Our Blog

Top 3 Barriers to Sales on your eCommerce Site

Some people have an idealistic outlook to eCommerce. They just open an online store and expect customers to flow in and their sales to shoot up. After all – they have a great looking eCommerce web design, awesome products and a cool marketing plan. So what can go wrong?

Well, as all good eCommerce website designers know – there is a lot more to a successful online business than a website, a product and a prayer.

If your internet sales have not achieved their targets, maybe it is time to revamp your marketing plan and talk to some eCommerce consultants. Let’s take a look at the top 3 barriers to increasing sales on your eCommerce site – and what you can do about it.

MCommerce 

MCommerce is the new buzz word in town – basically it involves ensuring that your eCommerce site displays correctly across all platforms and mobile devices.

Did you know that mobile internet traffic as a percentage of global internet traffic, increased by 50% each year in 2011, 2012 and 2013?  And that in 2013, more than 60% of mobile phone users accessed the internet using their smart phone?

Online shoppers expect the same fast and convenient experience they get on their mobile devices as they do a PC.  If your online shop doesn’t cater to mobile devices, then frustrated mobile visitors will go away and not come back.  The best way to make your eCommerce site compatible with mobile devices is to make it responsive.  More on responsive websites here.

Social media 

Many small businesses are still trying to understand how social media fits in with their marketing plan. And of those that do understand – most say that they don’t have the time!

Social media is the new frontier in marketing and is an invaluable tool for increasing your customer base and ROI. Did you know that more than 1 billion people use Facebook and it is the most popular social media app used on smart phones? How about more than 500 million people who are active on Twitter? And 70 million users on Pinterest?

Social media is here to stay – so make sure you include social media icons on your site to facilitate social sharing and engage with your customers and prospects via social media. Ignoring social comments is like ignoring somebody who walks into your physical store and asks you a question or has a complaint.  You wouldn’t do that in person so don’t do it online.

Digital payments 

As internet sales continue to grow an important part of the sales process is completing the transaction. And in many cases that means offering consumers a selection of secure payment methods.

Most eCommerce sites provide for customers to pay via a range of credit cards.  However, a common payment method that a lot of online retailers don’t include is Paypal.  Paypal started as a payment method for consumers to pay each other but has grown to a full service payment system that accepts credit cards.

You are doing both your business and potential customers a great disservice if you do not allow them to complete their transactions using PayPal. A lot of customers feel more secure paying via Paypal – they do not have to disclose their personal credit card information and the completion is simpler because they don’t have to find their credit card and enter their details. This is especially true when the customer is using a mobile device.

If you are running an online shop, make sure the three obstacles above are not barriers on your site and you will surely have more sales.

Have any more questions regarding eCommerce and how to improve your online sales, give us a call on 8211 0668, leave a comment below or fill in our contact form and we’ll get back to you ASAP!

• Comments (0)
• Trackbacks (0)
• Permalink

Megan Kerr

Meg is a Project Manager/Producer at Cornerstone with a special interest in conversion rate optimisation. She has a business analysis background and thinks the web would be a better place if everyone looked at their web statistics daily.