Online shopping offers such a convenient experience. Whether it’s the middle of summer and you’re looking to update your wardrobe, or perhaps you have some free time after work, and you decide to hop online to browse and make a few purchases. The only downside is that you can easily find yourself in a situation where you’ve made the mistake of filling up your cart with many items that aren’t exactly what you were looking for once you see them in person. You then end up returning these items, which is a process that is time-consuming and frustrating. If this sounds like a familiar experience, keep reading because this blog post will show you ways to solve some of the most common problems facing online shoppers.
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Not being able to find what you’re looking for
One problem that often faces online shoppers is not finding the items they are looking for. Either the item is not available to purchase online, or the online stores make it difficult to find items because of poor website designs that have missing or unclear information about the product/ the website has poor categorization of their products, prices, etc. This presents a problem because people generally shop online for convenience. Still, when they cannot find the items they are looking for, they are forced to go into a physical store, which they want to avoid by opting for online shopping. Online stores and boutiques need to make their sites user-friendly and easy to navigate. All items should be categorized with pictures and prices, etc. Customers should easily search for items using keywords in a search bar.
Prices are too high or not competitive
One of the perks of online shopping is that store websites tend to have more sales and discounts than you would find in physical stores. It’s also not uncommon to find products online at a much more discounted price, even if there is no sale on the site. With that being said, sometimes you get situations where the prices online are too high on certain products. When making price comparisons with other online stores, you won’t find much difference in the price. This puts customers in a compromising position if they need to buy something but cannot go to a physical store, or perhaps that particular item is only accessible online.
Items are not available in your country
One common problem facing many online shoppers across the world is that they cannot access certain products/brands online in their country. This is likely because the store or brand does not ship to that particular country. This is unfortunate for the consumer who wishes to purchase the product. If shipping is indeed the blockage, it can be overcome by services such as MyUS. This reputable and affordable international shipping company allows customers to shop in UK and US stores and ship their items to all parts of the world.
The lengthy and complicated checkout process
As we’ve mentioned before, people shop online for convenience, so when they are met with lengthy and complicated checkout processes. At the same time, shopping defeats the point and creates an unpleasant experience for the customer. Nearly all research into why people abandon their carts during checkout shows that complex checkout processes are the third most common reason. People generally only have patience for complicated checkout processes if the product they want is of high value. Still, generally, when people spend a great deal of time researching a product, doing price comparisons, etc., the last thing they appreciate is complex checkout processes. People want simple and fast checkout, especially on everyday items.
Difficulty communicating with sellers
Customer service is vital even for online stores, and lack of this deprives paying customers of help when they make purchases/want to make purchases. Customers are also alienated when there is a lack of communication because it’s natural for customers to have inquiries. Poor customer service is also a problem resulting in your customer turning away from your store and not making their purchase. 57% of customers would prefer contacting companies via digital media such as social media and email instead of phone calls which is something to keep in mind.
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