Top 10 E-commerce Trends To Stay Ahead of Your Competition

From its initial spur in the 1970s to when e-commerce website development started in the 1990s or to the expansion of new technologies in 2010 and its ongoing popularity till today, the e-commerce sector has evolved over a lifespan.

Though the initial growth started slowly, as we entered the 2000s, avant-garde technologies and innovations made e-commerce an omnipresent part of our lives today.

Earlier, the ecommerce sector mainly focused on the business to consumer (B2C) model, where convenience played a major role in increasing the demand among customers. Multiple players entered this sector, with retail being an early adopter, then followed by the service sector which started competition in this sector.

And with the COVID-19 pandemic, ecommerce saw terrific demand for supplies – from groceries to personal care and more, everything hyperdrives the demand of the ecommerce sector. If it was not for the pandemic, then it would have taken over five years to reach where it is today.

A Forbes report states e-commerce transactions reached $82.5 billion in May 2020 – which was a 77% increase from the previous year, 2019.

Not only this, the pandemic influenced the B2B ecommerce sector to look for digital options, switching from conventional in-person sales. Today, B2B e-commerce has become more transparent, effective, and prompt.

Fueled by phenomenal innovations, e-commerce has digitized the world into a single platform, and ever since its evolution, it continues to accelerate. So, to help you, we have beefed up the top 10 e-commerce trends that are expected to shape the industry in the future.

Top 10 E-commerce Trends to Look Out For

Voice-Enabled Shopping Will Be Common Practice

Google voice search has become one of the prominent features used in almost every smart device today. From Google Assistant to Siri to Alexa, people are using voice assistants throughout the day to play music, call people, check the weather, or even shop online.

A survey conducted by CouponFollow shows, almost 35.1% of customers use voice assistants daily, where Alexa is the most used voice assistant. The last few years have seen immense popularity of smart speakers, making them the heart of smart home setups.

Voice-enabled shopping has become an intuitive and automated way to shop that is loved by consumers today. Due to this popularity, more and more online retailers are providing voice-enabled shopping experiences to their consumers. This lets customers easily find the products without scrolling through multiple pages.

Personalization Will Be a Critical Element

More than a trend, personalization is the need for both B2B and B2C business models. Today, customers are bombarded with a plethora of marketing emails; so to stand out from the cut-through competition, companies need to offer some degree of personalization to keep consumers interested.

Whether you use it in your marketing emails or add it to your website, personalization is a surefire way to generate more sales. McKinsey's report shows that 76% of customers are more likely to purchase from brands that offer personalized content. And 78% of customers say they are more likely to repurchase because of personalization.

If you do not want to lose your customers to your competition, personalize your content all across the channels. Make them feel valued!

Chatbots Will Be the Biggest Need

Chatbots have become a major part of online business. Moreover, shoppers have started to interact more with chatbots. Today, consumers are looking for round-the-clock customer service, which is humanely difficult to provide.

So, to stand strong in the competitive market, e-commerce companies have to keep up with the change, making chatbots a smart investment. With artificial intelligence and machine learning, companies are developing chatbots to fill the service gap to answer customer queries 24*7.

What's more, chatbots also help in reducing operating costs for companies. From marketing to payment or processing to customer service, there are several different areas in which online retailers can leverage chatbots.

Omnichannel Marketing Will Be The Future

Creating a consistent consumer experience across numerous touchpoints is a key component of omnichannel retail. In-person interactions, website visits, mobile purchasing, and phone conversations are a few examples of these touchpoints.

Before making a purchase, a consumer can make contact with your brand through all of those channels. Therefore, their overall experience needs to be consistent while still being personalized for each specific outlet.

Ecommerce sales are frequently impacted by the ease that omnichannel experiences provide. In 2020, marketers who used three or more channels in any one campaign had a 287% increase in purchase rates compared to those who only used one channel.

Sustainability Will Play a Major Role

The demand for green ecommerce is increasing. Customers are spending more and more on sustainable products/brands. A survey from Statista shows, every one in two shoppers in the USA and UK wishes to buy products from brands with less packaging.

