Every now and then, we hear horror stories about e-commerce. Wrong items shipped, misleading product descriptions, or worse, customers receiving a brick instead of an iPhone. But the story doesn’t end here. When you’re ready to order your favorite brand of clothes at an online store, hit the order button to get your goods, and be greeted with a nightmare. Your payment is charged twice!
In 2024, there is expected to be an increase in the estimate of the e-commerce sector to INR 4,416. 68 billion – this is a trillion from rupees of goods looked through online. All experts agreed that it will only continue to increase at an accelerated speed of around 11% annually and will end up at INR 7,591! 94 billion by 2029.
The element of e-commerce has become inevitable in modern-day life. Today, you can find millions of people who look for their purchasing products over the web. So it’s not a wonder that online services are so valuable. In his Letter to Shareholders, Jeff Bezos focused on customers’ ever-increasing expectations. “One thing I love about customers,” Jeff said, “is that they are divinely discontent…People have a voracious appetite for a better way, and yesterday’s ‘wow’ quickly becomes today’s ‘ordinary.”
In this article, we’re going deeper into the pain points experienced by millions of online shoppers and talk about how innovative technology can solve these problems. But before that, it’s important to identify the problems by placing orders and interacting with your support team.
Top 10 Pain Points of Online Shoppers with Innovative Technology Solutions
Now we come to the subject of what we can do to avoid such problems and to allow everyone an optimal shopping experience. There are Amazon.com Inc., Flipkart Private Limited, eBay Inc., Alibaba Group Holdings Limited, and FSN E-Commerce Ventures Limited, which are at the top of the e-commerce sector.
Computer-enabled new technologies are forging ahead in offering solutions to these common concerns. Technological innovations are rounding up the mist surrounding e-commerce and making it easier for consumers around the world. You have more control over what to share, and additional security ensures that your data is not compromised. Let’s understand some of the main pain points of the customers, and you can deal with them with advanced technological solutions.
1. Inaccurate Product Search
Pain Point:
One of the main difficulties for many online shoppers is precise search results. Customers sometimes struggle with inaccurate product searches. And it becomes their problem to get the product they want due to inaccurate searches. It is clearly frustrating when time is wasted on something that could have been avoided.
Technology solution:
Implement AI-driven search capabilities that include voice search, smart filters, and personalized recommendations. Enhance your search engine with natural language processing to understand various keywords and provide accurate results, making the shopping experience efficient and satisfying.
2. Reduced Attention Centered on Cybersecurity
Pain Point:
Customers are concerned about the security of their personal and financial information. Data protection is a very important issue because some consumers may be afraid that online companies can sell it to the ‘wrong’ people. As a result of data breaches and hacking incidents, this fear may be so intense that it will entirely prevent people from buying a product.
Technology solution:
Cybersecurity is one of the top concerns of e-commerce platforms by implementing multi-factor authentication, SSL certificates, and data encryption. Moreover, it should have a data recovery plan that provides backup for all operations. Privacy assurance badges and seals displayed on the website might also seem reassuring for customers who have concerns regarding the safety of their data. Performing security audits and updates on a regular basis makes the program safe and sound.
3. Limited Payment Options
Pain Point:
Customers are ready to abandon their carts if their preferred payment method is not available. In the current scenario, you can assume that the user has finally identified a website that seems secure but when they go to the payment page, their selected option is missing. Offering inadequate payment options or ones that they are not familiar with can easily discourage customers from purchasing different products, rendering it necessary to abandon carts. Consequently, the cash is lost.
Technology solution:
Provisioning several payment forms, including credit/debit cards, digital wallets (like PayPal and Apple Pay), EMI, and Instalments on Purchase Later (Buy Now, Pay Later, i.e., BNPL services), is a way to improve the buying experience. Otherwise, free payment systems and no complicated or frustrating checkout process are important for customer satisfaction.
4. Lack of Personalization
Pain Point:
A lack of personalized interaction can make online shopping feel impersonal and unengaging. These days, online buyers expect individualized interaction, like they have face-to-face experiences in offline stores. Some may discard the motivation to shop online because of a lack of personalization, which makes shopping seem cold and boring.
Technology solution:
Utilize AI and machine learning to deliver personalized shopping experiences. Analyze customer behavior to provide tailored product recommendations, special discounts, and targeted marketing. Personalized experiences can significantly increase customer engagement and loyalty.
5. Big order and returns allocation goals
Pain Point:
High volumes of orders and returns can be overwhelming. This can lead to delays and customer dissatisfaction. It is also coping with its own series of issues. Coupons may, at times, result in a high volume of orders and fast shipping as well as return packages that can be daunting. If things turn bad between the two—such as delays in shipping or returns—the end-users get angry.
