18 Reasons Why Isn’t Your Online Store Selling Enough?

If you already run an e-Commerce business, you know that it’s not as simple as it might seem. Many online stores struggle with low sales or lack of them. Why does this happen? Why isn’t your online store selling as much as you’d like? That’s what this article is about.

The State of Polish E-Commerce

According to data from Dun & Bradstreet Poland, in 2023, 65.6 thousand online stores were operating in Poland. By the end of June 2024, that number had grown to 68.9 thousand. This means that in the first half of this year alone, 3.3 thousand new e-Commerce businesses were launched. This upward trend has been consistent for several years. Year after year, the number of online stores in Poland is growing. But is the state of Polish e-Commerce as rosy as it seems?

The data shows that in the first half of 2024, 7.2 thousand new online stores were registered. However, 3.9 thousand businesses were deregistered during the same period, and 4.5 thousand suspended their operations. When we tally up these figures, the result is a net loss of 1.2 thousand stores.

Looking at the financial performance of Polish online stores, we see that only 1.25% are in excellent financial condition, 43.17% are doing well, and over 55% are in poor or very poor financial shape. No wonder as many as 40% of new e-Commerce ventures shut down within their first year of operation.

These statistics can be summarized as follows: running an e-Commerce business in Poland is not easy.

Unfortunately, many people still start online stores with an overly optimistic “let’s just do it” attitude. The assumption is that online Commerce guarantees success—just set up a platform with minimal resources, and the business will thrive. But it’s not that simple (or easy).

The market is evolving, customers are becoming more demanding, and technology is advancing rapidly. Meeting the expectations of today’s e-consumers and achieving even modest success requires significant effort.

Why Isn’t My Online Store Selling?

You’ve likely heard stories about people who spent significant money setting up their e-Commerce platforms only to find that their stores didn’t perform well and that their investments failed. Unfortunately, these stories are not just cautionary tales shared by more experienced colleagues. They are real experiences faced by many businesses, including those in Poland.

Spending a lot on building an online store doesn’t guarantee that it will sell at a satisfactory level. Creating an e-Commerce platform is complex, and it’s easy to make mistakes along the way—mistakes that are, in fact, very common. Beyond the technical aspects, there are other non-technical issues that also need attention. As a result, your e-Commerce business might not sell as much as you’d hoped.

Start with Analysis

If you don’t know what’s wrong, it’s hard to fix it. Therefore, as soon as you realize that your online store isn’t performing as well as you’d like, take the time to analyze why. The issue might not be technological at all but could lie in the operations or logistics of your business. There are many potential reasons for low sales, but some are more common than others. Surprisingly, these issues aren’t always complex to resolve (though they can sometimes be costly). Here are a few examples:

Your Offer Is Highly Seasonal

If your store sells only Christmas decorations, it’s no surprise sales are at zero in July. Few people do holiday shopping in the summer. Similarly, if you sell trendy bikinis, December is unlikely to be a high-performing month, as such items are typically purchased closer to the summer season. In this case, the problem lies in your product range—specifically, its seasonality.

If these scenarios describe your business, you have two options:

1. Maximize Sales During Peak Season
   Focus on marketing and boosting sales during your peak season so you can generate enough profit to sustain your business throughout the year. This isn’t an easy task, but it is entirely achievable. Take seaside resorts as an example. In this approach, you’ll need to accept lower sales outside the peak season—it’s simply the nature of businesses selling seasonal products.
   
2. Expand Your Product Catalog
   Diversify your product range to offer attractive items year-round. For instance, if you sell Christmas decorations, consider adding wedding or general party decorations to your catalog. This will generate consistent sales throughout the year.
   

Your Product Offering Isn’t Attractive

This can happen primarily if you operate in a highly competitive market or, conversely, sell very niche products with limited demand.

To ensure your product offering is appealing, you must conduct thorough research—not just ask one friend if they’d buy something from your inventory. First, your friend will likely say yes to avoid hurting your feelings. Second, one customer won’t sustain your business. A proper market analysis, which should be conducted well before launching your online store, needs to be comprehensive. Only this way can you determine if there will be demand for your products.

