The Top Reasons Why E-commerce Businesses Fail

The advent of ecommerce has completely transformed the way of doing business. Consumers may buy goods and services across the world with just a mouse click, while entrepreneurs can set up their online businesses in a matter of hours. Despite having the potential for commercial success, many e-commerce businesses fail.

In a recent survey, it was found that up to 80% of e-commerce development companies fail within the first 18 months. So, what is it that causes so many e-commerce enterprises to fail? While there are numerous factors at work, several major reasons can be identified.

Let's look at the top reasons why e-commerce firms fail, from bad planning to insufficient marketing, and what you can do to prevent these typical errors.

"The E-commerce industry is one of the most rapid-growing industries. E-commerce infers the buying and selling of goods and essentials utilizing the internet. However, with such popularity still, it is estimated that around 70% of the eCommerce project fails.

Let's check out the reasons! There are numerous reasons for its failure.

90% of E-commerce businesses fail because -

Not picking the right strategy The business owners don't pick up the right strategy, or sometimes the plan is not clear enough to result in failures.

Lack of communication strategies Sometimes there was a lack of communication strategies or planning. Most of the time, there is an apparent lack of connecting with people. This may happen due to a lack of listing optimization or sometimes the blackness from the store chat managers.

Selection of technology The team of executives is not known with recent changes in the market industry. The wrong selection of technology may also cause you the failure in eCommerce. Or even sometimes, you might get connected with the wrong partner.

The lack of management The eCommerce business is a vast field that is mainly required to be in the proper record. Lack of control of data may cause you a failure.

Not having a quality website The lousy quality website experience is another reason for losing customers. You mainly launched your products on the eCommerce platforms. However, you also need to have a great quality website. As a website builds customers' trust, the poor one may build up the bad impact. There are many more aspects that may cause you the failure. However, these are some of the most common mistakes the entrepreneurs do"

- Faizan Khan, Founder of Webtute

Launching an E-commerce business without proper market research

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A reason why a lot of eCommerce projects fail is because a lot of people going into eCommerce today are not starting a business, they think they're going to find a winning product and that's going to carry them. There seems to be this idea being perpetuated that opening up a Shopify store is like having an ATM machine or like it's this magic money-making tool.

Shopify is nothing more than a website builder, behind that website you need to have a product that's in demand and that people want, that product has to be a quality product, you have to have good customer service and stand behind your product. Too many people get into eCommerce thinking they are going to find a winning product and run $5 a day in Facebook ads and are going to be making thousands of dollars per day. This myth is perpetuated on Youtube by Entrepreneur Gurus but it's completely false. You can be very successful in eCommerce but there are no magic products or magic shortcuts you have to build a business.

- John Frigo Founder of Best Price Nutrition

"One reason eCommerce projects fail is that there may not be adequate research before launching into production phases that would ensure success after launch. If you are trying something new or innovative, make sure you know what you are doing and make sure your customers want what you are offering before spending any money on it."

- Robin Brown, Founder of Vivipins

Not focusing on quality content and meaningful connections

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"Just like any business, one of the biggest reasons why an eCommerce project can fail is focusing too much on the front end of marketing and underestimating the power of quality content and meaningful connections.

Yes, you can have a very innovative product and the most aesthetic pictures and videos for your brand - but if you do not provide your customers with value that they can actually use, they're not going to get you very far. Educate, support, and inspire. Customers don't just want to do business, they want to connect with your brand. Demonstrate that you are invested in building strong and authentic relationships with them for they are an integral part of your success."

- Dan McCormick, Founder of Perfect Brew

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"1. Quality Content: Add value to your products by creating buying guides and unique product detail pages.

2. No Value Proposition: Be different. Something that will make your company stand out from the others and give people a reason to buy what you have over competitors.

