It is one of the most common concerns for retailers. Losing sales is always a problem, but especially online. Often, it is harder to understand for non-marketers what the causes are. While marketing experts who manage many brands have a better idea what the issues tend to be. There are multiple reasons retail websites lose sales.
In this article, 5 top reasons retail websites lose sales are covered to shed some light to this problem. These reasons can impact startups, small and larger organizations.
To increase conversion rates, retailers can work with professional marketers through marketing services or a service called Conversion Optimization. Those services would allow experts to make the necessary corrections and adjustments for retailers.
1. Poor website navigation structure.
The website navigation is a critical part of a website’s success or failure. The navigation has to be strategically created with goal in mind. For retail websites, this means converting the site visitor into a customer and shopper. A poor navigation can quickly cause a site visitor to leave. To avoid this, navigational structures should for starters make it easy for visitors and shoppers to find products, buy, and checkout.
2. Lack of incentives to promote sales.
Retailers must understand that consumers want deals online. We go online for this specific reason. We expect to get a better deal than going into some brick and mortar department store. Retailers that lack incentives to promote sales will have lower conversion rates (unless you are Apple). Retailers should frequently give and promote incentives to stimulate sales activity, conversion rates, and customer retention.
3. No sufficient shipping discounts.
These days most consumers will expect free shipping. This is especially true with orders larger than x amount of dollars. Often, it is worded this way as well by retailers. They give free shipping with orders over x amount. Whichever way the retailer structures the incentive, consumers will want to have the option not to pay for shipping.
4. Product visuals are not available.
This will become increasingly an issue. Most retailers are still used to only having one or two OK photographs of the product available online. Shoppers will increasingly want to see more of the product. It is the reason; many bigger retailers are starting to showcase the product via video. Multiple photographs are shown with product video introductions and/or tutorials.
5. Checkout process and payment options.
The checkout process is very important to conversion rates. Often, many retailers just use some technology utilized by their website designer. What technology applications are deployed matters. Not all solutions are the same. The checkout process should be short, simple, and without distractions. The payment methods should be extensive and easy to choose from.
