You’ve launched your online store. You have great products and a nice-looking website. But the sales just aren’t what you expected. This is a common roadblock for businesses trying to increase their E-commerce sales in India.
With the Indian e-commerce market projected to soar past $150 billion by 2026, the opportunity is immense. This massive growth highlights the potential for high E-commerce sales in India.
The sheer size of the market means that even small improvements to your store’s performance can lead to significant revenue growth. The businesses that succeed won’t just be the ones with the best products, but the ones that create the smoothest customer experience. This experience is the key to unlocking consistent E-commerce sales in India.
If this sounds familiar, you are not alone. Many business owners in India face the same problem. They spend money on ads to bring people to their site, but very few visitors actually buy anything.
The good news is that you can fix this. The problem often isn’t your products—it’s small, technical issues with your website that are turning customers away.
At Zensawork, we help businesses solve these exact problems. In this guide, we will walk you through the three biggest reasons you might be losing sales and show you simple, clear steps to fix them.
Payments: Making it Easy for Customers to Pay You
Imagine a customer is at the checkout, ready to buy. This is the final, most important step. This is the final hurdle before you secure your E-commerce sales in India. If their payment fails or the process is confusing, they will leave and probably never come back. This happens all the time.
Studies consistently show that cart abandonment is a major issue, with some reports indicating that nearly 70% of online shopping carts are left behind. A significant reason for this in India is payment friction. When you consider that UPI transactions in India have crossed over 10 billion per month, it’s clear how people prefer to pay.
This data tells a powerful story. A confusing or limited checkout isn’t a minor inconvenience; it’s a major leak in your sales funnel that’s actively costing you money. If you aren’t offering a seamless UPI experience, you are ignoring the preferred payment method of the vast majority of your potential customers. Building that trust is fundamental to improving E-commerce sales in India.
The payment gateway you choose is critical. Many new store owners use international options like PayPal by default, but this can be a mistake for the Indian market.
Here’s a simple comparison
| Feature | International Gateways (e.g., PayPal) | Indian Gateways (e.g., Razorpay) |
| Payment Options | Mainly credit cards. UPI and local debit cards can be difficult or have low success rates. | UPI, Google Pay, PhonePe, PayTM, Net Banking from all Indian banks, and cards. |
| Customer Experience | Can be confusing. Customers may be redirected to an unfamiliar site to complete the payment. | Simple and familiar. Customers see the payment options they use every day. |
| Success Rate | Often lower for Indian bank cards and payment methods. More failed transactions. | Much higher success rate because they are built specifically for Indian banks. |
| Trust Factor | Lower. An unfamiliar process can make customers feel unsafe. | High. Seeing trusted logos like PayTM and UPI makes customers feel secure. |
The Solution:
Use an Indian payment gateway like Razorpay. Integrating it with your Shopify or WooCommerce store is straightforward. By offering customers their preferred, familiar payment options, you make the checkout process smooth and trustworthy. This single change can immediately increase your sales.
Shipping: How to Deliver Your Products Without Headaches
Once a customer pays, your next job is to deliver the product safely and on time. In India, shipping can be complicated, and it’s a hidden barrier to growing your E-commerce sales in India. You have to deal with thousands of different pin codes, and many customers still prefer Cash on Delivery (COD).
Despite the growth of digital payments, Cash on Delivery (COD) still accounts for over 50% of e-commerce transactions in many categories, especially in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. However, this convenience comes with a huge risk: Return to Origin (RTO). For COD orders, RTO rates in India can be as high as 20-30%, meaning up to 3 out of 10 COD orders can come back to you, at your expense.
An RTO rate of 20% isn’t just a statistic; it’s a direct blow to your profit margin. You pay for forward shipping, and you pay for reverse shipping, all for zero revenue. Managing this risk is essential for survival. This is why your shipping strategy needs to be as robust as your marketing strategy. A poor shipping experience can undo all your hard work and negatively affect future E-commerce sales in India.
