Story: Shop for nothing! | Tobias Column
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Why should you invest in an online store? After all, it costs practically nothing to start one these days. You can get fancy store software for a few euros a month, hosting is dirt cheap and you can get product images from anywhere. Marketing? Oh, the algorithm takes care of that!
It's just stupid that the 'cost nothing' mentality is slowly coming to an end. Anyone who thinks they can make it big with a run-of-the-mill store solution, loveless product descriptions and a few hastily gathered stock photos will eventually realize that customers don't buy just because you exist. Visibility costs money, customer trust costs money, good technology costs money. And suddenly it turns out that online retail is not the free paradise you had dreamed of.
Invest? Can't - the margins are so narrow!
A classic excuse: “We can't invest, the margins don't allow it!” Understandable - after all, we are all still in 2005, when online retail meant imitating Armazon and shipping products for a margin of 1.20 euros per item. The eternal battle for the lowest price has of course hollowed out the market to such an extent that investments in customer experience, branding or even innovation seem impossible.
But wait! Where does this narrow-margin idea actually come from? Perhaps from the fixed idea that success only works through mass and dumping prices? The big surprise: if you don't squander everything, but focus on quality, service and branding, you suddenly have room for investment. But that would almost be too easy.
Good content and product presentation? We don't need that!
Why invest in high-quality product images and appealing texts when you can simply copy the manufacturer's description and upload a few blurry cell phone photos? Customers will be able to guess what the product really looks like. And if not - returns are planned anyway, right?
It worked well for a long time. But the 'cost nothing' mentality is reaching its limits here too. Anyone who seriously wonders why customers prefer to buy elsewhere or stay in bricks-and-mortar stores should take a look at how professionally large online stores present their products. Content is no longer a nice gimmick, but the factor that influences purchasing decisions. But why make an effort if you continue to hope that people will somehow buy?
Legal certainty and data protection? No way!
Terms and conditions, data protection declaration, right of withdrawal - nobody needs them anyway! Customers click on 'Accept' anyway, and warning lawyers certainly have better things to do. So why invest money in legally compliant texts, GDPR-compliant processes or a sensible cookie solution?
Unfortunately, the end of the 'cost nothing' era has also been reached here. The days when you could rely on the fact that nothing would happen are over. Anyone who believes that data protection and legal protection are optional will be in for a rude awakening at some point - be it through warnings or a massive loss of trust from customers. But hey, why take precautions when you can just wait and see?
Conclusion: Welcome to reality
Online retail is not a sure-fire success, and investments are not a luxury, but a necessity. The 'cost-nothing' mentality may once have been charming, but it has no future. If you want to be seriously successful in e-commerce, you have to invest - in technology, in marketing, in good content and yes, also in legal certainty. Because at the end of the day, if you invest nothing, you get nothing in return. It's as simple as that. - Tobias Gerhard Strunz [TS04/25]
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