Check out this special edition of Two Minute Tuesday, where you’ll learn about five chilling ecommerce statistics and how your online business can overcome new behaviors from online shoppers.

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Despite its glory, there’s a dark side to the ecommerce industry, namely how consumers are shopping online these days.

From abandoned carts to a dependency on coupons, online shoppers are becoming more nimble and savvy than ever, which means your ecommerce site needs to be prepared. Of course, decent preparation requires a bit of knowledge, which is what you’ll get from today’s bone-chilling edition of Two Minute Tuesday. Enjoy!

Happy selling!
-Matt Winn, Volusion

 

Here’s the transcript if you’d like to read along: 

Hi, everybody! My name’s Matt, and I’m the Social Media Manager here at Volusion. Welcome to Two Minute Tuesdays, where we give you two minutes of ecommerce advice to bolster your online success. As you well know, online selling is always changing and evolving, but some of the trends you encounter may be a little scary. So in the spirit of Halloween, I bring you five terrifying ecommerce trends and, more importantly, what you can do about them.

Our first terrifying trend has to do with online shoppers and their dependency on free shipping. In fact, 62% of online shoppers in 2011 were somewhat likely to cancel their order if free shipping wasn’t involved. To combat this, you need to make sure that: 1) if you’re offering free shipping, promote it heavily across your site, and 2) before you even make that offer, do the math and make sure that you can offer free shipping without losing your proverbial shirt.

Our next scary ecommerce trend has to do with online fraud and fraudulent orders. In 2011, U.S. e-tailers lost over $3.4 billion in fraudulent orders. To protect yourself, it’s really, really easy. All you have to do is use some common sense. Make sure the billing and shipping addresses on your orders match, and that they both match the location of the IP address. If you see anything shady, don’t be afraid to email or call, and you’ll be free from fraud.

Our third trend, high rates of abandoned carts, really isn’t too much of a trend, but it’s still terrifying because it hasn’t shown any signs of stopping. Last year, about 66% of all orders ended up in abandoned carts, and that’s never good. Do your best to overcome this trend by putting third party validation on your site and using your SSL seals. Make sure that people don’t have shipping sticker shock, as they call it, and do all that you can to make sure that you get your customers into actually checking out.

Fourth on our list is a continued and increased reliance upon coupons and discounts. I’m going to put it to you straight: Your customers have essentially been trained to expect coupons before even thinking about making a purchase. This puts you in a little bit of a dilemma, so you’re going to have to make sure that your coupon strategy is always sound, you’re always doing the math before you launch a coupon campaign and you’re always protecting your margins. Do that, and you’ll be in good shape while still meeting customer expectations.

Fifth on our terrifying list of trends is the increase of dependence on consumer reviews. Consumer reviews are usually a good thing. I encourage you to pursue them, but be aware that negative reviews can get to your potential customers. Surveys shows that reading between two and three negative product reviews deter about two-thirds of shoppers from making a purchase. To combat this, always reach out to your promoters, make sure that your customer service and your product offering are excellent, and you’ll have nothing to worry about.

While these trends may seem terrifying, don’t worry. It’s just another piece of ecommerce cake. Keep your head up, make sure you’re wowing your customers and always have good business strategies on hand. You’ll overcome these consumer behavior trends, and you’ll always keep your head above water. If you have any questions, just leave me a comment in the box below. I’ll be happy to get right back to you.

From me to you, happy selling!