You see there are over 800,000 merchants using the eCommerce platform, but one must ask themselves "How many of these stores succeed and why Shopify stores fail, what is the reason?"
Well if you’re in the later category and you’re store is not doing well. Then it’s time to take a step back and actually ask yourself;
How can I make more Shopify Sales?
Most of use have never heard of Shopify, so when we stumble across ways to make money on Shopify we go to Youtube to learn about;
- What is Shopify;
- How does Shopify Drop shipping work;
- How can I make money with drop shipping
These are all valid questions from a beginner who has the burning desire to learn the process and get setup.
Unfortunately, YouTube only get’s your training so far before you have to empty your pockets and learn from "Shopify Gurus" who want no less than $997 for them to share their knowledge.
Some of us don’t have that kind of money when we launch our stores so we go to uncle(or aunty) google and start our learning process to make our ecommerce stores successful.
You go to google and you start asking google questions like;
- Why is my eCommerce store failing;
- How to improve my sales;
- How to advertise effectively on Facebook with $5 ads;
So why do Shopify stores fail? There may be a few searches that I left out, but let me tell you this! 95 % of stores are failing because they lack these 10 simple aspects that makes a Shopify store successful.
Why I Use Shopify
If you’re looking to start an eCommerce store that is hosted on a reliable platform, then choosing Shopify for your eCommerce needs may be the answer. It is an excellent choice for an eCommerce platform and I personally have had a great experience with them.
Ecommerce has been one of the best things that has ever happened to me. As you can tell from my previous Shopify stores, I have made over $100,000 from running a successful ecommerce store in 2017 alone.
Shopify is one of the top eCommerce platforms in 2019 and you can start your own Shopify store for as low as $29 a month. Also, if you sign up using my link then you get a 14-day free trial with them.
You may be thinking, “Well I can just start an eCommerce store on my WordPress site for a little cheaper and start selling products this way” NOOOOO… Don’t do that!
The main problem with that is you won’t be able to really optimize your store for sales you need and another thing is you’ll quickly run into your store not being able to handle a huge amount of traffic.
This could impact your ability to make a lot of sales. Kylie Jenner doesn’t run her store on WordPress, she uses Shopify to host it.
Poorly Optimized Shopify Theme
Why Shopify Stores fail mostly is because they are not making enough sales and they often lack conversion tactics. In the past I’ve used the Shopify Booster Theme to improve my conversions.
This theme is elegant, simplistic and it is has been designed to be highly optimized for improving sales. Instead of using a free theme and trying your luck, why not get the booster theme which is packed with tonnes of useful app integrations.
Apps such as urgency countdown timer, social proof notification and cross/up sells is what will help you have a more successful Shopify store.
Why Shopify Stores Fail - The Wrong Drop shipping Niche
Choosing the wrong drop shipping niche for your Shopify store is the biggest reason stores are failing. Often when you are excited to start a new project you think about the money at the end of the day, making thousands of dollars from a store (yes even I did this).
Then we forget to put the ground work in that will lead to success. My suggestion is to spend more time finding a profitable niche and not just any niche. What is a profitable Shopify niche? There are so many, I’ll give you a few;
- Gardening;
- Pets;
- Outdoors;
- Sports
Those are just some of the niche’s I can list, there are so many more out there. What you shouldn’t do, is pick a niche that has barely any audience.
The niches I’ve listed previously are really good because they have an audience that is highly passionate about the subject. Having passionate people leads to sales and improves if your Shopify store fails or not.
Chosen Bad Products
This ties well into the drop shipping niche and this too can affect why Shopify store fails. Although you may hop off on your merry way and pick a profitable niche, money won’t just start falling out of the sky for you. You need to pick products that area good fit, you know the ones people want! Now you’re probably thinking well the local store has these products.
Yeh I know, don’t sell these you probably won’t get anywhere. What you want to find is unique products, that can’t be found in the store that also has a wow factor.
This wow factor is basically a product that drives an emotion such as love, safety, security and it plays on the emotion of the audience.
