Selling online has been the way retail has been going for years now and everyone from the biggest department stores to small operators in their spare room are selling on-line so it must be easy right?

Well yeas and no is the answer to that one, it can be done well and with less headache than it needs to be but like anything else, if done poorly the cost (no pun intended) can be catastrophic.

1- Poor Photography

One way that an online store can let itself down is by having poor images, it is, after all, a very visual medium e-commerce as the customer only has the image as they cannot physically inspect the item.

Ensure that there are several images of each item, that they are properly lighted and that variations in color and style are shown. It might even be worth the expense to hire a professional photographer to catalogue the inventory.

Related Reading: Product Photography Tips for eCommerce Startups

2- Cheap Web Design

Again another visual drawback can be poor web design. If the site looks cheap to the user then they can be put off buying or even be concerned about security of their card payments, this is especially true if they have no previous experiences with your organisation and so may choose to go elsewhere.

3- Badly Written Product Descriptions

Another issue many sellers encounter is badly written product descriptions, if you don’t have accurate and concise descriptions then you will be leaving your potential customers guessing, which is not good. There are two concerns here, firstly a marketing one, you need to be promoting the advantages of the product and secondly you need to describe the features so that customers can determine if it’s suitable for their needs.

If this is too much for you to do in-house there are services that let you hire experienced product description writers for any type of store.

4- Confusing Or Incorrect Store Categories

The customer also needs to be able to browse the site in a way that similar products are all categorized together, this seems like a no-brainer but it’s amazing how difficult this is to rectify later on if you don’t take the time at the start.

5- Not Taking Advantage Of Other Platforms

There are other places to sell than just your own website and it’s amazing how many businesses don’t take advantage of eBay and Amazon which are easy to set up and then it’s a whole new revenue stream for little effort.

6- Misleading Postage Costs

A customer really wants to know exactly what the cost of their product is and that includes how much it costs to get it to them (with the exception of click and collect type products) it’s well known to be a very frustrating experience to go through a lengthy checkout process to then be hit with hefty postage costs at the very end.

It’s best in the long run to be upfront about this and to not irritate your potential customers ensuring you get repeat custom.

Related Reading: How to Offer Free Shipping Without Losing Profit

Wrapping it up!

Hundreds of eCommerce websites emerge on the World Wide Web everyday, but only a few manage to make it a success and the what’s common in all these failures?

All the failed startups commit one or more of the mistakes discussed above. Try to avoid these and your newly launched online store should certainly find a growth track.