One of the biggest problems in the ecommerce business in India is not what people think.

According to industry reports, in India, ~13,000 ecommerce websites launch every month, and around 71% fail within their first year. Out of the remaining, approximately 90–95% are expected to shut down within the next 3–4 years.

You may wonder why starting an ecommerce business in India is so easy today, thanks to tools like Shopify and WooCommerce Yet, so many businesses still fail.

So what are these tools not solving? And why is no one noticing this, even in the era of AI?

In this article, we will deeply analyse the real problem and determine whether a solution exists, so that your new ecommerce business does not fail. You could come under the top 5% of successful businesses.

1. Problems in Ecommerce Business (What People Think)

As you often hear on different ecommerce websites, return rates increase, and customers get bored with seeing ads. These are all true, but this is not the real problem. This is just part of the journey.

So the question arises, what is the problem then?

You may think the problem is marketing—low marketing budget, no unique ad content, low engagement, and similar issues. That is also true. But again, it is part of the journey, not the problem.

If these were the real problems, then everyone facing them would fail—but some still succeed.

For example, if you plan a tour to visit a mountain to experience cold air, enjoy waterfalls, breathe fresh air, and detach from everything for a few days, you may end up overcharged for hotels, food, and taxi rides.

This is completely normal. It is a natural situation where everyone tries to earn extra. It is not called a problem. You just need to be ready and aware so you can focus on your main goal, i.e., enjoyment.

Similarly, marketing is also a natural phenomenon. If you have a low budget, then you work hard and do it yourself. You become your own marketer, act like an influencer, and sell your product. Or if you have money, then invest heavily and stand out from competitors. This is simple to understand.

Marketing is like rich people earning with money, and poor people earning with effort.

So the real question again arises:

If all this is part of the journey, then what is the real problem? What makes everyone fail? Why is the rate of success so low?

If you are still here, then it means you are serious about starting an ecommerce business in India.

2. The Real Problem in Ecommerce Business: Execution

The biggest problem in ecommerce is execution.

This is one of the biggest problems that ecommerce businesses in India face after launch.

Execution means consistently managing multiple people, tasks, and processes. And when this breaks, everything else breaks—marketing, sales, and growth.

“Most people don’t realize this at the start. They realize it only after spending money, time, and effort—and still not getting results.”

It is very difficult to find people for small tasks like uploading new products, editing details, changing banners, doing photoshoots, and running ads. You spend most of your time stuck in these processes.

Managing these processes alone becomes the real problem. Hiring someone makes the problem even bigger because you have to manage an extra task.

Ecommerce is a long and complex business structure. The complexity is not in the process, but in how it is done and who will do it.

2.1. To understand this clearly, let’s compare it with a physical store.

Starting and running a store involves a 3-step process.

• 1. A one-time process is to buy or rent a shop.
• 2. The next process is to purchase goods from a wholesale store or manufacturer.
• 3. The final step is for the local distributor to come to your store and refill it regularly.

In short, there is a huge network supporting you in running your store successfully. Your main focus is only to sell your product.

Running a physical store becomes simple if you know the process—you win. But this does not apply to ecommerce. It does not matter how much you know or what technology you use. The problem is not the technology, but the broken execution layer. There is no such thing as a network in a physical store, even today.

3. The Problem with Launching an Ecommerce Business

When you start the business, you will easily get a store. You choose Shopify, WooCommerce, or even a local service-based company, and they provide you with an ecommerce store.

But you do not get execution support from any of these options.

3.1. Consider Your Situation

Suppose you want to start an ecommerce business (see how to start ecommerce business). For this, you need a Shopify subscription. Now you realize it is all raw—you need to upload products, design banners, set up payment gateways, etc.

To move forward, you choose one of these two options:

3.1.1. Hiring a Freelancer

You hire a freelancer. But again, a new problem arises. How will you do the photoshoot? It becomes very difficult to shoot every photo with a mobile, and it does not look professional. The freelancer uploads images and launches your site.

Now you wait for a few days, but no sales come.

After doing some research, you again hire the freelancer to run ads. You want to start small, so you keep a budget of ₹10,000 for ads and ₹5,000 as a service charge.

But now only a few orders come in, and they do not even cover your initial investment. So you remove the freelancer and run ads with a relative’s help, but the problem remains.

“At this point, most people start doubting the business itself—when the real issue is something else.”

3.1.2. Hiring an Agency

You go to a marketing company to get your ecommerce website set up on Shopify. They take product photos from you, upload them, and launch the store. You also start ads with a budget of ₹15,000–₹30,000.

Still, no sales, because the store does not look strong.

Then you hire a photographer, shoot better images, and upload again. The company offers to do this, but it increases your cost because they add their commission.

The agency manages ads and everything. Slowly, you notice that you are becoming highly dependent on them.The company also understands this and increases its charges for each service.

This slows your business down. Even the sales you make are being eaten away by overcharging.

3.2. The Reality

Until now, many sellers have faced these problems and have not moved to the next step.