Shopify Store Fails due to Low Quality
Have you ever gone online and you were looking for some cool pet toys or outdoor gear. You stumble across a site that sells unique cool products and it gets you wanting it. Then you start noticing that the spelling is incorrect, the font varies drastically over the site and the images are low quality on some other products.
By this point you’re thinking this is an impostor store, a fraud Shopify store and nothing looks real. Yes! These simple Shopify site issues are easily fixed but it also can lead to low trust with your ideal audience. This is what leads to a Shopify stores fail!
The Products are Cheap and Nasty
The Products are Cheap and Nasty Now you’re off selling products, Great! However your store starts receiving negative feedback and you’re getting complaints and people want refunds from your Shopify store.
Selling products that don’t look cheap and nasty can lead to a stores success or failure. If you were selling cheap and nasty products on your Shopify store it will lead to issues down the road.
The issues being;
- Customer returns/refunds;
- Customer complains;
- Non-returning customers;
These are all aspects of having Shopify success, trust me I know. To resolve this issue try to order a sample and if you’re finding you have the same issues find a new supplier immediately. Improve the quality of your products to not have your Shopify stores fail.
Improve your Product Margins
The sales are pouring in and you start to calculate if you’re making any profit with your Shopify store. You see that you’re running at 5 % margins and at this stage your accounts start moving forward. For reason’s I’ve mentioned previously this could also lead to not having a successful Shopify store.
Low margins are recipe for failure because if you ran into refunds, replacements and advertising issues you will soon be at the threshold of your profits before starting to eat into your stores capital. If products have low margins and there is no way to improve them then find another product, it’s that simple. Trust me even though you’re making money, it will be gone before you get to enjoy it.
Drop shipping Marketing is not good
Did someone say "Put a $5 Facebook ad up and people will just buy" Another reason why Shopify stores fail is that I see a lot of marketers on YouTube giving free advice about this method but sometimes they don’t break down the method so that you
can understand it.
Although you may be putting Facebook ads online that point to your Shopify store you need to be doing it effectively. For each dollar you spend on Facebook ads you should be making $2 - $3 back after your advert costs. Your Shopify marketing strategy could make or break your store (or your initial investment when you first get started), so be sure to make good decisions with your marketing budget.
Customers Don’t Come Back
Customers not returning is another reason why Shopify Stores fail and its because of customers return to your Shopify store when they have had a great experience.
If their experience was negative, chances are they will not return. To improve your customer return rate, simply deliver a good service to them. If they email you asking a question about their order on your Shopify store. Don’t wait 5 days to return the email, email them back the same day. Just think how you would feel if you were left in the dark about a question you asked.
Shopify Shipping Problems
Do not, I repeat, do not have shipping problems. This is the second biggest Shopify store killer there is. This problem stems from your suppliers. Sometimes your suppliers are so overloaded orders get skipped, looked over or just missed.
I always make sure I am emailing my Aliexpress suppliers constantly to get that order out the door and within the specified shipping timeframe my Shopify website recommends.
The Customer Service is Poor
Another reason why Shopify stores fail is when your customer service is poor then your store will slowly fail. I learnt this the hard way, the trick is to never be overloaded with to many things. When you first start a Shopify store it can be easy, 1 email over 2 or 3 weeks which is easily handled by myself. However as the number of emails trickle in and start to increase and you find yourself overloaded then hire a virtual assistant with Shopify customer service experience. I can guarantee you will sleep way better at night 🙂
Branding Error
Lastly, the final reason why Shopify stores fail is that you want to think about branding your Shopify store. Branding a Shopify store can leave a lasting impression in someone's eyes. I recommend going for unique catchy names (short though) and a nice simple logo that is easily remembered.
For example I use to have a store called FireyDiscounts (I’ve since closed this Shopify store) that sold a broad range of niched products. The logo was a little flame that people remembered and that’s how simple my branding was. So go out there and make a simple logo.
Conclusion to the reason Shopify Stores Fail!
So that is my 10 reasons why Shopify stores fail. They lack the ability to;
- Drive sales;
- Keep customers;
- Provide a good service
If you have any other suggestions I’d love to hear them, just leave a comment below.
