Challenges and Limitations faced by E-Commerce businesses

Challenges and Limitations faced by E-Commerce businesses

E-commerce is raging across the globe including in India. While most retail sectors have taken a blow, one of the most interesting changes taking place in 2022 is the shift to digital. With many people at home, the number of Google searches has multiplied and people have started using e-commerce to buy products they preliminarily would have purchased in physical retail stores. Coming to the scenario in India, businesses and majorly start-ups face many limitations and challenges, not without reason.

The following are the main limitations and challenges faced by businesses and startups:

Cyber & Data Security:

One of the biggest challenges faced by e-commerce businesses is security breaches. While dealing with eCommerce there is a lot of information/data that is involved and a technical issue with data can cause severe damage to the retailer’s daily operations as well as brand image. If not dealt with well, this aspect can result in dire consequences.

Agility Challenge:

Agility means the ability of businesses to advance, develop and deploy digital content, and respond to seasonal changes rapidly. One of the most critical initiatives in eCommerce businesses and start-ups is agility, which drives immediate digital fulfillment. At the heart of the digital business lies agile transformation, and scaling is also essential for making it successful. Many businesses and startups face difficulties to move or change quickly to adapt to customers’ needs. The reason is they cannot integrate new technologies efficiently with their existing system, and hence penetration into the market gets more complicated.

Being Consistent:

For an eCommerce business, consistent performance of the website is a very essential factor as a good eCommerce performance leads to a higher engagement rate and conversion. Some of the factors that businesses should look for are, choosing a potential e-Commerce platform, Integrating a search box, Mobile optimised site, Integrating a safe payment gateway for secure transactions, Adding an SSL certificate to ensure security, etc.

Technology Partnerships:

Choosing the right technology partner is one of the most important decisions for any eCommerce business. Many businesses tend to choose a technological partner based on costs without first setting the right expectations or understanding their work scope. Much is at stake when businesses join hands with a technology company to bring their idea to life. On the other hand there are various platforms available in the market like OpenCart, Shopify, Magento and many more. Bisinesses should choose wisely which platform suits their business.

Customer Retention:

Many eCommerce businesses struggle to retain their customer base. There are various factors that affect customer retention such as a website being down due to poor hosting, poor UI/UX, the evolving expectation of the consumer, similar options, the failure to create a pleasant shopping experience, etc. Customer loyalty is a very important factor for a business’s success, and even a minor change in the business can ruin the brand’s reputation.