Technology solution:
Installing a software OMS (order management system) is going to simplify the procedure for order processing and returns management. An OMS allows tracking of orders, its management from purchase to delivery, inventory evaluation, and returns regardless of a large number of channels. Not only can the supply chain range an order with the use of blockchain technology, but it can also do so effectively with the help of this technology.
6. Poor Customer Support
Pain Point:
Customers often find it difficult to get timely and effective support, leading to frustration and negative reviews. Irritation increases, and often unsuccessful, negative reviews occur.
Technology solution:
AI-enabled chatbots and virtual assistants do 24/7 customer support to solve a large number of user queries and issues in a timely manner. More challenging issues need a live chat feature employing human agents. Thus, establishing several lines of contact by means of e-mails, calls, and social media can also contribute to customer satisfaction. But remember, not to use it too much that may irritate the customers.
7. Cross-border E-commerce Challenges
Pain Point:
Purchase from overseas sellers implies buying two products at once – the product itself and the currency. Buying from international sellers is somewhat complicated due to taxes, shipping times, and currency conversion issues.This is enough to make you reconsider buying from other countries, even with the lower prices offered.
Technology solution:
Collaboration with international shipment providers aims at streamlining processes of getting across borders and reducing parcel delivery times. The use of AI-driven automation can prompt real-time expense currency conversions and tax ditching. It is worth mentioning that the blockchain system provides transparency for international transactions and up-to-date information.
8. Disintegration of Offline and Offline Commerce
Pain Point:
The ability to understand what a product looks like from the way it looks in images and videos sold online is not what one can guess every time. Every one of us here probably had such an experience – ordered something online that looked really beautiful, but when it was delivered, it turned out to be a facade. This attitude forces the customers to leave the website without purchasing a product.
Technology solution:
Building AR/VR technologies into e-commerce platforms gives the user the advantage of having the pleasure of online and offline shopping. A customer can not only simulate with AR apps how they will look in a certain outfit but also place a piece of furniture in their own house for precise determination on their purchase. Just like that, virtual reality experiences may simulate things in real life, like showroom visits, and so it provides an opportunity for more engaging adventures with shopping.
A good example of AR/VR in e-commerce is the Adidas shoe app in which the company has incorporated a feature that employs augmented reality in its operation. In 2019, Adidas developed an AR feature that was incorporated into their iOS application, to get your shoe size and try out their shoes in the virtual world. When collaborating with the company Vyking, Adidas allowed users to visualize how shoes would look like on their feet.
9. Slow Page Speed
Pain Point:
Nobody wants to spend time on a slow-loading website. Because slow-loading pages can frustrate customers, leading to high bounce rates and abandoned carts. It’s the harsh truth, believe it or not.
Technology solution:
Optimize your website with techniques like image compression, content optimization, and the use of Content Delivery Networks (CDNs). These offer ways to maximize the efficiency of the performance of a website. This also results in a web page with a greatly improved speed. Buying fast servers to enhance performance and keeping external scripts to a minimum can be used as other ways to make a site work faster.
10. Server Overload
Pain Point:
High traffic during peak times can cause server overloads. This leads to crashes and slow checkouts. For example, the technical glitch at Amazon was a big setback in 2018 during Diwali. When the online retail giant began its Prime Day sales earlier, it created problems for its 36-hour global selling spree. It had to deal with server overloads as well as site outages that annoyed customers and consumers and cost the company potential sales. Such instances may have a significant and disastrous or positive impact on the brand.
Technology solution:
Establishing a resilient data processing infrastructure capable of absorbing a large number of requests is a good solution. It is, in fact, a prerequisite to stopping the server's overload. The solutions are bringing scalability in the cloud, load balancing, and distributed caching mechanisms to keep the website performance flawless regardless of high traffic spikes. Regular monitoring and proactive predictive visioning of the bigger picture are needed in order to achieve maximum server reliability.
Conclusion
Integrating innovative technology solutions is important for enhancing the e-commerce experience and addressing common pain points. Don’t let common online shopping frustrations hold you back. discover how advanced technology by Webelight Solutions can change your e-commerce journey! With innovative technology, you will get a better and more interesting e-commerce experience for your online shopper.
With Webelight Solutions, create your own online world in which consumers can easily find the products they need, and purchases are protected by the highest security, with no delays in customer service. Our team considers these challenges and adhere to them with new and upcoming technology to provide the best shopping experience.
Thus, with the help of the Webelight solutions, e-commerce businesses can anticipate trends and support smooth performance, avoiding potential disappointment that could emerge as a result of even slightly less than perfect or slow work.
Ready to Revolutionize Your E-commerce Industry Success? Get in touch with us today.