Opening an online store is easier than ever. Making it sell, not so much. At Avar we don’t just build e-commerce stores for clients: we have also run our own online stores since 2019, so we have lived through these problems first-hand. When we analyse a store that isn’t taking off, there is almost never a single culprit: it is usually a sum of small obstacles that, together, make visitors leave without buying.
These are the nine we come across most often, in the order of the customer journey.
1. Nobody reaches the store
It sounds obvious, but it is the most common one. A new store doesn’t get visitors by itself. You need a plan to attract traffic: advertising, SEO, social media, email or, better, a combination. No visitors means no data, and without data nothing can be improved. If you don’t know where to start, we help you decide in website, social media or ads: what comes first.
2. People arrive, but they’re not your audience
Traffic is not enough: it has to be traffic with purchase intent. Poorly targeted campaigns or keywords that are too generic bring visitors who were never going to buy. You notice it straight away: lots of people come in, hardly anyone browses products and hardly anyone adds anything to the cart.
3. The website is slow to load
Every second of waiting is a chance to close the tab, especially on mobile and slow connections. Huge images, too many installed apps or a heavy theme are the usual causes. Speed also affects your Google rankings and the cost of advertising.
4. The mobile experience is awkward
Most online purchases start, and many finish, on a phone. Small buttons, confusing menus, pop-ups covering the content or forms that are hard to fill in with a finger make customers give up. Go through your store on your own phone, from start to finish, as if you were a customer.
5. Products are hard to find
If the catalogue is large, customers need help finding what they want: logical categories, useful filters (size, price, brand, colour), a search bar that works and featured products. Navigation designed around the warehouse’s logic rather than the customer’s is a silent obstacle.
6. Product pages don’t convince
In a physical shop, customers touch the product and ask questions. Online, the product page has to do that job:
- Good photos, from several angles, with detail and in context.
- Clear information: dimensions, materials, sizes, compatibility and care.
- Price, shipping costs and delivery time visible without searching.
- Real availability and alternatives when out of stock.
- Reviews from other buyers.
If customers have doubts and the page doesn’t answer them, they don’t write to ask: they leave.
7. The checkout gets in the way
Forcing people to create an account, very long forms, few payment methods or last-step surprises (unexpected shipping costs) are classic reasons for abandoned carts.
The fewer steps between “I want it” and “paid”, the better.
Offer guest checkout, the payment methods your audience uses, a clear order summary and shipping costs from the start.
8. There’s a lack of trust
A buyer who doesn’t know you needs signs that you are a real business: visible contact details, a clear returns policy, reviews, social media presence, secure payments and a polished, error-free website. Any detail that looks careless plants doubts. Fast contact, for example via WhatsApp, resolves many of them.
9. Nothing is measured
Many stores don’t know how many visitors they get, where they come from, at which step they drop off or which products get viewed but not bought. Without that information, every change is a shot in the dark. At the very least, you should know:
- Your conversion rate: what percentage of visits end in a purchase.
- Your average order value: how much each order is worth on average.
- Your cart abandonment rate.
- Which channels bring sales, not just visits.
How to find out which one is yours
A store usually has several of these problems at once, each weighing differently. The most effective approach is to follow the funnel from top to bottom and look for where most people drop off:
- Visits: are enough people arriving, and the right ones?
- Browsing: do they view products or leave from the first page?
- Cart: do they add products?
- Checkout: do they start paying and finish?
The step with the biggest drop is the one costing you the most sales, and that is where to start, even if it isn’t the most visible one.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good conversion rate for an online store?
It varies a lot by sector, product price and traffic source. More useful than comparing yourself with general averages is measuring your own and improving it month by month, split by channel: advertising, SEO and email usually convert very differently.
Why do I get visitors but no sales?
The most common causes are poorly qualified traffic, a slow or awkward mobile website, product pages that don’t answer questions, surprise shipping costs or a lack of trust. Check the funnel to see at which step people leave.
Which platform is best for an online store?
It depends on your catalogue, the integrations you need and who will manage it. More important than the platform is that the store is fast, clear and easy to buy from, and connected to your tracking and advertising.
How much does an online store cost?
It depends on the number of products, the design and the integrations. We explain it in how much does a website cost.
Real examples
In our work you can see stores we have built from scratch, such as Throne of Cards and CI Concept Store, and the case of a sneaker e-commerce store with more than 4,500 products whose sales grew with campaigns connected to the store. If you want to know what is holding yours back, you can analyse your website for free in AVAR LAB or ask us for a review.
Written by the Avar Marketing Systems team: three partners trained in marketing, advertising and management, running their own online stores since 2019. Meet the team →
