Why Many Shopify Stores Fail and How to Ensure Yours Will Succeed
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Shopify is an excellent tool for any business who wants to open up an online store. Fully equipped with a whole range of features meant to optimize the setup, operation and maintenance of stores, including web hosting and its own standalone CMS, this platform is the ideal dedicated solution for ecommerce. If you wish to learn more about it, we’ve talked all about the pros and cons of using Shopify for ecommerce stores in a previous article.
If Shopify is such a high-performing, useful tool that helps millions of merchants easily and profitably run their online stores, how come so many of them fail? While the data is mixed, many reports point out that over 90% of Shopify stores are unsuccessful. So, why do Shopify stores fail? Let’s go over a few reasons why these stores don’t perform as expected and see what we can learn from them:
Lack of a plan
Every successful business venture starts with a solid plan, and Shopify stores are no exception. Without a clear business plan, there’s no way for you to set objectives, create milestones and track your progress along the way. Doing market research, identifying your competition as well as your potential audience and generating a realistic marketing strategy are all important steps to be taken before formulating a definite plan for your Shopify store.
No attention to detail
In ecommerce, like everywhere else, details make all the difference. With so many online stores out there, buyers have a ton of options. It’s harder than ever before to get the right people through the sales funnel and keep them engaged all the way to the finish line – the purchase. A major focus point here is your store’s design. It needs to be responsive, easy to navigate and visually appealing. Another important detail to work on is product descriptions, which should be clear and informative.
Poor customer service
You can tell a lot about a person based on how they act when things don’t go well. The same applies to businesses. Being responsive, helpful and understanding when problems and complaints arise, being open to feedback and suggestions but most of all, listening to your customers and going above and beyond to solve their problems is what defines good customer service.
No brand identity and Unique-Selling-Point (USP)
What many people fail to register is that consumers buy brands, not products, particularly when it comes to items that have a lot of value for them. That’s why it’s important to work on your brand and gain exposure, so that you can create brand loyalty. Having a unique selling point is equally important. To stand out from the crowd (a.k.a. be better than your competition) you need to offer something different and special, such as better prices, rare items or excellent customer service.
As you can see, there are many valuable lessons to be learned from these common mistakes. Here are a few more tips on how to set your Shopify store on the path to success:
Focus on mobile – Mobile is king nowadays. Everybody reads, chats and very often shops on the go using their mobile device, so make sure to give mobile the attention it deserves. That includes optimizing your store for mobile, promoting it on mobile-based apps if you can.
Collect and use data – From the very start of your Shopify business venture and all the way throughout, use analytics tools to collect useful data about your store’s performance, including traffic, sales, ROI etc. Use that data to tweak your business plans and create a better experience for your users.
Engage your customers – Marketing is essential to the survival of an online store. Make sure to optimize your Shopify store for SEO, provide relevant content and engage your existing customers and attract new ones though any means possible: regular newsletters announcing featured items and/or special offers, brand partnerships, a live chat service and so on.
Work with a digital agency – Enlisting the services of a Shopify expert agency like Mejix can fast-track your journey to commercial success. Our team has years of experience working with Shopify to design powerful ecommerce websites that generate profit.
In the end, the success of a Shopify online store is not about luck. It relies heavily on strategic thinking and the right tactics that will enable you to sell your products to the right people, without too many headaches.
