy did not provide many payment options for international customers at first. Those who did not find the method of their choice did not make the purchase, which caused a loss to the company.
How it could have been avoided: Best Buy should have added PayPal and local payment methods of every country from the beginning, so that customers from everywhere could shop comfortably.
5. Not preparing your website for SEO
If your website doesn’t rank high on Google or other search engines, people won’t be able to find it. This means your store won’t show up, and you won’t make any sales.
How to avoid this mistake:
Choose the right keywords: Use a tool like Google Keyword Planner to find the most frequently searched terms. For example, if you sell shoes, look for terms like “cheap sports shoes.”
Treat your photos for SEO: Add “alt text” to your website’s photos so Google can understand what’s in the photo.
Example of this mistake:
A company called J.C. Penney went the wrong way. They created links from several fake websites to trick Google. Google punished them and started showing their website down. This caused a huge drop in their sales.
How this could have been avoided:
If J.C. Penney had followed the right approach — writing good content, keeping photos and links natural — they wouldn’t have suffered.
6. Inventory errors
If an item runs out or is overstocked, it can lead to losses. If the item runs out, customers will not buy it and if there is excess stock, money will be stuck.
How to avoid this mistake:
Use inventory software: Like Shopify or Zoho — these automatically tell you which item is selling how often.
Check real-time stock: This means checking all the time which product is about to run out.
Example of mistake:
Nike suffered a huge loss in 2012. They made too much stock of their fitness tracker “FuelBand”, but it did not sell that much. Due to this, they suffered a huge loss.
How it could have been avoided:
If Nike had checked the demand beforehand and made the goods accordingly, then their money would not have been stuck.
7. Not providing good customer service
If a customer asks a question and does not get the right answer, he will not come back to your website. Poor service makes people angry.
How to avoid this mistake:
Provide 24×7 support: chat, email, phone — so customers can get help anytime.
Example of mistake:
A company called Comcast had a poor service history. People waited in line for hours, but their problems were never solved. This led to customers gradually moving away from the company.
How this could have been avoided:
If Comcast trained its customer service staff well and responded quickly, customers would be happy.
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8. Not using retargeting
Many customers visit your website but leave without buying anything. If you don’t remind them again, they may forget.
How to avoid this mistake:
Run retargeting ads: Run ads on Facebook and Google that will show customers who visited your site and left without buying.
Example of mistake:
Home Depot initially ignored retargeting ads. This caused them to lose a lot of sales as customers would leave without buying and not return.
How it could have been avoided:
If Home Depot had started retargeting ads on time, many customers would have come back and completed the purchase.
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9. Not changing according to customer preferences
Customer preferences change over time. If you don’t make changes, people will move on to another site.
How to avoid this mistake:
Keep an eye on trends: As people now shop more from mobile, prefer new payment options — here are some things you should keep in mind.
Kodak Camera Company ignored the growing demand for digital cameras. By the time they realized it, other brands like Canon and Nikon had already moved ahead.
How it could have been avoided:
If Kodak had paid attention to digital cameras and mobile photos earlier, they would still be on top today.
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10. Ignoring data and reports
If you don’t see which products are selling, which aren’t, why customers are leaving — you won’t be able to improve.
How to avoid this mistake:
Look at the important numbers: How many people visited, how many made a purchase, how many abandoned, how much revenue is being made per customer on average — all of this is important to know.
Example of this mistake:
Many small companies focus only on sales, but they don’t see when and why customers are leaving the site. This is why they miss a lot.
How it could have been avoided:
If these companies looked at things like Google Analytics or Shopify reports on a daily basis, they would know where to improve.
Conclusion
If you want to grow your online business and run it for a long time, it is very important to avoid some common mistakes. First of all, your website should be such that people can use it easily and they do not face any problem. It is very important to provide good service to the customers so that they remain happy and come to you again to shop. Along with this, make your website in such a way that when people search for something on Google, they see your site. Keep a proper account of your products, so that when a customer orders something, that thing is in stock and is delivered immediately. Check your business data from time to time and keep making changes according to people’s preferences. It is also important to learn from those who have made mistakes before so that you do not repeat the same mistakes. If you keep improving a little bit every day, then your e-commerce business will definitely be successful in the future.
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