- Saskia Ketz, Founder of Mojomox

High product cost and zero customer satisfaction

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"Selling the Right Products But at Too High of a Price

Major reason an eCommerce website can fail is if they are selling the right products at too high of a price. This is why researching your competitor’s pricing strategy and also doing competitive analysis makes all the difference in terms of success or failure for your online store. You have to know the industry well enough to price your products accordingly. In 2021, many wholesalers are now competing online which means beating them with the price isn't possible you need to beat them in social media marketing, USP, effective copywriting, and customer engagement.

Not Focusing on Customer Satisfaction

This is closely related to having a unique selling proposition- you can’t stand out if you don’t satisfy the needs of your customers. Maybe they are looking for a certain product that you don’t have, or maybe they are looking for faster shipping. If you aren’t meeting their needs, they will go elsewhere."

- Dror Zaifman Founder of iCash

The Top Reasons Why E-commerce Businesses Fail The advent of ecommerce has completely transformed the way of doing business. Consumers may buy goods and services across the world with just a mouse click, while entrepreneurs can set up their online businesses in a matter of hours. Despite having the potential for commercial success, many e-commerce businesses fail. In a recent survey, it was found that up to 80% of e-commerce development companies fail within the first 18 months. So, what is it that causes so many e-commerce enterprises to fail? While there are numerous factors at work, several major reasons can be identified. Let's look at the top reasons why e-commerce firms fail, from bad planning to insufficient marketing, and what you can do to prevent these typical errors. "The E-commerce industry is one of the most rapid-growing industries. E-commerce infers the buying and selling of goods and essentials utilizing the internet. However, with such popularity still, it is estimated that around 70% of the eCommerce project fails. Let's check out the reasons! There are numerous reasons for its failure. 90% of E-commerce businesses fail because - Not picking the right strategy The business owners don't pick up the right strategy, or sometimes the plan is not clear enough to result in failures. Lack of communication strategies Sometimes there was a lack of communication strategies or planning. Most of the time, there is an apparent lack of connecting with people. This may happen due to a lack of listing optimization or sometimes the blackness from the store chat managers. Selection of technology The team of executives is not known with recent changes in the market industry. The wrong selection of technology may also cause you the failure in eCommerce. Or even sometimes, you might get connected with the wrong partner. The lack of management The eCommerce business is a vast field that is mainly required to be in the proper record. Lack of control of data may cause you a failure. Not having a quality website The lousy quality website experience is another reason for losing customers. You mainly launched your products on the eCommerce platforms. However, you also need to have a great quality website. As a website builds customers' trust, the poor one may build up the bad impact. There are many more aspects that may cause you the failure. However, these are some of the most common mistakes the entrepreneurs do" - Faizan Khan, Founder of Webtute Searching for a reliable NopCommerce development company for your business? Contact us now. Main Reasons Why E-commerce businesses fail "There are several reasons for an eCommerce company/project failure. It might cause due to these reasons: i) Don't do enough research on the target market ii) Lack of engagement in line with other channels iii) Unclear image of the desired customer's buying behavior and preferences from an analytics perspective. iv) Poor sell-through rates from poor merchandising skills/loading times/offering variety etc. v) Inability to maintain a cohesive cross-channel marketing strategy that achieves complementary objectives within a realistic budget. vi) Overhead expenses - IT costs, labor costs, legal fees for NDAs and patents take up too much time and money before launching a product making it difficult to gain initial traction" - Farhan Rauf, Founder of Buy Here Pay Here Read More: How Artificial Intelligence (AI) can Boost Your eCommerce Sales in 2022? 1) Wrong Product Sales The product is one of the key reasons websites fail. Selling a product no one wants puts you in a difficult position from the start. The most important decision when opening an internet store. Make sure online shoppers want to buy your goods! 2) Inexact Pricing There are tales and websites that make millions, yet they look amateurish. Despite their unappealing appearance, they succeed in giving the greatest costs. Of course, better design and marketing would help, but the assumption is that low costs will attract buyers. This is true in the offline retail industry, but even more so online, where the next store is only a click away. Make sure you have investigated your competition and their prices. For more advice, see how to improve online sales. 