The Two Big Shipping Problems
Cash on Delivery (COD): Offering COD is important to build trust, but it’s risky. If a customer refuses the delivery, the product is returned to you, and you have to pay for the shipping both ways. This is called a “Return to Origin” (RTO), and it can eat into your profits.
Choosing a Courier: Which courier is best? Delhivery might be great for cities, but a different service might be better for rural areas. Managing multiple couriers is a lot of work.
The Solution:
Use a shipping platform like Shiprocket. Think of it as a single dashboard for all your shipping needs. Instead of working with just one courier, Shiprocket connects you to more than 15 different courier companies.
Case Study Example: We worked with a Nashik-based apparel brand that was struggling with high RTOs in certain regions. By using Shiprocket’s AI-powered courier recommendation engine, they were able to automatically select couriers with the best delivery success rates for specific pin codes. Within three months, they reduced their RTO rate by nearly 40%, significantly boosting their net profit.
Here’s how it helps:
- Saves Money: You get access to cheaper shipping rates that are usually only available to very large companies.
- Reduces Returns: The platform can automatically suggest the best courier for each specific pin code, based on which one has the best delivery record for that area. This lowers the chance of failed deliveries.
- Looks Professional: It gives your customers a branded tracking page, so they can follow their order. This reduces customer support questions and makes your business look more professional.
Good shipping is a key part of e-commerce in India. Using a tool like Shiprocket makes it much simpler and more affordable, which is essential for sustainable E-commerce sales in India.
Speed: Why a Fast Website Means More Sales
Have you ever clicked on a website and left because it was taking too long to load? Your customers do the same thing.
A slow website is one of the biggest reasons for lost sales. In India, where many people use their phones with varying internet speeds, your website must be fast. It’s a non-negotiable factor for driving E-commerce sales in India.
The data on this is undisputed. According to Google, a 1-second delay in mobile page load time can decrease conversion rates by up to 20%. Think about that—one second can cost you one-fifth of your potential sales. In a mobile-first market like India where network speeds vary, this is even more critical.
Speed isn’t a “nice-to-have” feature; it’s the foundation of a trustworthy and professional online presence. A slow site feels broken, unsafe, and unprofessional. Before a customer even sees your beautiful products, they’ve already formed a negative opinion if your site lags. Fixing your site speed is one of the highest-return investments you can make, especially when your goal is to maximize E-commerce sales in India.
How to Make Your Website Faster in India
You don’t need to be a technical expert to understand the basics. Here are three things to focus on:
- Make Your Images Lighter: High-quality product photos are important, but large image files will slow your site down to a crawl. Use free online tools to compress your images before you upload them. This makes them smaller without losing much quality.
- Use a Good CDN (Content Delivery Network): This might sound technical, but the idea is simple. A CDN stores copies of your website on servers all around the world. When a customer in Chennai visits your site, the CDN sends them the website data from a nearby server (like in Mumbai or Singapore), not from a faraway one in the USA. This makes loading much faster.
- Remove Unused Apps: Many store owners install apps on their Shopify or Wix site and then forget about them. Each app can add code that slows down your site. Go through your apps and delete any that you are not actively using.
A faster website feels more professional and is more enjoyable to use. It’s a simple way to keep visitors on your site longer and guide them toward making a purchase.
Your Next Steps to Getting More Sales
Fixing these three areas—payments, shipping, and speed—will have a huge impact on your online store’s success and are critical for boosting your E-commerce sales in India. Instead of spending more money on ads to get new visitors, you can make more sales from the visitors you already have.
- Switch to an Indian payment gateway like Razorpay.
- Use a shipping platform like Shiprocket to manage deliveries.
- Take steps to make your website faster.
Building a successful online business is a journey. By focusing on these fundamentals, you are not just building a store; you are building a strong, profitable business—one that consistently achieves high E-commerce sales in India.
Want a hand with this?
Contact Zensawork for a free website check-up. We can look at your store and give you simple, actionable advice on how to increase your sales and help you reach your goals for E-commerce sales in India.