Because there is no network or structured solution available today, this leads us to the next step.

Let’s take a complete view of ecommerce for your business.

4. What Actually Happens After You Start Ecommerce

Ecommerce execution is a 3-step process, but each step is more complex than the last.

Here, the most important process is selecting the ecommerce platform, which we have already discussed in this article. So we will skip this step for now.

4.1. Step 1: Catalog Building (for new and upcoming products)

The catalog is built in multiple steps and by multiple people. No single person can do this alone.

You can replace one or two roles, but the person handling multiple tasks will still charge you. Even if one person reduces costs slightly, you still end up paying the same or more.

• 1. Photographer for product photoshoot
• 2. Model for the fashion category or as required (a makeup artist may also be needed)
• 3. Content writer for product content to build customer trust (AI can help, but still needs validation and improvement)
• 4. Graphic designer for product editing and enhancement (sometimes done by photographers, but still charged)
• 5. Product entry for uploading to your ecommerce store (may also write content using AI, but still charges for it)

4.2. Step 2: Digital Marketing

Digital marketing requires experience, skill, and consistency. If any one of these is missing, it does not work. This is one of the hardest parts of the journey.

Digital marketing also involves multiple people. Even if someone tries to be a “one-man army,” it is only possible in limited areas like ads, and even that requires years of expertise.

Let’s understand the people involved:

• 1. An ads expert who runs, analyzes, and improves ads to increase sales. This is a continuous process. If ads stop, sales stop, and learning stops.
• 2. Copywriter to write ads, posts, and marketing content that attracts customers
• 3. Graphic designer for ad creatives and marketing visuals
• 4. Video editor for video content
• 5. Social media expert to manage posting and engagement for organic growth
• 6. Marketing manager to coordinate everything—what to do and how to do it

4.2. Step 3: Influencer Promotion

You cannot grow only by spending money. You need alternate ways to generate sales.

Influencers can work in two ways:

• * Affiliate (commission-based)
• * Paid promotion

In both cases, you need to find influencers or hire someone who manages them.

As you can see, it is difficult to manage ecommerce execution because there is no single task and no single person who can handle everything.

Execution is the major reason for ecommerce business failure.

5. The Core Problem: No One-Stop Solution

As you’ve seen, the work is fragmented.

This becomes one of the key problems in ecommerce business in India that many sellers face. Most of them stop here — not because the business is bad, but because managing it becomes too difficult.

Platform from one place. Photos from another. Content, listings, ads, influencers—each handled separately.

As a seller, you often spend more time managing tools and people than focusing on your product and customers.

At first, each step looks manageable on its own. But when you start handling everything together, it becomes difficult to manage consistently.

If this feels overwhelming, it’s a common experience at the early stage.

So sellers try to solve this in different ways—but none fully solves the problem.

5.1. Currently Available Solutions in the Market

5.1.1. Marketing agencies

Many agencies offer support for different parts of ecommerce, including marketing and growth.

They can help with execution, especially if you don’t want to manage everything yourself. However, results depend on the agency, approach, and level of involvement.

It’s important to understand how they work and what they handle.

5.1.2. Hiring an in-house team or a freelancer

Building your own team gives you more control over your work. At the same time, it requires time to find the right people and manage different roles.

This approach works well if you are ready to handle team coordination.

Many sellers also underestimate the long-term cost of managing multiple people and service providers.

5.1.3. Available tools in the market, like Shopify

Tools like Shopify, WooCommerce, and others help you build and manage your store.

They provide the foundation to launch your business. After that, you decide how to handle marketing, operations, and growth.

These tools focus on setup, while the rest of the process depends on your execution.

5.1.4. Execution is invisible at the start—but it becomes the biggest problem as you grow.

That’s why many problems in the ecommerce business in India only become visible after you start growing.

When all these parts come together, this is where most people start looking for a more structured way to manage everything.

6. The Solution: EMagneto Execution Infrastructure for Ecommerce (Ecommerce 2.0)

As you’ve seen, the challenge is not just starting an ecommerce business—it’s managing everything together.

Many of the problems in ecommerce business in India come from this lack of structured execution.

If the problem is fragmented execution, then the solution must be a connected system.

What is missing is not effort, not tools—but a way to bring everything together.

EMagneto is built around this idea of execution.

Instead of handling each step separately, it connects different parts of the process—like product setup, creatives, listings, and marketing—through a structured network.

This allows you to focus more on your product and your customers, while the execution side is handled in a more organized way.

For example, if your product is ready, the process can move step by step—photoshoot, design, catalog creation, and further activities—through professionals working in coordination, with clearer visibility on work and pricing.

6.1. Ecommerce does not fail because of a lack of tools. It fails because of a lack of structure.

If you fix execution early, you don’t just start—you sustain.

The difference is not in starting—it’s in how you execute after that.

If you understand this early, you are already ahead of most beginners.

A more structured approach from the beginning can save time, cost, and effort—and help you focus on what actually drives growth.