The ecommerce landscape is constantly evolving. Everything from new payment methods, billing models, partnership arrangements and innovative revenue sharing applications, when managed effectively, can increase the bottom line for organizations. This SlideShare explores common pain points felt by growing ecommerce businesses and how to overcome them.

1. How to Overcome the
Biggest Challenges Facing
Ecommerce Businesses
January 24, 2017

2. In our increasingly complex digital world,
basic payment processing limits online
growth.
That’s why the most successful online
stores optimize revenue through robust
and flexible ecommerce solutions.
In transitioning to a more
comprehensive platform, vendors need
to be assessed on their ability to:
• solve existing pain points, and
• easily scale to facilitate and support
future growth efficiently.

3. Challenges Faced By
Ecommerce Companies
PART 1

4. Challenges Faced By
Ecommerce Companies
Lack of
expertise
Managing
the customer
experience
Adapting to new
opportunities
Accessing
the right
data
1 2 3 4

5. Acquisitions and mergers are becoming
commonplace.
The larger firms that result are
increasingly implementing direct-to-
consumer channels that put downward
price pressure on smaller companies.

6. The combination of lower returns and
increasing barriers to market highlights
the growing challenges faced by smaller
ecommerce businesses.
To remain competitive, smaller
companies and start-ups need to take
full advantage of their flexibility and
focus on identifying and removing any
and all obstacles to user conversion.

7. Identifying and
Removing Obstacles
Lack of
expertise
Managing
the customer
experience
Accessing
the right
data
1 2 3 4
Adapting to new
opportunities

8. When applied to the world of
ecommerce, experience provides:
• Insight into what adds the most value
• Guidance in the prioritization of
features
• Realistic expectations around
timelines, risks and outcomes
Lack of Expertise: Experienced
People Make A Difference

9. Early on I didn’t appreciate the
positive impact of adding
experienced people on our team.
Hiten Shah, Founder, KISSMetrics and CrazyEgg

10. Businesses offering subscription
services online, for example, need an
ecommerce partner with
a proven track record managing:
• risk
• fraud
• chargebacks
• churn
Out-of-the-box solutions do not come
with ecommerce expertise and,
therefore, are not tailored to specific
business needs.

11. Identifying and
Removing Obstacles
Lack of
expertise
Managing
the customer
experience
Accessing
the right
data
2 3 4
Adapting to new
opportunities

12. The key to optimizing conversion rates
and revenue starts with a thorough
understanding of the customers’
behavior on the site, particularly in the
checkout process.
Insights from this analysis allow
businesses to deliver the right
message, to the right person, at the
right time, which results in a better
experience, translating into increased
loyalty and customer lifetime value.
Managing the Customer Experience:
Acting on Insights to Optimize Conversions

13. Customer Experience Correlates to Loyalty

14. In order to enhance the customer
experience, an ecommerce solution
must be able to:
• present relevant cross sell
opportunities
• decrease cart abandonment with
dynamic pricing,
• present a localized cart
• A/B spilt test your cart pages
Ensuring that you can customize your
cart is key.

15. It’s much easier to double your business by
doubling your conversion rate than by doubling
your traffic.
Jeff Eisenberg, Author & CEO, BuyerLegends
The average cart abandonment rate is
69.23%, meaning that only roughly one in
every four customers actually finish the
purchase.
Baymard Institute, Jan 2017

16. There are many ways effective
personalization can be used to manage
the customer experience to increase
revenue and grow lifetime value.
To do this your ecommerce platform
must have a robust API that is able to
link to the marketing data that provides
insights to customer activity.
Ecommerce companies that are able to
connect your data sources are uniquely
positioned to provide the experience
that results in more conversions and
higher revenue.

17. Identifying and
Removing Obstacles
Lack of
expertise
Managing
the customer
experience
Adapting to new
opportunities
Accessing
the right
data
3 4

18. To stay competitive, small to medium
sized online businesses need to an
ecommerce partner that:
• offers a robust yet flexible platform,
and
• is able to help improve conversion
rates and revenue growth
Adapting to New Opportunities
Facilitated by Strategic Partnerships

19. Alternative
payment methods
Localized
checkout process
International tax
collection and
remittance
To realize new opportunities in foreign markets, the
immediate ability to implement and leverage the following
ecommerce functionality is essential:

20. Similarly, alternative ways to reach and
interact with customers are emerging
every day. In order to employ strategies
like chat and mobile commerce or
social selling, a mobile optimized
checkout experience is necessary.
For online businesses, the decision to
pursue new opportunities should be
informed by the associated revenue
and profit potential, not by the
limitations of a platform.

21. Time is the hard part in international expansion. It
could take you months or years to get all the
relationships you need. Finding a way to circumvent
the time gets you selling stuff faster and gets you
making more money more quickly. So finding the
right partner is the best choice, because going and
doing it from scratch is lengthy and may be
impossible.
Andrew Wong, Partner, Kurt Salmon Digital

22. Identifying and
Removing Obstacles
Lack of
expertise
Managing
the customer
experience
Adapting to new
opportunities
Accessing
the right
data
4

23. For many online businesses, the cart
and checkout is created and powered
by their chosen ecommerce platform.
The checkout is the last, and arguably
the most critical step in the buyers
journey. Therefore, a customer’s
perception towards a brand can be
heavily influenced by the cart page
experience.
Access to Data: Data-Driven Decisions
Are Mission Critical to Success

24. Access to accurate, relevant, real-time
customer and revenue data enables
leaders to make timely data-driven
decisions around dynamic pricing,
targeted offers, upselling opportunities
and other strategic personalization
tactics.
All these efforts help to deliver a more
positive customer experience resulting
in more revenue and increased brand
loyalty.