Attractiveness isn’t just about demand for a particular type of product. It’s also about quality, price, and variety. These factors should be assessed before you even begin building your e-Commerce store. However, if you already have an online store and its performance is disappointing, take a close look to see if the problem lies in your product offering.

You may find that your products are lower quality than your competitors or that there’s very little demand for your inventory. Alternatively, your industry might be so saturated that your offerings fail to stand out. Not all these issues have easy solutions. Product quality can be improved, better goods can be produced, or you can source them from more reliable suppliers. If demand for your current range is too low, you could consider completely changing your inventory. Marketing efforts can also help you stand out from the competition. The key is to identify what’s wrong with your products.

Your Prices Are Too High

If your store is too expensive, customers won’t buy from you—especially if they can find similar products at much lower prices at your competitors’ stores.

If rival businesses offer lower prices, there’s likely a way for you to match those values. This might involve changing suppliers, optimizing business costs, or reducing profit margins. There are plenty of strategies to explore. The one you choose will depend entirely on you and your business strategy.

However, higher prices don’t necessarily mean you must slash them drastically. You can take a different approach, such as repositioning your brand to emphasize a more luxurious image. Potential customers may be willing to pay a higher price if they perceive your products as premium items. This approach, however, requires significant marketing effort.

Pricing strategy is a crucial and challenging aspect of any business. Entire books have been written on this topic, so we won’t attempt to prescribe exact steps for you. As an e-Commerce agency, we specialize in technology and online sales, so we’ll leave pricing strategy advice to the experts.

Customers Can’t Find You

To sell at a satisfactory level, you need to attract a sufficient number of users to your online store who are genuinely interested in your offerings. This is where marketing comes into play. If your potential customers aren’t aware of your e-Commerce business, they simply won’t visit it, so that they won’t make any purchases.

If your platform suffers from low traffic, you need to improve your marketing strategy and approach it from multiple angles. Posting a few Google Ads won’t be enough. Yes, ads on platforms like Google or others can work well, but they can also be expensive. Not everyone can afford to allocate large budgets for such activities.

That’s why, in addition to paid ads on systems like Meta Ads, TikTok Ads, or Google Ads, you should also focus on other areas of your marketing strategy. You have many options here—content marketing, social media, and good old SEO are just a few areas you should include in your marketing efforts to boost your sales.

Your Online Store Is Weak

Now, we move into more technical territory—an area where, at Satisfly, we excel.

With over 80 implementations under our belt, we’ve worked with many businesses, a significant portion of which already had online stores that failed to meet expectations or generate sufficient revenue. Before diving into any programming work, we thoroughly analyzed each platform and noticed recurring issues that plagued them.

If your store isn’t selling as well as you’d like, and the issue lies within your platform, start by checking these factors:

Lack of an SSL Certificate

This refers to the little padlock next to your store’s URL in the browser. While it may seem minor, it can significantly impact your revenue. Why? An SSL certificate ensures your website is encrypted, meaning the data exchanged between the user and your platform is secure and not accessible to third parties. This is critically important.

Consumers are increasingly aware that the padlock or the “s” in the HTTPS protocol indicates that the website they’re visiting is secure, making them comfortable shopping there. Without an SSL certificate, some users may leave your store to avoid the risk of exposing their data.

In a worst-case scenario, when users try to access a site without an SSL certificate, they may encounter a warning message stating the site is unsafe. Most people won’t proceed—they’ll simply leave and head to a safer option (often your competitor).

The lack of an SSL certificate is often not intentional. These certificates are purchased for a fixed period, and some providers don’t offer automatic renewal. Once expired, the certificate must be renewed. Don’t forget such critical details. Set a reminder in your calendar to renew your SSL certificate before it expires. This will ensure your platform remains secure and your customers feel safe shopping there.

