Launching and running a business is not an easy process; it takes dedication, commitment, discipline, and hard work. Sometimes you may experience obstacles, while other times things run smoothly.  As a new business owner, you need the right tools to ensure that your business is successful.
While most people are often worried about how to start an eCommerce store, they forget that avoiding common mistakes is just as essential. From ignoring user experience to choosing the wrong eCommerce platform when launching your business, read on below to understand the most common mistakes entrepreneurs make when starting an eCommerce store and how to avoid them.

1. Choosing the Wrong Platform
Whether you just launched or have been running your eCommerce store for a while, the platform you choose can either make or break your business.  Your eCommerce platform is like a representative of your physical store online. It will showcase all your products to potential consumers, help you attract the right customers, and help grow your business with time.
Before settling for an eCommerce platform, consider the following factors:

The type of products you offer
Your budget
How you plan to gauge your store
The level of control you’d like to have over your website
The kind of experience your customers want
The tools your eCommerce platform needs to integrate with
Whether you prefer custom or template design

Choosing the wrong eCommerce platform will affect your sales and conversion rate. That’s because your target audience may not be on the same platform. Thus, your products will not reach the intended audience.
The last thing you need is to settle for a platform that inhibits your business growth instead of fostering it. Ensure you take the time to correctly choose the right platform based on your target consumer and the type of products and services you’re offering.
2. Failure to Define and Understand Your Target Audience
Unfortunately, even after having a full-proof business plan, a well-developed website, and the right products, you will still need to understand your target audience. Most new business owners forget to define their target audience to know what they like and dislike.
For your business to succeed, you will need to do some market research to understand:

The type of audience that requires your products and services
How to communicate your services and products in a language that your target audience will comprehend
How to create a marketing strategy that places your audience at the center of everything
Why your target audience purchase from your competitors

Defining and understanding your target audience will help you create a marketing strategy that focuses on them. It will also help you take the necessary steps to improve their experience, thus, boosting your conversion rate and your sales.
3. Not Using Scalable Website Designs
Choosing the right platform for your eCommerce store is the first step to success. However, this also includes using a website design that sets your business up for growth. Avoid thinking small.
If you have the vision to integrate complicated features, expand your business to new markets, and offer more products, then go for it. Ensure that your business website design is created in a way that will accommodate this vision.
If you have a web developer or an eCommerce platform representative, remember to talk about your dream with them. That way, they can create a website that’s designed for an evolving business.
4. Poor UX and Complicated Navigation
Your business website should be a perfect balance of aesthetics and functionality. You want customers to find the right products for them, and you also wish the website to look good and give them a great user experience.
Users get frustrated with websites that load too slowly, have hard to find content, are confusing, or have features that don’t work. According to research, a user will opt for a competitor’s site if your website is loading too slowly. This may lead to a loss of business on your end.
To avoid this problem, contact a UX expert to help optimize the site for smooth user navigation.
5. If Your Website Content Is Not SEO and CRO Friendly
If you depend on organic traffic to attract your target customers, ignoring website content is a mistake. Ensure you create the right content depending on what your users want and the current SEO standards. Many small businesses make the blunder of treating their website content as an afterthought.
Every piece of well-created website content attracts users and helps you convert them into customers. Ensure you post content relevant to your target audience, from your product description to the homepage. Optimizing your website for SEO is among the best marketing tips for starting an eCommerce store.
6. Forgetting Customer Experience Metrics
In business, you can’t manage something if you don’t measure it. When looking into steps to starting an eCommerce store, one of the main aspects to consider is customer satisfaction. Thus, you should carefully monitor every customer’s interaction with your brand to determine their experience.
If you forget to measure customer experience, you will not identify areas that require improvement. Customer experience metrics help you build customer loyalty and trust. Check out Decibel for the six most essential customer experience metrics you should consider for your business.
7. Losing Focus
Starting an eCommerce store is an exciting step for any business owner. In the beginning, you may be tempted to handle everything on your own, getting you caught up in every tiny detail. Unfortunately, this can result in a loss of focus which is not the best way to start an eCommerce store.
Running a new business requires a lot of dedication, patience, and discipline to help you keep your eye on the price. Ensure you don’t get caught up in the details and forget to focus on the objective.
Ensure You Avoid the Above Mistakes When Starting an Ecommerce Store
While starting an eCommerce store is exciting, it can be quite stressful, especially if you are not adequately prepared. As a business owner, you want to do better than your competitors and reach the top of your industry. While this is a reasonable goal, you need to do a lot of work before then.
Ensure you don’t fall into the trap of committing any of the above mistakes, and you will be on your way to being the industry leader in your field.
Check out other posts on our website for more informative tips.





The Fortunate Investor is the finance half of the husband and wife duo behind this website. Michael's finance and investment advice is rooted in an MBA and 20 years experience as an entrepreneur, banker, and manager in the financial services industry.
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