3) No Marketing Plan You cannot succeed without a strategy. Plan it out and execute it. Remember to change it if it doesn't work the first time to increase your ROI. Since most online sales begin with a search, develop a paid search marketing strategy (and budget). 4) Google does not rank the website eCommerce SEO should be a major aspect of your marketing strategy. The main concept is to get you to the top of the search engines so people can find you when they search for similar keywords. 36% of shoppers begin their product search on Amazon, while 35% begin on Google. So getting found on Google for your product keywords is still a good idea. 5) No action calls If you want people to add something to their cart, make the button stand out. If you want them to call, display your number. Always direct the user where to go, what to do next, and of course, to buy. 6) Poor Content Customers will trust you more if you have a lot of material. Create buying guides and individual product description pages for your products. Videos and photos are included. It's vital to educate as well as sell your guests. This will also assist your SEO. 7 ) Excessive Shipping Shipping is expensive. It annoys us. Reduce shipping costs and offer free shipment whenever possible. Again, FREE delivery. Much more sales! - Paula Glynn Founder of Pixelstorm Looking to a custom Retail software development company? Your search ends here. Get in touch now Launching an E-commerce business without proper market research A reason why a lot of eCommerce projects fail is because a lot of people going into eCommerce today are not starting a business, they think they're going to find a winning product and that's going to carry them. There seems to be this idea being perpetuated that opening up a Shopify store is like having an ATM machine or like it's this magic money-making tool. Shopify is nothing more than a website builder, behind that website you need to have a product that's in demand and that people want, that product has to be a quality product, you have to have good customer service and stand behind your product. Too many people get into eCommerce thinking they are going to find a winning product and run $5 a day in Facebook ads and are going to be making thousands of dollars per day. This myth is perpetuated on Youtube by Entrepreneur Gurus but it's completely false. You can be very successful in eCommerce but there are no magic products or magic shortcuts you have to build a business. - John Frigo Founder of Best Price Nutrition "One reason eCommerce projects fail is that there may not be adequate research before launching into production phases that would ensure success after launch. If you are trying something new or innovative, make sure you know what you are doing and make sure your customers want what you are offering before spending any money on it." - Robin Brown, Founder of Vivipins Bad stock management and traditional inventory models "One of the main reasons why eCommerce projects fail is bad stock management. Especially for companies just starting up with limited capital, betting on the right inventory mix can be a life-or-death situation, particularly for those who had to get a loan to finance the initial stock. In our experience, the best way to avoid this issue is to rethink the traditional inventory models, forgetting about classic bulk purchases, and go for smaller limited runs, or if possible, commit fully to an on-demand model, where only purchased goods are manufactured. This way, although margins are slimmer, the risks are minimized and let you properly gauge the demand for your goods and iterate in the right direction." - Patricia Lopez, Founder of Dirt Pitch Not focusing on quality content and meaningful connections "Just like any business, one of the biggest reasons why an eCommerce project can fail is focusing too much on the front end of marketing and underestimating the power of quality content and meaningful connections. Yes, you can have a very innovative product and the most aesthetic pictures and videos for your brand - but if you do not provide your customers with value that they can actually use, they're not going to get you very far. Educate, support, and inspire. Customers don't just want to do business, they want to connect with your brand. Demonstrate that you are invested in building strong and authentic relationships with them for they are an integral part of your success." - Dan McCormick, Founder of Perfect Brew Are you looking for the best custom software development company in USA? Your search ends here. Get in touch now "1. Quality Content: Add value to your products by creating buying guides and unique product detail pages. 2. No Value Proposition: Be different. Something that will make your company stand out from the others and give people a reason to buy what you have over competitors. - Saskia Ketz, Founder of Mojomox No marketing plan and lack of CTAs "1. Selling The Wrong Products: If you cannot provide people with what they want, then there's no point in having one at all, and the chances are high that potential customers will go elsewhere. 