Long Page Load Times

As you likely know (perhaps from personal experience), people aren’t exceptionally patient. Quite the opposite—our attention spans are becoming shorter. Without delving into the reasons for this, let’s highlight some vital statistics:

• According to Unbounce, 70% of consumers state that page speed affects their willingness to purchase on an e-Commerce site.
• Over half of visitors will abandon a website if it doesn’t load within 3 seconds.

Portent.com analyzed 20 online stores and over 27,000 landing pages. Their data revealed that an e-Commerce site that loads in 1 second has a 2.5 times higher conversion rate than one that takes 5 seconds to load. In the B2B sector, the difference is even more significant. Page load speed is crucial to online sales.

If your store is slow, it won’t generate satisfactory revenue. You need to work on reducing its load time. How? There are several ways:

• Switch to a faster server.
• Optimize your images.
• Minimize the number of redirects.
• Optimize CSS and JavaScript.

These are just a few strategies to improve your site’s speed. Check what can be optimized on your website and implement those changes (the sooner, the better).

Weak Mobile Version of Your Store

According to the ” E-Commerce in Poland 2024 ” report, a staggering 75% of internet users use their smartphones for online shopping. Interestingly, only 64% of online shoppers use laptops for the same purpose. The takeaway is clear: your online store must work seamlessly on mobile devices.

If your store isn’t performing well in terms of sales, check if its mobile version functions properly. And “properly” doesn’t just mean being free of errors (though that’s very important). It also means ensuring easy navigation, responsive design that adjusts to any screen size, and fast loading times. Shopping on your mobile store should be as smooth and straightforward as on a desktop browser. Issues such as too small buttons, unintuitive menus, or slow-loading pages must be prevented—or fixed quickly. Otherwise, you risk losing a significant number of potential customers.

Don’t count on users giving your store another chance on a different device after encountering an issue on mobile. That rarely happens. A more likely scenario is that they’ll leave your mobile store and head straight to your competitor—on the very same device. It’s worth putting extra effort into perfecting the mobile version of your e-Commerce platform.

Complicated Navigation

User Experience (UX) is one of the most critical elements of e-Commerce. Your online store needs to be intuitive and easy to use. Though sometimes visually impressive, fancy design choices rarely lead to increased sales. They often have the opposite effect, reducing your sales. For instance, placing the cart icon in the top-left corner or creating a 15-step checkout process might seem creative but will likely backfire.

For a user to make a purchase, they must be able to navigate the entire buying process smoothly. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case, as poorly designed platforms often hinder the shopping experience.

If you notice low sales but record-breaking bounce rates, check whether your store’s navigation is simple and intuitive. A tip: don’t test it yourself. Install a heatmap tool, review Google Analytics, and analyze your actual users’ behavior. Sometimes, even a tiny UX improvement can work wonders.

Outdated Design

Would you shop in a store that looks like it was built during the Windows 98 era? We wouldn’t. Why? First, there’s the issue of trust and security. When visiting such a platform, the first question that comes to mind is: Does this business even still exist? If we have doubts, it’s only natural to leave the site. Second, there’s usability. Websites designed in those distant times follow entirely different (primarily inferior) standards, making navigation cumbersome and frustrating. It’s no wonder outdated platforms don’t attract much customer attention or trust.

If your sales are disappointing and your store’s visual design hasn’t been updated in over a decade, this could be the problem. Carefully analyze user behavior on your platform, and you’ll likely identify weak points in your store’s design.

Visual trends in e-Commerce evolve quickly. Your store needs to keep up, or it will stay behind. To remain competitive, it is highly recommended that you refresh your design every few years.

Low-Quality Descriptions and Images

Product information is one of the most critical components of any online store. It helps shoppers determine whether a product is right for them. When shopping online, customers can’t touch or try the product, so they rely entirely on the descriptions, images, and videos provided in the e-store. If this information is low quality, it doesn’t support the decision-making process.

According to the “E-Commerce in Poland 2024” report, a staggering 21% of online shoppers consider detailed product descriptions a motivating factor in their purchasing decisions. Only price and faster delivery rank higher. This indicates that if your product descriptions are lacking, you’re likely leaving a significant amount of money on the table.

