Shopping/E-commerce

Fatal mistakes ecommerce startups are making these days

Being FreeKaaMaal, we make sure that the shoppers get to know best of the best deals present online. The deals/offer however do not simply mean that the products with heavy discounts get promoted but the deals which have a decent ratio of price, discount, associated customer reviews and the genuineness of the site.

Looking back at the recent startups which have turned into multibillion dollar company in no time, a lot of new ecommerce startups are taking birth everyday. The hopes are high and the industry which they are targeting is vast, however, they make some of the fatal mistakes which lead them to the array of the diminished stars of startups. Here are some of the fatal mistakes which newly formed ecommerce sites are making these days:

Target audience:

An ecommerce site should know what kind of people they want to target, for example: Urban Ladder / Pepperfry knows that they are looking for those set of customers who wants to buy from a variety of products in Home Decor or furniture which may not be available in their city o nearby markets (a Delhi couple buying a Jaipur furniture made in Jaipur by Jaipur’s craftsmen) .

Shopclues on the other hand knows that the shoppers on its platform are looking for the Sunday Bazaar products. However, the ecommerce sites these days foray from electronics to apparel in the starting phase itself, confusing the shopper about the speciality of the store. Hence a site must know :

1. What kind of audience it is targeting

2. What kind of the price group it will serve

3. Demography and taste

Weak delivery system

Once the payment is made, the customer waits for the products to be delivered. However, if it takes too long time, then the customer will think that the experiment with the site is all in vain and may ask for refund. Online shopping sites which closes their operations soon are generally hit by this plague. This is not the fault of the site but the delivery partner.

Brand value

Brand is generally associated with trust and trust gives customers the liberty to shop while their eyes closed. Sites who do not have much capital to advertise and make the brand value have to do it with the overall shopping experience. Some sites loses a step like delivery,Quality check etc hence jeopardizing the whole brand value of the site.

Weak customer care service

If their is no one to listen if something goes wrong, a site nullifies itself in the market and the sustainability is hampered.

Other important factors which should be kept at a check are:

  • Misguiding advertisement 
  • Missing core competencies
  • Lack of Focus
  • Missing proper advertising channels
  • Working hard but in wrong direction
  • Misplacement of money
  • Wrong pricing
  • User Interface
  • Using too much Referral for promotion
  • Quality of products delivered
  • Giving up before picking up

As FreeKaaMaal, we would love to see ecommerce sites to grow leaps and bounds. If these few parameters are kept in consideration, then the startups could excel in an unimaginable ways.