2. No Marketing Plan: Without a strategy developed for advertising purposes, there's no way to make sure success! 3. Lack of Calls to Action: To entice shoppers, make sure the button on your site stands out. - Stewart McGrenary Founder of Freedom Mobiles "The best thing you can do is to plan on how you will market your website. The plan will make you understand how to maneuver, without which you will fail. Map out the plan and understand how you will execute it. If it fails at first, pick lessons and tweak the plan to fit the market. Ensure that you optimize your website for relevant searches. Poor Design How your website appears will contribute significantly to its success. If you build a sketchy website, it will look suspicious, and people will always leave at first glance. Remember that you are building a brand. Take time to invest in the presentation and make use of appealing colors, fonts, and images." - Harriet Chan, Founder of CocoFinder Read More: Top benefits of E-Commerce for small businesses in 2022 Lack of executive buy-in can cause failure Many eCommerce projects fail primarily because they lack executive buy-in. In some instances, the management team is totally disconnected from the project. Both of these situations contribute to executive misalignment, which creates confusion as there is no clear path to follow. Without the proper support from the executive, it will be difficult for the project team to procure the right resources for the project. It will also be harder to make key strategic decisions about the eCommerce project since it isn't much of a priority to the C-suite. The result of executive misalignment, or the lack of executive buy-in, is the definitive failure of eCommerce project. - Jeff Hinkle CEO of TRG Datacenters Failing to provide a positive user experience. Failing to create a good user experience is quite a common experience with eCommerce projects. Quite often, startup owners come up with viable eCommerce ideas but forget to create a user experience to keep the idea going. A large number of e-commerce projects constantly battle cart abandonment and low buys because the user experience doesn’t match the products sold. Even the best products, with the best prices, won’t sell if your eCommerce project fails the customer experience test. Having a seamless user experience means more than making your website look great. The shopping and checkout systems are huge players in creating a good user experience for eCommerce projects. Attention should be paid not only to the two, but also to how your eCommerce website performs, and how you undertake customer onboarding in general." - Alina Clark, Founder of CocoDoc Searching for an esteemed hire .NET Core company for business? Get in touch now Lack of marketing and segmentation "There is a lack of integration between the back office and the front office. According to Peter Sheldon, senior director of strategy at Magento, an Adobe business, integration may be costly and time-consuming. Brands can't afford to update outdated systems with expensive and hazardous 'tear and replace' operations. As a result, it's not uncommon to see online merchants try to 'bolt on' flashy new technology in the hopes of providing a seamless consumer experience. Businesses frequently apply in-store segmentation to online circumstances, which is ineffective. Shopping behaviors on the internet are rapidly changing. Customers search many websites, read Amazon reviews, and seek suggestions on social media before making a buy. To comprehend each segment's purchasing goals, segmentation profiling must integrate customer-value and customer-needs features." - Yosun Allen, Founder of Yosun uv printer High product cost and zero customer satisfaction "Selling the Right Products But at Too High of a Price Major reason an eCommerce website can fail is if they are selling the right products at too high of a price. This is why researching your competitor’s pricing strategy and also doing competitive analysis makes all the difference in terms of success or failure for your online store. You have to know the industry well enough to price your products accordingly. In 2021, many wholesalers are now competing online which means beating them with the price isn't possible you need to beat them in social media marketing, USP, effective copywriting, and customer engagement. Not Focusing on Customer Satisfaction This is closely related to having a unique selling proposition- you can’t stand out if you don’t satisfy the needs of your customers. Maybe they are looking for a certain product that you don’t have, or maybe they are looking for faster shipping. If you aren’t meeting their needs, they will go elsewhere." - Dror Zaifman Founder of iCash Read More: Top 16 mistakes to avoid when developing an eCommerce store in 2022 Failing to reach the target audience Failing to create a good user experience is quite a common experience with eCommerce projects. Quite often, startup owners come up with viable eCommerce ideas but forget to create a user experienc"I believe the main reason why ecommerce projects fail is that they never reach their target audience due to failed