What No One Talks About When They Talk About Online Business [Contributed Blog]

April 5, 2019 - 7 minutes read - Contributed Posts, Marketing Your Business Online, Modern Marketing

You could say that e-commerce is old news by this point. If you don’t know that this is the way to go with any modern business, then where the hell have you been recently? For years now, companies have been realizing how much online operations can offer them. Since the success of Amazon, any company going has considered getting stuck into at least some online activities. This is such big business news that around two and three million e-commerce companies are operating in the world today. Direct figures are, of course, difficult to come by for varying factors. But, one thing we can all be sure on is that any growing company would do well to start operations here.

The reasons for operating online only are ten-fold when you’re starting. For one, getting off the ground in the interweb is a whole lot cheaper than physical spaces would be. It’s also possible to reach a much wider beginning audience here. That alone could see you growing your enterprise faster than you thought possible. So, what are you waiting for? Sign up for a domain name, already.

After you have, it’s also worth noting potential e-commerce issues which few people talk about. Most managers are so busy singing the praises of this option that they overlook any negatives. While we aren’t saying that these down-points undo the benefits you can see here, they are worth attention. By acknowledging the potential issues, after all, you can work hard to overcome them from the off. Before you jump on this bandwagon, then, keep reading to find out what no one talks about when they talk about online business.

Sales become that bit harder

The first thing to note is that sales can become slightly harder when you’re operating online. This is often negated by the sheer amount of customers you can reach this way, but it is still worth your attention. When you’re operating in a physical space, after all, you have trained employees who can go in for the hard sell. They’re able to sing the praises of your products, push purchases, and seal deals with discounts. When customers are online, there are no real staff to approach them or talk things through. This could see people clicking straight off your website in a way they wouldn’t be able to in a physical space. The good news is that there are easy enough ways around this. By installing an online live chat, you can mimic staff in a physical store. You may also find that something as simple as perfecting product descriptions serves much the same sales purpose. Just focus on making those items sound so good that no one could resist them.

You won’t know your customers

There’s also the small issue of not being able to see your customers in person. In many industries, that won’t matter. If you’re selling retail stock, for example, it doesn’t make the slightest difference who’s buying. But, in industries like finances, KYC legislation means you need to know who you’re selling to. That means that you’ll break the law by doing business with customers whom you haven’t seen and verified. Does that mean it’s not possible to do online business in these industries? Not at all. You would simply need to invest in something like the Jumio identity verification which can carry out these checks for you. This is a quick way to stay on the right side of compliance, while still benefiting from the ease of online business.

Customers can’t see your products in person before buying

Last, you may find that online business leads to increased numbers of returns. That’s because customers will have no way to physically see items before they buy. As such, there’s more risk that they’ll be disappointed when their products arrive. That’s terrible news for any company, given that customers would then be liable to avoid them in the future. What’s more, they’ll have to go to the hassle of reposting those goods. Talk about a ruined reputation. Again, though, there are steps you can take to overcome issues here. For one, being as accurate as possible with product pictures is crucial. There’s a temptation to make things look better than they are, but it’s sure to lead to issues. You may also find that using something like video marketing helps here, as it shows your products in action in a true light. Whatever you do, focus on portraying realistic expectations to cut back on those returns.

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Tags: e-commerce, e-commerce problems, Online Business, product description, Video Marketing