The eCommerce industry has seen a significant boost in the past two pandemic years. As people started spending much of their life indoors, online shopping became the norm. According to UNCTDA, global e-commerce has jumped to $26.7 trillion, as COVID-19 boosted online sales.

Despite this dramatic increase in online sales, the eCommerce industry is not without challenges. The following seems to be eternal challenges for online store owners.

D2C retailers are posing stiff competition

Your e-commerce business is running a risk to be in competition with the manufacturer and other retailers who sell directly to consumers. To avoid this to happen, try to look for manufacturers who are not selling their products directly to consumers. Also, try to offer a lower price and reward your loyal customers.

SEO is evolving and getting more complex

Search Engine Optimization has moved past keywords. Algorithms have gotten smarter and favours websites with great user experience. The old tricks of keyword stuffing and buying low-quality backlinks do not apply anymore. And that is not to mention voice search which is entirely a different SEO game for e-commerce businesses to brace for.

Carts are still being abandoned

It is incredibly frustrating to have managed to take the customer through the funnel only to lose them on a check-out stage. E-Commerce brands lose $18 billion in sales revenue each year because of cart abandonment. Mobile users have an even higher abandonment rate compared to desktop users. However, these challenges can be minimized with proper checkout optimization. First, understand what is going wrong and optimize accordingly.

Customers don’t want to read product descriptions, they want to see them

This is a very solvable challenge if the store is backed by advanced technology.

Customer Experience Opportunities for eCommerce Brands

Just as the pandemic helped to boost eCommerce sales, the industry is about to see another boost from the next iteration of the internet –the Metaverse. In the metaverse, customers will no longer be reading about product descriptions, they will see the product, feel it, and test it using their virtual avatars.

With the metaverse, e-commerce brands will be able to create virtual stores or exhibitions and customers, through their virtual presence, will visit the store and have a rich experience of the products nearly the same as they would by physically visiting the actual store.

Social media shopping is also a huge opportunity for e-commerce businesses. The average internet user uses social networks for about 2 hours and 15 minutes daily, according to ReadyCloud. Social media is where most of the shopping will be taking place.

Most social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat have integrated commerce features that help users purchase products without leaving the social platform. According to Think With Google, 43% of internet users in the U.S. are classified as “social media shoppers.” 

Moreover, with e-commerce giants like Alibaba and Amazon solving the last mile challenge, the possibility of selling across borders is promising now more than ever. Shippings will likely take shorter times in the future and that will provide fertile grounds for e-commerce brands to thrive.

As the world spends much of its time on digital platforms, e-commerce brands are better positioned to benefit from it. But online store owners need to first deal with existing challenges that are plaguing the industry.