Why is my online store not getting sales? 11 honest reasons, and the fix for each.

The short answer

First: a visitor problem or a buying problem?

You need two numbers for the last two weeks: roughly how many people visited, and how many orders you got. On SitesPlaced, store analytics (visits, where people came from, top products) are on the Starter plan at ₹199/month. On the free plan, Instagram’s insights for professional accounts show how many people tapped the link in your bio, which is a fair stand-in if most of your visitors come from there.

1. Not enough of the right people are visiting

A store does not bring visitors on its own. On a new store, nearly every visitor comes from something you did: a reel, a story, a WhatsApp status, a broadcast, an ad.

The fix: put the store link everywhere your buyers already are: Instagram bio, story link stickers, WhatsApp catalogue and status, and the first line of every DM reply. Put the price in the caption so the tap comes from someone who can afford it. SEO basics are free on every SitesPlaced store, but search takes months; treat it as a bonus. Start with how to get your first Instagram sales and how to get more sales on Instagram.

2. Visitors land on the wrong page

Someone taps a story about one saree and lands on a home page with forty other products. Some will search. Most won’t.

The fix: link to the exact product, or to the category (every category has its own clean link, like yourstore.com/sarees). Keep the home page for the bio link, and make sure its first screen shows products. We cover this, and eleven other store-page fixes, in how to increase Instagram store sales.

3. The store doesn’t look like a real, reachable business

A first-time buyer is asking one silent question: if something goes wrong, can I reach a person? A store with no phone number, no returns page and no address feels risky, however nice the photos.

The fix: add a real phone or WhatsApp number, your city, and proper policy pages for shipping, returns and privacy (policy pages are free; see our return and refund policy template). Add trust badges only for promises you keep. Your own domain helps a store look established; it starts with Starter at ₹199/month.

4. Delivery charges are a surprise at checkout

The buyer sees ₹599, adds it to the cart, and finds ₹99 delivery at the last step. A cost that appears only at the last step is a well-known reason people leave a cart behind.

The fix: say what delivery costs on the product page, before the cart. On SitesPlaced, the delivery and payment line under the buy button can say what delivery costs and the order value for free delivery, straight from your shipping settings. It is built into the eleven brand-style templates, and on the General Store you switch it on in Settings → Sales boosters. The free-shipping bar (“add ₹200 more for free delivery”) is free too, and nudges people up to the threshold instead of away from the cart.

5. Cash on delivery and returns aren’t answered before the button

For many Indian buyers ordering from a shop they don’t know yet, “can I pay on delivery?” and “can I return it?” decide the order. If the answers are buried in a policy page, or missing, they leave or they DM you and wait.

The fix: answer both next to the buy button. The same delivery and payment line shows “Cash on delivery available” and your returns rule (for example “7-day easy returns”) when you have set them. If you charge for COD, it tells the buyer how much they save by paying online, which also helps cut fake COD orders and returns.

6. Filler text you didn’t write

“We curate high-quality products with love.” “Our mission is customer satisfaction.” Buyers have read them on a hundred stores. They push your products down and make a real shop look unfinished.

The fix: read every sentence on your home and About pages and ask “did I write this, and is it true?”. Rewrite it or hide the section. The eleven SitesPlaced brand-style templates, like the Clothing Store, have no stock sentences at all: every row fills from your products, and a section with nothing real to show stays hidden. If you are on an older template, the editor’s eye icon hides a section in one tap. For the words that matter, read how to write product descriptions that sell.

7. The layout doesn’t fit what you sell

A clothing buyer wants to know if their size is there. A shoe buyer picks a colour first. A gadget buyer compares specs. A food buyer wants the pack size. A generic layout makes every one of them tap into each product to find out.

The fix: use a template made for your genre. The Clothing Store shows the sizes still in stock on every card; the Footwear Store shows colours as photos; the Electronics Store puts the key spec on a strip; the Food Store shows pack sizes; the Furniture & Mattress Store keeps Call and WhatsApp one tap away for big purchases. All 16 are free and compared in the best online store templates of 2026.

8. Nothing tells a new visitor what to buy

A first-time visitor doesn’t know your range. A home page that lists products alphabetically, or shows whatever you added last, gives them no starting point.

The fix: lead with real bestsellers. On the brand-style templates and the General Store, home-page rows can show bestsellers ranked from your actual orders, new arrivals, or items on sale. On a brand-new store with no orders yet, hand-pick three or four products you know people like. Later, collect real reviews (a Growth plan feature at ₹499/month; you approve each one) so stars appear on cards. Never add fake reviews: buyers can tell, and it costs you the trust you are trying to build. More in why customer reviews matter for Instagram sellers.

9. Slow or cluttered pages

On mobile data, a heavy page is a closed page. Clutter does the same more quietly: three banners, a popup and two text blocks before the first product.

The fix: crop and compress photos before uploading, use one banner instead of five, and hide sections you don’t need. On SitesPlaced, popups are off unless you switch them on. For cleaner photos, see how to take better product photos.

10. Too many taps between “I want this” and “order placed”

Open the product, scroll for the size, scroll back up for the button, fill a long form. Every step loses some buyers.

The fix: let buyers add to cart from the product card, keep the buy button on screen as they scroll, and ask only for what the courier needs at checkout. On SitesPlaced, both are built into the eleven brand-style templates. On the General Store, they are free switches in Settings → Sales boosters: “Add to cart from the product list” and “Keep the buy button on screen”. Buyers don’t need an account to order, and extra fields like email or order notes can be switched off in Settings → Checkout.

11. There’s no way to ask on WhatsApp

Some buyers always want to ask one question first, especially about custom or expensive items. With no quick way to ask, they scroll on.

The fix: turn on WhatsApp checkout (free), which sends the buyer’s cart to your WhatsApp as an order. On the eleven brand-style templates, a product with no fixed price shows “Price on request” with a button that opens WhatsApp with the product already named, instead of an embarrassing ₹0. On the General Store, give every product a price. The floating WhatsApp chat bubble on every page is part of the sales boosters on the Growth plan. See WhatsApp checkout for Instagram stores.

The checklist, in one table

What not to do: don’t add fake countdown timers, invented “12 people are viewing this” messages or made-up reviews. They might get a click today and cost you the repeat buyer tomorrow. SitesPlaced templates don’t include them.

Choosing a template for your genre? Start with how to choose an online store template, which website template increases sales, the best-selling store templates for Indian D2C or free vs paid store templates. Genre guides: clothing, jewellery, beauty, wellness, food and electronics.

FAQs