It’s worth reflecting on this. Low revenue in your e-store could stem from weak product data. To boost sales, create unique, comprehensive product descriptions, showcase products with high-quality images and videos, and include precise, detailed specifications. This ensures that your customers have all the information they need to make informed purchasing decisions—and you’re likely to see a positive impact on your sales figures.

Lack of Customer Reviews in Your Online Store

According to GlobeNewswire, 95% of consumers check online reviews before purchasing, and 58% are willing to pay more for a product from a brand with good reviews. These statistics clearly show that customer reviews are crucial, and every e-Commerce business should incorporate them into its marketing strategy. Often, reviews about a product or the company are the deciding factor for users when choosing one store over another. If you’re not collecting customer reviews yet, you’re losing out.

Imagine a user who wants to buy a drill. They find the product in two online stores. One has a 5-star rating on Google, and the other has none. Which store do you think they’ll choose? Naturally, they’ll go for the one with the 5-star rating.

However, those Google stars don’t appear out of nowhere. They’re based on customer reviews (enabled through proper configuration of Rich Snippets). Without positive reviews, you won’t earn those stars in search results. As you can see, collecting glowing customer reviews is well worth the effort.

The same logic applies to product ratings. A user choosing between two items—one rated 4.8 and the other with no reviews—will likely go for the one with positive customer feedback. Why? Because it offers reassurance that the product is good, has been tested, and has been approved by others.

Collecting reviews is essential, but it must be done within legal boundaries. The Omnibus Directive has introduced several requirements for handling reviews. Familiarize yourself with its regulations to avoid financial penalties from authorities like the Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK).

A Bumpy Checkout Process

This category includes all the elements that make placing an order in your store frustrating for users. Examples include lengthy forms, mandatory account creation, or a multi-step checkout. Such practices test users’ patience and significantly decrease the likelihood of completing a purchase.

If your e-Commerce platform has such hurdles, they might be the reason for your low sales. Want to confirm this? You can analyze your data in Google Analytics to find out.

Fixing these issues can be time-consuming. For instance, simplifying the checkout process by reducing the steps required to complete an order may take some effort. However, these changes are necessary. Simplifying the process will benefit your customers significantly, leading to increased sales and revenue.

Lack of Popular Payment or Delivery Options

• 81% of online shoppers in Poland prefer delivery to parcel lockers.
• 43% choose courier delivery to their home or workplace.
• 20% opt for delivery to a partner pickup point.

Trips to the post office are noticeably absent from this list. If your store doesn’t offer Polish consumers’ favorite delivery options, you can expect lower order completion rates, which will inevitably lead to poor sales performance.

The same applies to payment methods. Traditional bank transfers or cash on delivery are outdated. Polish consumers want fast payment options. Unsurprisingly, their most popular choices include:

• BLIK (68%)
• Quick bank transfers (64%)
• Credit card payments during checkout (43%)

If you notice users abandoning their carts during the payment stage (check this in Google Analytics 4), your store likely lacks their preferred payment methods. Add options like BLIK, Autopay, or Apple Pay, and watch your sales figures climb.

Weak Search Functionality and Lack of Adequate Filters

For a customer to purchase a product in your store, they first need to find it. You’re gravely mistaken if you expect them to sift through your entire catalog to locate a specific item. People don’t have the time or patience for that. While the lack of filtering might not harm a store offering just ten products, in an e-Commerce business with a catalog of 1,000+ SKUs, it can lead to a high bounce rate and meager sales.

A well-functioning search engine and filters tailored to the product categories are essential. Remember, the easier a user finds the product they’re looking for, the more likely they are to purchase it. Simple filtering by price or size isn’t enough, and a subpar search engine won’t cut it either. These elements must be carefully optimized; otherwise, you can’t expect higher sales.

If you’re struggling with low sales, check whether the issue is poor filtering functionality or a faulty search engine. Fixing these problems might only take your developers a few hours (depending on the technology), and while you’ll have to pay for their time, it’s an investment worth making. You’ll likely see an immediate decrease in bounce rates and increased sales.

