Yesterday, we looked at the advantages to selling online. Today, we’ll look at some of the obstacles facing businesses that are considering selling products online.
The first obstacle is cost. If you already have an existing website, obviously that will help some, but, if you plan to sell more than just a small number of items, and, you are not a tech company, you will most likely need help to do this. You will need a way to keep track of the inventory as well as the internet marketing components of the e-commerce site.
Another obstacle is security. In order to process credit card payments online, you will need a secure server. Of course, you could always opt out of accepting credit cards but some statistics say you will be turning away 80% of your business. Not a good choice.
The last obstacle we will discuss here today is customer service. You will need a way for customers to contact you with questions and a system that ensures that you respond in a timely manner. Because customers are buying from you online, they never have the opportunity to meet your friendly sales clerks, so, you have to find a way to give them a friendly feeling experience online.
Obviously, there are ways to overcome most of these obstacles and give your customers a great experience from buying from you online. The investment in doing in right could add a whole new customer base to your business.
Interesting, however online allows massive reductions of working capital – companies are using online to clear stocks. ButI agree, security still remains a problem and a concern for users.
New US research by Gartner has found that 39% of consumers have already changed their behaviour due to worries about their personal data being stolen — and 59% of those have cut back on online shopping.