25. The price of light is less than
the cost of darkness.
Arthur C Nielsen, Market Researcher

26. Therefore, it is imperative that your
ecommerce provider does all of the
following — well:
• has a customizable cart
• provides a fully optimized cart
experience
• enables A/B cart split testing
• provides full cart analytics data

27. Identifying and
Removing Obstacles
Lack of
expertise
Managing
the customer
experience
Adapting to new
opportunities
Accessing
the right
data

28. Determining If An Ecommerce
Provider Can Meet The Challenges
PART 2

29. Questions to Ask
Do they have the
technology to meet
your objectives?
Do they have the
ability to implement
the solution?
Are they
a cultural fit?

30. Questions to Ask
Do they have the
technology to meet
your objectives?
Do they have the
ability to implement
the solution?
Are they
a cultural fit?

31. When considering this question,
evaluation of these criteria is essential:
• features
• pricing
• motivations
Do They Have the Technology to Support
You Now and Enable Scalable Expansion?

32. Evaluating features
Plan early to enable seamless scaling and flexing to
meet your long-term goals.
Evaluate according to your current needs with an
eye to the future based on sophistication and type of
provider (see next slide)

33. DYNAMIC
PRICING
INTELLIGENT
PAYMENT ROUTING
GLOBAL
COMMERCE
INTERNATIONAL
TAX COLLECTION
AND REMITTANCEINTEGRATED
PERFORMANC
E CHANNELS
PRIVATE
NETWORK
CAPABILITIES
LICENSE KEY
MANAGEMENT
UP, CROSS AND
DOWN SELL
OPPORTUNITIES
SUBSCRIPTION
MANAGEMENT
CUSTOMIZABLE
CART PAGES
EASY TO
USE APIS
LOCALIZED
CHECKOUT
MULTI-LINGUAL
CUSTOMER
SUPPORT
CUSTOMIZABLE
TRANSACTION
COMMUNICATIONS
CUSTOMER
SELF-
SERVICE
PAYMENT
GATEWAY
TRIAL PERIOD
MANAGEMENT
COUPONS
CUSTOMIZABLE
TRANSACTION
COMMUNICATIONS
RENEWAL
OPTIMIZATION
MOBILE
OPTIMIZED CART
RESELLER
AND PARTNER
MANAGEMENT
FRAUD
MITIGATION
PCI DSS LEVEL
1
CERTIFICATION
FLEXIBLE
PRICING
OPTIONS
RUDIMENTARY PAYMENT PROCESSING >>> END-TO-END ECOMMERCE
REFUND AND
CHARGEBACK
MANAGEMENT
>>>SOPHISTICATION>>>
<<< DEDICATED CLIENT SERVICES TEAM >>>
ADVANCED REAL
TIME
REPORTING &
DASHBOARDS

34. Evaluating Pricing
Discover if implementation is free and if all features
are included, or if additional investment is required to
access advanced functionality.
Some providers offer a 2.9% transaction fee to
process payments only.
Some providers include everything in their fee,
including all the features in the table on the previous
slide.

35. Evaluating Motivation
Are they invested in your success?
Ecommerce providers that charge a percentage of
revenue make money only when a transaction is
completed through their client's online store.
Any feature implementation or service offering on the
part of the ecommerce provider is intended to make
their client more money.
These providers are inherently invested in their
clients' success.

36. Questions to Ask
Do they have the
technology to meet
your objectives?
2
Do they have the
ability to implement
the solution?
Are they
a cultural fit?

37. More complex ecommerce needs that
exceed the capabilities of simple
payment processing arise when a
business has successfully grown and
needs to be able to quickly and “switch
on” a more sophisticated feature set.
Do They Have the Ability to Implement?
Their Experience and Structure is Critical
to Your Success

38. All of which need to be implemented without any
unanticipated additional charges.
Multiple payment options
Partner payouts
Trial period management
Flexible payment terms
Multiple languages
Cross, up-&-down selling
Dunning management
Multiple currencies
Dynamic pricing
Renewal optimization
More sophisticated functionality can include:

39. Questions to Ask
Do they have the
technology to meet
your objectives?
Do they have the
ability to implement
the solution?
Are they
a cultural fit?

40. For online businesses that see
ecommerce as more than a transaction,
but rather as a way to generate profit,
increase LTV, and introduce innovative
new revenue streams, it is important to
select a provider in a position to
understand these needs.
Are They A Cultural Fit?
What Are Your Expectations?

41. Ensure they offer a true end-to-end
solution where functionality is developed
in house and integrated into the
platform, not supplied through
disconnected third party apps.
This reduces potential points of failure
and removes the friction often
associated with trying to connect to
independent applications.
Are They A Cultural Fit?
What Are Your Expectations?

42. Look for a platform that is built for the
needs of SMBs. Ensure you resemble
the companies on their existing client list
and check out their testimonials.
Lastly, check to ensure you have full
access to a dedicated client services
team.
Partner with a firm motivated by
growing your business, not charging for
apps or functionality.
Are They A Cultural Fit?
What To Look For

43. Questions to Ask
Do they have the
technology to meet
your objectives?
Do they have the
ability to implement
the solution?
Are they
a cultural fit?

44. The ecommerce landscape is constantly evolving.
Everything from new payment methods, billing models,
partnership arrangements and innovative revenue sharing
applications, when managed effectively, can increase
the bottom line for organizations.
To realize these gains, partnering with an experienced
ecommerce provider that understands the challenges and
can effectively and efficiently turn them into opportunities
can provide ecommerce businesses with the competitive
edge they’re looking for.
Wrapping It Up

45. Contact sales@revenuewire.com
or visit www.revenuewire.com/ecommerce
Find Out More