5 Big Mistakes Outdoor E-Commerce Sites Are Making
Unlock outdoor e-commerce revenue. A new Whitepaper by e-commerce growth experts Infinity Nation has just been released. Highlighting key blind spots, it offers tips and advice on how to increase revenue.
The active and outdoor e-commerce sector has experienced rapid growth since COVID and continues to expand at a rate of 3.4% every year*. Infinity Nation, experts in digital marketing and e-commerce growth, reviewed 121 active and outdoor brand websites to understand how they compete in a crowded market. The findings were eye-opening. The Whitepaper entitled “Elevating E-commerce Success through Strategic Website Merchandising” also offers hints and tips to enhance and escalate e-commerce sites in the active and outdoor sectors.
Following are the five biggest mistakes found by the study:
- Lack of Integrated Strategy
Infinity Nation found a lack of cohesion across e-commerce strategies to be prevalent. For example ‘blanket’ promotions were often used in place of well-merchandised strategies, rather than leveraging seasonality, stockholding, and buyer behaviour. Stacey Wilsons, COO at Infinity Nation says, “In e-commerce, speed is king. But just like with bricks-and-mortar, planning is essential. The assumption that digital is instant can be a trap. Yes, you can update a website in minutes, but if there isn’t a trading plan to link things together, the customer will be left underwhelmed with their experience.”.
- Lengthy Buying Experience
A smooth user journey is key, however, the study found that at least 60% of brands had a lengthy checkout process extending over the recommended two pages. With almost 70% of people purchasing from a smartphone, often whilst multitasking or in a rush, a long-winded buying process will more likely lead to an abandoned sale.
- Sold Out and No Alternatives Suggested
Whilst many businesses were successfully attracting customers to their sites, 84% of brands were failing to get them over the finish line because the site hadn’t been optimised to offer an alternative should an item become out of stock.
- Absent Data Analysis
Stacey Wilson says, “Big retailers admit to us that they don’t know who their customer is. But if you don’t know your customers, how can you market to them? It’s low-hanging fruit and the data is there; it just needs to be mined”.
- Too Much Reliance on Single-Channels
Whether it’s emphasis on acquiring new customers or focusing too much on the ones the brand already has, putting all eggs in one basket isn’t an advisable strategy. “It’s expensive to acquire a new customer and we’ve found that businesses that do a mix and reward loyalty as well as looking for more business, have a much lower cost of acquiring that new customer,” says Stacey Wilson. Likewise putting all marketing spend into social media marketing, for example, severely limits reach.
The Whitepaper includes findings from 121 active outdoor brands (listed) and includes helpful processes for enhancing e-commerce businesses operating in the active and outdoor sectors. Download here: https://www.infinitynation.com/insights/ecommerce-whitepaper/
