As a business owner, you will want to ensure that you are always keeping your business protected. Protecting your business is vital to ensure that you continue to grow and excel in the future. In order to ensure that a business is protected, business owners first need to understand the types of threats they are trying to protect against. This guide is here to show business owners the most common and potentially dangerous threats to their online stores.
1. Cybersecurity Threats
A cybersecurity threat is one of the biggest threats to your online business today. Cyber-attacks have become increasingly common and sophisticated in recent years. Owners of small online businesses tend to assume that they will not be a target of a cyber-attack; however, this is not the case. Studies have found that 61% of cyber-attacks target small businesses. To ensure that your business is protected, you need to consider every type of potential threat. Different cyber-security attacks require different forms of protection. For example, a reflected xss attack requires appropriate website coding, whereas a phishing attack protection involves email filters and staff training.
2. Competition
The internet is a crowded marketplace that continues to grow and diversify as time goes on. In fact, there are nearly two billion active websites, many of which are businesses just like yours. Competition can be a very big threat to online businesses, especially new or small online businesses that have not yet managed to build up a loyal customer base. To combat the threat of competition, online businesses should focus on discovering their market niche. Your market niche will help you to stand out in this crowded marketplace and better appeal to your target audience. You should also ensure that you are paying appropriate attention to your existing customers. It costs more to attract and convert new customers than existing customers. Research has also found that new customers tend to spend less per purchase than existing customers. Therefore, businesses must focus attention on their existing customer base.
3. Wasted Investments
Online businesses can face real trouble if they invest their capital in low-return ventures. One of the most common expenditures that offer a low return for online businesses is digital marketing. Many online business owners are not familiar enough with online marketing practices to ensure that they can get the highest return on their investment. Specifically, business owners are not aware of the extent to which digital marketing practices are interconnected. For example, a business owner might put a lot of resources into an SEO campaign. However, unless the business owner realizes how website design impacts search engine optimization, they will never be able to realize the highest rates of return.
4. Inventory Management Issues
Your inventory likely represents a very large amount of your assets. Online businesses with poor inventory management are likely to suffer a range of unintended consequences. Poor inventory management is likely to result in problems with stocks, such as stock damage or retaining outdated stock. This can waste valuable real estate and staff time spent searching or organizing stock. Poor inventory management can have negative consequences on customer relations. This is because customers likely experience longer waiting times for order fulfillment and lower quality products. To combat inventory management issues, online businesses should consider using inventory management software.