marketing. The best product or content in the world is useless if it is never seen by the person who needs it, which is why marketing, advertising, and a good social media strategy are so important. Of course, as a Pinterest expert, I recommend using that powerful platform to reach a target customer!" - Laura Rike Founder of Laurarike Looking to hire .NET Core developers for business? Get in touch now Failing to adapt to customer-driven changes "While many companies have embraced e-commerce, many have failed due to its mistakes. One example is Amazon, which despite being an early adopter of the online space, failed to fully develop its platform. The complexity of implementing an integration can be costly and time-consuming. This is especially true for large retailers that have multiple systems and processes in place. Instead of bolting on to new initiatives, businesses should align their strategies to adapt to the changes brought about by their customers. A commerce platform that enables them to innovate should be their go-to platform." - Allan Jeffrey Founder of Ultra Decking Unsuitable partnerships, wrong technological investments, and messy data management "There are several reasons why eCommerce projects fail. Some of the most common reasons are unclear strategy, internal miscommunication, and poor leadership. eCommerce projects also fail due to unsuitable partnerships and wrong technological investments. Most eCommerce projects that fail do not invest in marketing. Their online presence is almost invisible, their data management is a mess, and even their websites are generic." - Nathan Hughes, Founder of Diggity Marketing Read More: 7 proven Tips to Secure Your Ecommerce Website Internal misunderstanding, and bad leadership "eCommerce initiatives fail for a variety of reasons. Uncertain strategy, internal misunderstanding, and bad leadership are some of the most prevalent causes. Unsuitable relationships and technology expenditures also cause eCommerce ventures to fail. The majority of eCommerce projects that fail do so because they do not spend on marketing. Their internet presence is virtually non-existent, their data management is a disaster, and their websites are generic. - William Cohen, Founder of My GRE Exam Prep Not focus on SEO and quick products delivery "Not thinking about the customers. E-commerce business owners often fall into the trap of prioritizing revenue over customers. Hence, they don’t focus on giving customers an amazing experience from the moment they visit the site to the point when their product is delivered. Not delivering the products quickly enough. Quick delivery time is one of the most critical factors for customers. If you take a long time to deliver their products, they’ll switch to competitors. Not focusing on SEO. Unless you focus on SEO, you wouldn’t be able to move on top of search engines and improve your visibility." - Elisa Bender, Founder of RevenueGeeks Boost your business growth with .NET development company . Reach out us now Multiple reasons "There are a multitude of reasons why e-commerce projects don't succeed. It is critical for burgeoning entrepreneurs to assess these pitfalls before starting a business. These are the top reasons why some e-commerce projects fail: 1. The company couldn't gain a high search engine optimizer (SEO) rating on Google or other noteworthy platforms. This can be detrimental to a company that wants to be perceived as an expert in their industry. 2. The company didn't assign notable value propositions to its products or services. It is important that a company demonstrates its unique selling points (USP) through high customer engagement. 3. The company implemented unsuitable or vague marketing strategies for its e-commerce plan. It is vital that a company assigns clear expectations." - Robert Brandl, Founder of Tool Tester Network Conclusion E-commerce has altered the way retailers and wholesalers do business. However, success in E-commerce is not simple, especially in this cutthroat sector where hundreds of rivals emerge every day. Despite the possibility of company success, entrepreneurs must be aware of the common pitfalls that might lead to failure. E-commerce businesses fail for a variety of reasons, including poor planning, poor customer service, a lack of marketing, and a failure to adapt to changing trends and consumer needs. However, with careful planning, attention to detail, and a desire to learn from mistakes, it is possible to avoid these pitfalls and build a thriving internet business. In this article, we learnt the top reasons why e-commerce businesses fail, ranging from poor planning to insufficient marketing, and what you can do to avoid these common blunders. We hope this has taught you a few facts of which you were previously unaware. Check out our blogs for more fascinating stuff like this.

Kapil Panchal

A passionate Technical writer and an SEO freak working as a Content Development Manager at iFour Technolab, USA. With extensive experience in IT, Services, and Product sectors, I relish writing about technology and love sharing exceptional insights on various platforms. I believe in constant learning and am passionate about being better every day.