Moreover, 52% of customers say because of the pandemic, environmental sustainability has become crucial for them. So, if you want your online retail business to thrive, you need to be willing to acclimatize to more sustainable practices.

Even the slightest change can have an impact on how your target audience views your business, whether it be plastic-free packaging or paperless workplaces.

Customized Packaging Popularity Will Rise

As already mentioned, personalization and sustainability will play major roles in the future. This makes customized packaging a sound way for an e-commerce brand to address both personalization and environmental sustainability needs.

Today, online retail brands are going above and beyond by adding personal touches like special handwritten notes to thank the buyer or adding eco-friendly packaging to their website.

So when it comes to packaging, always keep in mind that it's not simply a box, it’s something your customers value a lot. Ensure that you add a personal touch so consumers will come back to shop more.

Data Protection Will Get More Importance

Personalization could be a powerful resource for customizing your customer experience, making it easier to persuade customers to make a purchase, and increasing their experience and engagement. However, collecting customer information is essential for creating personalized experiences. This brings up the topic of data privacy, which is a major concern for many customers.

Consumers today are resistant to sharing their personal details online. So, when it comes to personalization, it should not be at the expense of your customer’s all details. A survey shows, 86% of customers are more concerned about their privacy while 68% are concerned about the way businesses collect data.

So, it is best to be transparent about your data practices. Additionally, if you want to enhance client acquisition and retention, you should avoid keeping a customer's payment information or adding them to an email list as default choices.

Social Media Will Become a Major Player

Ignoring social media is equivalent to ending your e-commerce business. There are billions of users of social media globally, so if you do not capitalize on this niche, you are preparing for the worst.

Social media is a popular source of shopping inspiration for customers, especially with the online marketplace, and influencer marketing, social media has become a major sales driver for the ecommerce sector. 

An online survey conducted in 2021 shows that 47% of social media users from the USA purchased from Instagram, and 51% of customers shopped from Facebook.

Utilize this trend for your online store by setting up social commerce shops on popular social networks for direct social selling. The best place to get going is on Facebook pages, Amazon Live, and Instagram Businesses.

Video Will Become Common Practice

You can draw in and hold the interest of your target audience by uploading videos to your website and social media accounts. More than 90% of individuals claim to find new products or brands via YouTube. Thus, ecommerce companies should start utilizing different types of video content to engage customers and highlight the advantages of their offerings.

You can take video creation to the next level by investing your time in making shoppable videos. With these videos, customers just need to click on one of the embedded clickable links and they will be taken to the page where they can learn more about a particular product or make an online purchase.

These interactive video ads are available in a range of formats, and they all provide customers with a streamlined experience from advertisement to purchase. Plus, more and more customers are using shoppable videos for purchases. So, investing in these is a smart decision.

Augmented Reality Will Be A Valuable Resource

Video and augmented reality have been important components of e-commerce for a while now. Customers can see products in 3D thanks to Augmented Reality. By incorporating augmented reality, online retailers that deal in jewelry, home furnishings, electronics, and fashion will be able to enhance customers’ shopping experiences.

By the end of this decade, the size of the augmented reality market is expected to surpass $50 billion. Consumers may visualize products via Augmented reality technology while sitting in their comfort zone.

Simply put, augmented reality is reducing one of the major obstacles to online shopping, and it's predicted that this trend will only grow over the coming year.

Conclusion

The e-commerce sector is enormous, especially with cut-throat competition and innovative developments and trends. So, stay ahead of your competitors by being prepared for the future.

Remember to focus on providing a customer-centric experience when you follow these trends to develop your e-commerce strategy. Whenever in doubt, put yourself in the shoes of your customers – think about what they will like - and your half job is already done.

Even though it might be challenging to stay ahead of the curve with ecommerce trends, doing so will help your company stand out in a saturated market. 

If you are looking to learn more about these trends, reach out to our experts at info@growthnatives.com.