An e-merchant is a merchant in his own right, who can face hassles on a daily basis during his activity. Some issues are also related to the specificities of e-commerce. Because to find their place on the web, e-merchants have to deal with many third parties: suppliers and customers, as for traditional commerce, but also delivery providers, payment solutions, services external to their solution, not to mention the service provider for the e-commerce site…
1- Delivery: delay, loss of package, damaged package, etc.
If in a store, the customer leaves the store with his product, this state of affairs is not the same with e-commerce. The Internet user sends you money for a product that he does not yet have. From the payment, he will wait impatiently for the arrival of his order. However, problems can always arise: the delivery service provider has lost a package, the product has been damaged during transport, or you have simply been late before shipping.
Internet users who have received good communication in the event of a dispute generally maintain good relations with the e-commerce site, 95% of negative opinions turn into loyal customers if a solution has been provided.
2- Paypal: beware of fraud by certain Internet users
Indeed, Paypal mainly favors the buyer in the event of a dispute , and this is used by fraudsters. The most well-known scam consists of indicating that the product has not arrived and asking Paypal for a refund, or declaring the product as not corresponding or not working, then sending a package back to the e-merchant. empty or of equivalent weight to the original, but not containing the product.
We also advise you to offer the online payment service of a bank. You will then no longer have an intermediary during disputes, which will leave you more room for discussion, but you will then have to be very reactive to ensure customer satisfaction.
3- Inventory management, supplier replenishments
Just like a store, an e-commerce site must be careful with its inventory management, especially in the case of successful products that generate many sales.
This management can be even more complex in the case of a store coupled with an e-commerce site. In this case, the ideal is to have an omnichannel solution in order to have a grouped inventory management between the site and the store. Thus, the stocks of the e-commerce site are updated according to the sales of the store, which avoids online orders when there is no more physical stock.
4- Dependence on Google’s decisions (HTTPS, mobile, visibility, etc.)
Google is the world leader in search engines, and by extension in the visibility of websites. Most sites are over 50% dependent on Google for traffic. Despite the projects of new competing search engines, Google’s supremacy seems destined to last a few more years…
5- Think about legal obligations before each promotion
Promotions, like sales for example, are governed by laws. The balances are the only commercial offer which authorizes the sale at a loss, in order to empty a useless stock. Sale products must be present on your e-commerce site at least one month before being on sale, and the display of certain mentions is mandatory. Destocking and discounts can be set up the rest of the year, but selling at a loss is then prohibited, and certain information such as the expiry date, or the old and new price must be displayed.
6- Lack of time: e-merchant, a multidisciplinary profession
An e-merchant is not just a merchant. He is also a webmaster, web editor, commercial animator, after-sales service, graphic designer… If these trades are not delegated to external service providers, or to internal employees, it is the e-merchant who manages all tasks to be carried out on the site: writing texts, making visuals for promotions or newsletters, preparing packages, doing external communication, answering customer questions, etc.
7- Negative customer reviews: how to get something positive out of them
It is possible that despite all the care taken in the preparation of orders or customer follow-up, you receive negative opinions on one of the tools used to collect them. You must then extract all the positive possible from these opinions . Indeed, perhaps they will allow you to improve your process of preparing parcels, or responding to customers.
8- Think and carry out your digital strategy, choose the communication channels
In the continuity of the multidisciplinary profession, the e-merchant must also promote and animate his merchant site. He must therefore determine the communication channels to be used (Social networks, newsletters, partnerships, online advertising, blog, videos, etc.), define the messages to be transmitted, set up an editorial schedule, create visuals, etc. A profession in its own right!
9- Tough competition from the web
Unless you are in a niche industry , you may be competing with a large number of e-commerce sites that offer the same products as you. Marketplaces are also strong competition. Thus, you sometimes need to monitor prices to align your prices and remain competitive, or offer additional services that will set you apart from your competitors.
10- The inherent cost of external services for advanced features
Sending newsletters, doing inbound marketing, collecting opinions, these functions are rarely integrated into existing e-commerce solutions and require going through external service providers. If, well managed, these functionalities are quickly profitable, e-merchants sometimes neglect these tools in their operating budget. So don’t hesitate to start with the basic features and then move upmarket once the return on investment arrives. With this, you should gradually grow your online business!
