As many in the industry already know, a large portion of online shoppers abandon their shopping carts before placing an order. 

To eCommerce marketers, that’s akin to being left at the altar. There’s a full shopping cart abandoned due to the finicky whims of a web surfer. 

Getting consumers to step over that threshold and place the order is the primary challenge for eCommerce marketers. Thankfully, studies reveal the reasons for shopper reluctance, and there are remedies for making the online shopping experience easier and more enticing.

Buying Online Behaviors

As per the recent trends, the projection of the e-commerce market will be approximately $950 billion, stating that the ideology of “buying online is sceptical” is changing. (www.emarketer.com)

Approximately 2.14 billion (https://www.oberlo.in/blog/online-shopping-statistics) people prefer to shop online; however, certain economic and other factors might restrain consumers from buying online.

Here are some trends that you should keep in mind in 2023:
Inflation will lead to more searches but fewer purchase
Consumers prefer more than one payment option
Cross-border online shopping should be promoted
Personalised experience is the key
Ref:
(https://frizbit.com/blog/15-ecommerce-trends-for-2023-online-shopping-insights/)

Buying Online Reluctance

Here are some reasons that might be leading to consumers not shopping online:

73% of shoppers expect brands to understand their unique needs
62% expect personalization in their shopping
23% prefer to buy post-checking social media pages

(Ref: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jiawertz/2023/01/22/retail-changes-and-advancements-we-can-expect-in-2023/?sh=4eb3a2112a3e)

Fix Your Website

Research by the Missouri University of Science and Technology reveals that users form first impressions within a few milliseconds when viewing a website. Those impressions are affected by design but also by the ease of navigation and other factors. The nice aspect of the web is that site managers can rectify most design and navigation problems within a few hours. 

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To maximize buying online with shoppers, an Australian website firm, WebAlive, makes the following recommendations:

Make Purchasing Simple

The payment process should be simple with easy access to all the forms and information needed. Major turn offs include forced registration, excessive information requirements, lengthy order forms, not having a guest checkout option, and no automatic entry of repetitive credentials such as a billing or shipping address.

Pricing

Competitive pricing is one of the most important factors determining if a customer buys from you. Other issues are a lack of payment transparency, hidden charges, and additional charges.

Privacy and Security

Online purchases require trust, so assure customers that your company will not use their information for other purposes.

Offer a Variety of Payment Options

Good eCommerce websites should provide the most preferred and prominent payment methods.

Returns and Refunds

Offering money-back guarantees or some sort of assurance on the products can help close the sale.

Security Measures

Too many payment security checks, repetitive sign-ins, and credential inputs will frustrate buyers and cause them to leave.

Provide Product Details

Use professional copywriting with plenty of detail to engage shoppers.

Those Shipping Charges

To compete with the top eCommerce sites and increase buying online, marketers should consider:

  • Reducing delivery charges or offer free shipping
  • Making it easy for consumers to access your product page from the social media or search channels where they discover your product
  • Using advertising and social media to create brand awareness and reinforce perceived value

But even more profound, there’s science behind eCommerce. Leaders can expand their teams’ marketing savvy by leveraging our extensive corporate training programs. Of particular interest in this field is our Post Graduate Program in Digital Marketing in partnership with Purdue University. This online marketing course teaches the essentials of today’s digital economy and the pragmatic elements of SEO, SEM, and social media marketing, web analytics, and much more.  

You’ll find that purchasing our affordable, convenient online instruction to be the best thing you ever did for your career. 

FAQs-

What are the top two barriers to internet shopping?
The two barriers to internet shopping are- Shipping prices & Refund policies.
Shipping prices: E-commerce is an emerging shopping option, and everyone is willing to join it. However, with hefty shipping charges, people prefer to take a step back. Amazon, the giant player in this industry, tends to offer a free shipping experience, becoming the most credible source for customers.
Refund policies- 60% of online shoppers prefer to look at the refund policies before buying the real product. (https://vue.ai/blog/ai-in-retail/ecommerce-challenges-in-2021/) The reason is that the touch and feel tend to miss online, and customers want to be on the safer side where they can easily exchange and return.

2. What stops people from buying online?
Data Privacy: Asking customers to “accept cookies” every time they visit the site makes them more sceptical about whether they should provide their personal information. The more a website tries to make people comfortable, instead it makes them feel insecure about their data.
Delivery time: Unlike offline, customers must wait while buying things online. This is a significant challenge when it comes to impulsive shopping, as many of them might need to receive the order later.

3. What are the problems faced in online shopping?
Technical glitches: Everything has a scope of “human error, " which also prevails for technology. Sometimes, the payment method stops in between, leading to the deduction of payment but not the confirmation of the order.

Personalization: Consumers prefer buying from a place that adds value to the overall experience. Online, it tends to miss.

4. What are the barriers to purchase?
Some of the barriers to purchase are:
Not enough knowledge of the complete process
Shipping charges
Refund Policies
Having a not-so engaging website

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