Four challenges growing eCommerce businesses face and how to address them

Scaling a business introduces unavoidable operational and strategic challenges. Many small eCommerce operators launch their business almost by accident. What begins as a passion project can unexpectedly shift into a business, bringing conflicting feelings of excitement and overwhelm. As these ventures grow, owners face the realities of scaling a business, from managing orders to balancing the demands of growth while staying true to the original vision.

Sound familiar? These elements can be daunting for most would-be entrepreneurs, says Andy Popwell, Head of SMB Product Marketing at Elavon. “Our small business customers are passionate about their product or services, but they don’t necessarily have all the answers to business challenges.”

Understanding these challenges, and the right strategies to address them, can help business leaders manage growth effectively.

Four eCommerce pain points that shouldn’t derail your goals

There are four factors that typically stand between passion and profit, which can be made manageable with the right support and tools.

Pain point 1: Getting your message out to the right customers

Although many small businesses start with social selling, they often encounter challenges when trying to increase visibility and manage growth. At this stage, more structured systems are usually needed to scale effectively. 

Often, small business owners get caught up in repetitive administrative tasks like managing social media profiles, updating product information, and handling customer inquiries. However, unified payment solutions that include integrated marketing systems can help to lighten this load by reducing manual work and administrative overhead. This allows business owners to “focus on running their business and selling their products, rather than having to hire additional staff or spend hours managing campaigns,” says Popwell.

Using eCommerce solutions with unified marketing systems allows brands to create and share social media posts across platforms right from their site, optimize for search engines, and even generate automated email marketing campaigns.

Pain point 2: Processing payments seamlessly and securely                      

As the engine behind your business, a strong payment solution plays a critical role in delivering a reliable and seamless customer experience. However, the payment function is far more complex than just accepting money when someone hits your “buy now” button. In a matter of seconds, the payment travels through a digital system designed to verify the transaction, transfer funds, and protect both parties from fraud.

Payment reliability is critical, as outages or downtime can disrupt day-to-day operations. On-call customer service can help minimize that impact, says Stacey Schoeman, Assistant Vice President, SMB Product Marketing at Elavon, Inc.

“We know businesses want to receive help on their terms, whether it’s on the phone with our 24/7 live customer service or via our incredibly detailed help center for a tech native who wants to troubleshoot on their own,” she explains.

Pain point 3: Protecting your business and customers from fraud

Although all businesses worry about fraud, eCommerce brands face heightened risk. Thieves rarely attempt to use stolen cards in person; instead, they target websites with large pools of card numbers, making small test transactions to determine which stolen card numbers still work. They sometimes deploy automated programs that fire off thousands of attempts simultaneously. During one of these “bot attacks,” systems can become overwhelmed or lock up entirely, leading to downtime that directly impacts sales.

“This is exactly how fraud is perpetrated the majority of the time, and our backend security system is designed to identify and block these types of transactions, ensuring there's no interruption of service,” says Popwell. 

This functionality also serves to prevent chargebacks – where the merchant doesn’t get paid by the credit card company because the actual cardholder has disputed the transaction perpetrated by the fraudster.

Pain point 4: Scaling without overwhelming your systems

In an ideal world, your small business becomes so successful that growth is the natural next step. While scaling undeniably brings rewards, it also introduces new challenges, whether that’s adding staff or finding reliable suppliers who can deliver consistent quality.

While growth brings complexity, a business’s systems and platform shouldn’t add to that burden, says Schoeman, noting that Elavon Business Solutions is designed to scale alongside businesses. “Otherwise, you have to migrate every transaction and customer from your old system to your new one so you’ll be able to access that history should they want to process a return or reorder,” she explains. “Our clients appreciate that they have one consistent platform that grows with them, maintaining a continual ecosystem that doesn't require constant manual intervention."

With the right support, your business can feel like a passion again

The challenges new eCommerce sellers face are undeniable. In fact, Schoeman just recently advised a small business owner struggling to generate sales from her fledgling business. Schoeman recognized that the business owner’s current setup was over complicated. By integrating payments with marketing functions in an intuitive, all-in-one platform like Elavon Business Solutions, small business owners can create a “business in a box” that makes processes like social selling straightforward. For example, a jewelry seller could focus on design and trends rather than operational headaches, transforming from an overburdened business owner into a thriving entrepreneur.

And with that all-in-one solution, small business owners can get back to their passion, refocusing on the reason they started their business in the first place. Learn more about Elavon Business Solutions and get back to focusing on the work that drives your passion, while leaving operational complexities behind.

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