Pricing Errors

Nothing frustrates a customer more than incorrect pricing. Imagine you’re shopping online for a product with a 30% discount, but when you add it to your cart, the discount doesn’t apply. Would you pay the total price? Probably not. You’d slam your keyboard or mouse and quickly leave the store. Your customers feel the same way.

Errors such as unapplied promotions, discounts that increase the price (“in plus”), or, worse, nonsensical SRP (Suggested Retail Price) listings occasionally happen—whether due to human error or technical glitches. However, it’s your responsibility to act quickly and resolve such issues.

If you notice that promotions aren’t applied to the cart, immediately assign the issue to your technical team or e-Commerce agency. If a customer accidentally buys a product for less than they should, don’t demand additional payment. Instead, absorb the difference and improve the processes that led to the mistake.

Keep in mind that these types of problems can cost you dearly. A user who can’t purchase a product at the advertised promotional price will head straight to your competitor. A customer asked to pay the price difference after a mistake likely won’t return. And, of course, losses caused by underpriced products will directly impact your company’s revenue. Regularly monitor your pricing to ensure such errors occur as infrequently as possible.

Your Business Processes Are Failing

It’s not just product offerings and technology that can drag down your revenue. Operational issues within your business also significantly impact whether customers choose to purchase from your store. Here are some of the most common process-related problems that can affect your online store sales:

Poor Customer Service

Online shopping isn’t entirely automated. When buying online, customers have fewer ways to evaluate a product—they can’t touch, test, or try it on. They rely heavily on product images, descriptions, and… customer support.

If your customers encounter a barrier when contacting your customer service team, or if the support provided is insufficient or downright unpleasant, they’ll likely abandon their plans to shop in your store and head to your competitors.

If your online store is otherwise functioning well, with no errors and well-polished images and descriptions, but your revenue remains low, check if the issue lies in your customer service. If you notice problems, fix them. Design processes and standards to ensure your support team operates at the highest level. You’ll likely see customer satisfaction rise, translating directly into increased revenue.

Complicated Return Policies

Zalando won over customers with its simple and free return process. However, this same approach has made many e-Commerce businesses dislike the brand. Why? Because Zalando set the standard with extended return periods, ready-to-ship boxes and labels, and, most importantly, no return shipping fees. Customers now expect similar return policies across all e-Commerce platforms. Unfortunately, this also increases the costs of running an online store.

If users see that they’ll have to pay for a return or fill out a manual return form to email back, they’ll likely abandon the idea of shopping at your store and turn to one that offers a more effortless and cheaper (preferably free) return process.

If your sales are low, your return policy might be the culprit. Consider simplifying the return process for your customers and factoring any associated costs into your expenses or product prices. This approach will encourage more customers to shop with you.

Broken Logistics

A beautifully designed store, a great product offering, and top-notch customer service are all worthless if your customers don’t receive their orders on time. The efficiency of your warehouse operations directly impacts customer satisfaction and, consequently, their loyalty to your brand.

Want your customers to return and make repeat purchases? Deliver their orders on time and without mistakes.

If your sales are stagnant, the problem might lie in your warehouse. Assess how well your processes in this area are functioning. You may need to hire additional staff, invest in a new WMS (Warehouse Management System), or change your inventory flow policy. Logistics issues in e-Commerce can be plentiful, but there are countless ways to optimize warehouse operations, increase efficiency, and reduce costs.

If you’re unsure how to proceed, hire an external consultant who can help you maximize your warehouse’s potential. This will increase customer satisfaction and ultimately boost your revenue.

Conclusion

As you can see, a long list of issues could contribute to your online store’s low sales. However, not all of them will apply to your business. Carefully analyze all aspects of your e-Commerce operation—from your product offering and sales platform to logistics and customer service processes. Conduct thorough research, use available analytics tools, and consult with experienced experts if needed.

By accurately diagnosing the problems holding your online store back, you can resolve them and, as a result, increase your sales. After all, that’s what you’re aiming for, isn’t it?