Online commerce seems like a fairly simple business. You need to choose a niche, then set up a website, launch advertising, and your first customers are ready to buy.
But in practice, everything turns out to be much harder than in theory: eight out of ten new online stores do not even make it to their first anniversary. Where does this failure rate come from and how can you avoid adding to the sad statistics? Let’s take a look with Yevhen Kasyanenko, our expert who has accompanied dozens of e-commerce launches and knows where owners most often slip up.
“Creating an online store is not a one-time launch, but a long-term system where technical solutions, marketing, logistics, and content work as a single system. Neglecting even one aspect causes the store to lose ground,” says the expert.
If you are planning to open your own online platform, be sure to study the tips for creating an online store in this article. And when you decide to seek professional help, check out our KISS Software page, which describes our services and the benefits of working with us in detail.
At the start, everything seems simple: “I’ll connect the payment system, set up advertising, post the goods, and the money will start rolling in.” But real professional e-commerce is more complicated than that. You need to decide on dozens of issues in advance: what to sell, how to arrange categories, how to place an order in two clicks, how to deliver purchases, and how to support the customer after payment. If something goes wrong somewhere, profits stop.
“Many people are familiar with the typical scenario where the owner opens a store with bright eyes, and six months later wonders why advertising is eating up the budget and shopping carts are empty. The reason is almost always not a bad niche, but a chain of small but critical mistakes,” notes Yevhen Kasyanenko.
To keep your project from falling into these statistics, we’ve compiled ten of the most dangerous miscalculations and shown how to avoid them. Each point is based on real experience with online stores, not theory from a textbook.
Before we dive into the details of why an online store isn’t selling , let’s agree on the main thing: our expert, Yevhen, describes each point not to intimidate, but to provide practical advice. If you are already preparing a project for launch, use the list as a checklist. If your store is already up and running, check to see if it has any of these pitfalls.
Based on his experience, Yevhen Kasyanenko has noticed that too many entrepreneurs sell everything at once and lose focus. As a result, the site resembles a warehouse of discounted goods rather than a platform that meets a specific need.
In this case, to correct the mistake, you need to:
“A clear USP is your strong point. Without it, even the most beautiful presentation will not attract buyers,“ – Yevhen Kasyanenko.
Many novice entrepreneurs are convinced that an online store needs professional and complex functionality from the very beginning. The result is cumbersome pages, pop-up errors, and confusion in the shopping cart.
How to avoid it:
“The best website is one that doesn’t get in the way of buying. And if it’s also pleasing to the eye, you’re already one step ahead of the competition,” notes Yevhen Kasyanenko.
Online shopping is like choosing blindly. If the product card is sparse, the customer closes the tab and looks for a site where they can see the item with their own eyes.
What to do:
“A product card is a mini-presentation, not a bookmark in a catalog. The richer it is, the easier it is to sell,” says Yevhen Kasyanenko.
Poor navigation complicates perception. People get lost, get angry, and don’t buy what they want. After all, no one wants to wander through unstructured and endless sections.
How to fix the situation
The shorter the path to the product, the higher the chance that the customer will click “Buy” instead of the cross in the corner of the browser.
“If a person doesn’t find what they need in three clicks, they will most likely leave. And with them goes your profit,”emphasizes Yevhen Kasyanenko.
A long questionnaire kills the desire to buy. The more fields there are, the faster the desire to buy anything or even contact such a seller disappears.
How to turn the ordering process into a normal process:
“The payment process should be as simple as possible: quick and easy. This is what we always emphasize when we launch online stores for our clients,” emphasizes Yevhen Kasyanenko.
When a seller only offers a delivery and payment option that is convenient for them, it is a direct invitation for the buyer to go to a competitor. Every customer has their own habits: one won’t part with Apple Pay, another only trusts cash on delivery, and a third wants to pick up the package themselves after work.
What to implement to give the buyer a sense of freedom of choice:
“People are more willing to buy when they feel they are in control,” notes the expert.
You can have the perfect store, but if no one has heard of it, sales will remain limited to a small circle of people. Promotion without numbers, however, is no better: money is spent, but there is no understanding of the result.
How to bring your store out of the shadows and keep your finger on the pulse of data:
Smartphones have long been the main screen. More than 50% of orders are placed from them. If the site on the phone scrolls left and right, buttons are cut off, or it takes forever to load, the user will click the X and leave.
How to turn a mobile visit into a purchase:
“If it’s inconvenient for a customer to press the purchase button on their phone, you’ll lose them,” reminds Yevhen Kasyanenko.
In online retail, “out of stock” sounds like a death sentence. Trust falls, the customer leaves. If inventory is kept in a notebook and delivery times are calculated by eye, then the store risks its money and reputation.
How to get organized and not let the buyer down:
When a store owner tries to do everything themselves—from layout to advertising—both speed and quality suffer.
How to solve the problem:
“If a manager spends time on minor technical tasks instead of developing the business, growth will inevitably slow down,” says our specialist, sharing his experience.
If you want to avoid the pitfalls described above, it is better to act proactively.
We are confident that preventive measures will improve performance. And, importantly, if you are unsure about something or feel that you lack expertise, save yourself time, nerves, and money—turn to the professionals.
Our approach is as follows:
“We don’t just create online stores, we create systems that grow with you and show incredible results,” emphasizes Yevhen Kasyanenko.
Results are impossible without mistakes, and that’s not a death sentence, but it’s important to notice and fix them in time.
If your online store isn’t selling, figure out where the weak link is. Better yet, entrust this to the team of professionals at KISS Software. We will help you avoid critical miscalculations and build an online store that really makes a profit. After all, as our leading expert says: “The best store is not just a beautiful website. It is a platform that is convenient for the customer and profitable for the owner.”
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