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The eCommerce industry is booming. It stands at USD 6.8 trillion currently and is expected to grow up to USD 8 trillion in 2027. Several people believe that there are written rules and hacks for eCommerce. But usually, the path is too subjective. There are no documented hacks that can help you succeed. Many believe that eCommerce is a tough nut to crack, but that is also not entirely true. As a concept grows more prominent and more innovations are added to it, many myths and misconceptions begin surrounding it. Hence, you need a wake-up call now and then to remind you that these are just illusions that prevent you from achieving success for your store and eCommerce brand.
With this article, we will try to bust a few eCommerce myths that might be pulling down your eCommerce dream.
Do you ever come across clickbait articles or ads online that talk about earning lakhs in a few months? Or the ones talking about a work from home opportunity that can help you gain a certain amount every month? Well, we all know they’re just clickbait and not correct. Why? Because we’ve usually seen and done the hard work required for earning money.
Similarly, eCommerce is projected as an easy technique to reach out to buyers and sell products sitting at home. It might also seem convincing since you do not have to run a physical shop, visit it every day, and interact with buyers.
If you believe working from the comfort of your home does not include working hard or facing any roadblocks, you’re wrong. eCommerce is as challenging as any other entrepreneurial venture. The path might be different, but it has its own set of challenges and hard work that you need to deal with, such as dealing with customers and their queries over calls and emails, handling returns, and dealing with multiple stakeholders for procurement and processing delivery, etc.
If you begin an online business thinking it is a piece of cake, you will not adapt to changing dynamics and eventually lose.
Hence, we would like to debunk this myth by saying – eCommerce requires equal persistence and resilience like any other business. It might be easier comparatively but also has its own set of challenges.
Gone are the days when online payments were taboo, and people were skeptical about sharing their details online. We do not mean that online fraud is entirely off the charts today. Fraud is still prevalent, but the measures to counter it have increased by a large margin. Even though hackers and fraudsters love eCommerce as much as you do, you can take various steps to ensure your store’s safety.
Some of these eCommerce security measures include SSL Certificates, Web App Firewalls, Bot Blockers and Address verification systems.
What kind of experience do buyers expect? Would they like to visit a website only to scroll through 10 different pages to find the products they are looking for? Or prefer getting recommendations based on past purchases and enjoy a personalised experience? As per a study, 77% of customers chose and paid more for a brand that offered a personalised experience.
Therefore, personalisation is your hack to enhance the user experience of your eCommerce website.
According to a report by Instapage, personalised homepage promotions influenced 85% of consumers to buy while customised shopping cart recommendations influenced 92% of shoppers online.
Hence, if you feel eCommerce personalisation will not benefit your business? Think again. Personalised shopping is the future, and you must engage with your customers with techniques like conversational shopping and relationship marketing using means like customised emails and chatbots.
The strategy for successful eCommerce is customer-first. This means that whatever you do must impact the customer experience positively. With eCommerce shipping, you deliver products to the customers’ doorstep.
This delivery experience can make or break your business. Not paying adequate attention to the shipping process can lead to delayed deliveries and damaged products. This can lead to dissatisfaction among customers and harm the brand’s reputation. A seamless shipping experience builds trust and encourages repeat purchases. If your shipping process is slow and unreliable then even the best products and marketing strategies won’t be able to bring business. Additionally, customers also expect free shipping. As per a study, 24% of online shoppers add more products to their list just to be eligible for free shipping. Contrarily, 74% of buyers mention that they prefer shopping when they get free shipping.
Use shipping solutions like Shiprocket to optimise your supply chain and delivery. Shiprocket connects you with more than 25 courier partners and offers coverage across 19,000+ pin codes across India. This means you get the best delivery agents and a plethora of other services to speed up your delivery process.
Statistics reveal that 65% of the revenue in most companies is generated by existing clients. This shows the importance of investing time and resources in retaining customers.
Your target audience is only limited to a certain number of people. Eventually, this audience will get saturated, and you will have minimal new customers to acquire.
Hence, the customers who repurchase from your website will be the ones who will bring in the real revenue for your business.
Therefore, you have to work in tandem with your acquisition and retention strategies so that there is a balance between the two.
If you want to build a loyal customer base, then you need to go beyond just your product—the product packaging speaks volumes about your brand. Therefore, take out time to optimise your product packaging and incorporate details to enhance the delivery experience.
Customers are much impressed with carefully done packaging.
Choose colours and designs that align with your brand identity to create a memorable experience. It is a good idea to use packaging as a branding tool. This can be done by incorporating your logo and tagline in the packaging. Many businesses are also choosing sustainable materials like recycled, biodegradable, and reusable packaging to reduce environmental impact. This helps create a good impression about the brand especially among environmentally-conscious customers. Many of them are even willing to pay more for eco-friendly packaging.
Additionally, ensure that the packaging is secure and tamper-proof so that when your customer receives the product, it leaves a positive and lasting impression.
Your marketing helps you establish your place in the market. If you do not market actively, you will be out of sight sooner or later, and your customers will forget you. Also, competition is dynamic. If you don’t have a game today, that doesn’t mean you will never have competition.
If you actively market your product when you don’t have competition, you will have already set up your brand as the market leader.
Therefore, whenever you face any competition in the field, your customers will reach out to you as you are in the business for a long time and have seen your brand closely through your marketing campaigns.
Moreover, with marketing and top-level customer service, you will turn your buyers into brand advocates.
Returns and undelivered orders are indeed a menace for your store. They require extra effort and take up a lot of bandwidth for sellers. Most retailers claim that dealing with returns hampers their day-to-day operations and hinders growth.
But with time, there have been various efforts to handle return orders effectively. You can sign up with solutions like Shiprocket that offer you an advanced platform to automate your NDR, and return order process to make sure your customers do not face any difficulty. In a survey, 92% of the consumers mentioned that they would revisit an online store for more shopping if its return process is smooth. So, if you have an easy return policy and can handle your returns efficiently, you can increase the number of repeat purchases.
Incorrect. To succeed in today’s competitive eCommerce market, you need to be innovative. Lower pricing was a sure shot strategy when eCommerce had just begun in India. Now, it has become a way of shopping for a large chunk of people. Thus if you want to succeed, you will have to improve your pricing, services, and customer support. Pre-sales and post-sales support offered to your customers is a significant influencer for their purchases.
Furthermore, you will need to incorporate techniques like personalisation, conversational eCommerce, and relationship marketing to ensure that your customers are attracted to your brand and return to it for their purchases. If customers like a brand and the experience of shopping with it, they will invest even if it is slightly expensive. Apple and One Plus are great examples of it.
Reports suggest that the eCommerce market revenue is expected to rise at a CAGR of 10.06% during 2025-2029. It is likely to reach USD 98.55 billion by 2029.
The metropolitan and cosmopolitan markets’ markets might be saturated, but tier two and tier three cities are still experiencing an enormous jump into digitisation. You have a broad audience to target.
Even though there are challenges, these can be easily overcome with the right training and educational approach. Hence, if you feel your market has hit a dead end, you need to revamp your eCommerce strategy and mold it to reach individuals who are new to eCommerce.
eCommerce is constantly changing in India. Since it has only been 13 years since it started, many misconceptions are surrounding it. Educate yourself to understand your customers and the business carefully. This will give you ample opportunity to grow your business and stay safe from any adversities. It is also recommended to partner with trusted shipping companies such as Shiprocket. This will help ensure timely deliveries and create better customer experience. They use advanced tools to provide real time shipping updates and handle unexpected issues that may arise on the way.
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