Online Commerce – Are All Ecommerce Websites in Real Danger?

There have been a lot of scare stories going around as of late that those in the e-commerce business are each and every day facing a less certain future. The reason being that the sheer volume of e-commerce ventures going live by the month is accelerating at such a pace that the whole concept has become diluted. There are thousands of stores in every imaginable niche that look the same, sell the same products and basically do exactly the same as one another in every way. Not a problem for the biggest brands and businesses out there, but what does all this mean for the millions of smaller businesses already struggling to get by?Is the future of e-commerce really one of doom and gloom?Not exactly…at least, it doesn’t have to be anyway.An On-going OffensiveEvery day, a worrying number of e-commerce businesses go under and the finger of blame can only be pointed at their respective owners. Why? Well, quite simply because they’ve built a business, attracted some traffic and have since left their sites to their own devices. A few years back this would have been enough to guarantee both stability and a decent revenue stream – today it’s anything but.An e-commerce site regardless of niche, size and target audience will quickly begin to stagnate if not lavished with on-going attention. And this is for a variety of reasons too, which stretch from SEO to the general customer experience and right through to stand out from the crowd. Running a successful e-commerce business used to be something you could manage as a hobby – success as of 2014 requires a much higher level of commitment.Embracing MobileAnother area in which an alarming number of e-commerce store owners are dealing themselves a bum hand is in mobile-readiness…or should that be their inherent lack thereof. As time moves forward it is going to get consistently more difficult to get by without operating a fully mobile-friendly site, right up until the point that survival is simply impossible. Even at this stage in the game, well over 50% of e-commerce site traffic comes from mobile web users and this is something that will never, ever be reversed.To embrace mobile is to embrace the web of the future – shun it and you’ll have no place in the future whatsoever.Building Brand LoyaltyAbove and over everything else though what matters so crucially is building brand loyalty – the meaning of which is often misinterpreted. When a customer comes back to your site time and time again, is this because they’re loyal to you and your brand, or have just fallen into an aimless habit? The difference being how the latter will only ever be temporary and cannot be counted on for the long term.Brand loyalty is all about building a rapport with your target audience by getting involved with them above and beyond simple sales. From blogging to email campaigns to forums to social media to message boards, they need to see the face and hear the voice behind the brand if they are to build any sense of loyalty toward it.