The steady growth of eCommerce has made it possible for retail eCommerce sales to reach $7.4 trillion by 2025. So, the growth of eCommerce will keep going strong in the years to come as more companies join in.
But this will make the competition tougher. If eCommerce merchants want to beat the competition, they need to stay on their toes. And to do that, you have to know what the latest trends are in the industry. These trends come from the changing habits and tastes of customers as well as from technological advances.
So, check out our list of the 10 most important trends in eCommerce.
Prepare for the Dominance of Mobile Applications
For an online business to be successful, it needs a good eCommerce store. People today are interested in buying things with their smartphones. Businesses must follow the rules set by search engines to improve their websites and make them easier to use on mobile devices. This is to meet the growing demand for mobile apps. If that wasn’t enough, users look for products on mobile apps 286 percent more than they do on mobile websites. So, if you want to make more money, you can’t do without a mobile app.
Get Ready for Transactional Social Media
Social media will be a big part of the growth of eCommerce around the world. In China, for example, 55% of people who use social media buy goods and services in-app. Also, 40% of merchants have started using social media to boost sales, and almost 90% of eCommerce customers use social media to decide what to buy. Plus, since most social apps are adding shopping features, now is the perfect time for your business to focus on omnichannel eCommerce and engage more buyers.
Discover the Power of Influencer Marketing
No matter if you think influencers are “celebrities” or not, you can’t deny that they have real power. When they shop online, 70% of millennial buyers pay attention to what they say. Also, 30% of users will buy something suggested by a blogger who is not a celebrity. So, use this trend to your advantage and get people with a lot of followers on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook to talk about your brand and products. Influencer marketing is likely to pay off well in the long run if it is done steadily and with care.
Learn About Home Assistants and Voice Search
Voice search (Google Assistant, Siri) and home assistants (Google Home, Amazon Echo) have made consumers’ lives easier than ever. It makes sense that 39 million people in the US have bought a voice-activated smart speaker. The eCommerce industry is becoming more and more omnichannel, and these devices have added one more channel to that. The number of buyers who know how to use their voices is growing quickly and taking over the US market. Voice-activated systems are being used by more and more people to order groceries, books, food delivery, and home care products. This is making other people want to use this method.
So, you need to include and optimize one of the most important eCommerce trends in your application and website. By making an Alexa Skill, you can make your brand known in the market for smart home voice assistants. Choose a digital experience platform to add the new channel and make sure it is constantly managed.
Consider Subscription Models
The subscription model is becoming more and more popular. With these business models, different brands can work with bigger companies to give away free products. With a subscription model, there is no need for constant advertising, so the trend is very cost-effective. Subscription models can be used in a lot of ways in the eCommerce industry, like when searching for relevant results based on context.
Introduce Improved Payment Processing
Payment is the last step in the customer’s journey, and it can make or break the conversion. If the experience isn’t easy and smooth, you might lose a potential customer. 28 percent of customers leave their carts because the checkout process is hard or takes too long. So, if you want to make sales quickly, you need a simple checkout process and easy payment options.
Remember that 13% of buyers give up on their purchases if they can’t pay for them locally. So, the only way for you to grow your eCommerce brand is to offer better payment options to shoppers in other places. It helps to put all payment options on a single platform so that the platform and currency can be managed more easily. But keep an eye out for problems with rules and regulations.
Think About Newer Modes of Payment
Cash on Delivery (CoD) has become the norm for eCommerce sites, but more and more people are using other ways to pay. So, in addition to credit and debit cards, look for Apple Pay, Google Pay, and instant layby (Afterpay, ZipPay). So, you should learn about these easy-to-use payment options and cryptocurrency. With these newer methods, buyers can buy without putting down a deposit, giving them instant gratification with little trouble. Remember that quick payment options speed up the process of making a sale by more than 20%.
Monitor the Rise of VR and AR
Virtual reality and augmented reality have made it possible for people to find products in new ways outside of stores. Bigger brands have already started to put a lot of money into AR to give customers new ways to shop and browse.
VR is also being used to show previews of products and services from every angle. For example, real estate agents have started using this technology to give tours of homes without the customer having to be there in person. The idea has also been liked by hotel chains. So, it’s only a matter of time before you need to find ways for your business to use VR and AR.
Even Shopify is adding virtual reality (VR) technology to its store so that sellers can upload the new king of product images.
Invest in Interest-Based Ads
Give users more ads that are tailored to them. Google’s ads have already been based on what customers like. So, you’ll soon see more ads that are based on your interests and are tailored to you. Users will see ads they want to see, and improvements in eCommerce digital marketing services will help this happen. Once browsing history is combined with machine learning, the best ads will show up. This will lead to more sales and more conversions for businesses.
Provide Improved Product Visualization
Almost 40% of online shoppers return purchases because there wasn’t enough information about the product. Also, 90% won’t buy from retailers who give them wrong information about a product again. Refunds and returns are more than just an inconvenience; they can hurt your conversions, profits, and reputation as a business. But new ways of showing products on eCommerce sites help describe them better and cut down on returns.
There will be more to product visualization than just pictures. There will be interactive features like demo videos, 3D images, and a high-resolution zoom. With these features, sellers can manage their customers’ expectations and help customers make purchases they won’t regret. At the same time, they make shopping more fun and make it harder to return things.
eCommerce Trends: concluding Remarks
The eCommerce industry is growing quickly, and new trends will be driven by both customers and new technology. This means that the eCommerce industry is moving forward with technology, and if you want your brand to grow and make more money, you need to keep up.
Augmented reality is one of the most talked-about technologies in eCommerce this year. More and more big brands are choosing to offer this service to online shoppers. This choice has been shown to be good for both businesses and customers. AR lets stores interact with new customers and turn them into repeat customers by giving them an immersive experience. In this way, both customer satisfaction and the number of sales will go up.
Before, the only problem was finding a company that could help you make a GLB file that you could easily upload to your eCommerce store.
Now that dropship-empire can help, this is no longer a problem.
We offer a full solution, which includes finding the best Chinese vendors for your goods and making a 3D rendering AR file that you can upload to Shopify or WooCommerce.