There’s always a reason behind why the digital marketing companies speed up their work and try to make their social media marketing services and advertisement background strong. The recent increase in E-commerce, as stated in the “Worldwide Retail E-commerce Sales: The eMarketer Forecast for 2016” report, clearly indicates the increase in the online shopping trend and shows how beneficial it is going to be for eMarketers. It stated that in 2016, the total retail sales across the globe reached $22.049 trillion, up 6.0% from the previous year. Moreover, “eMarketer estimates sales will top $27 trillion in 2020, even as annual growth rates slow over the next few years.” (Reference: https://totalaccess.emarketer.com)
This calls for the respective advertising agency of the company and the members of the digital marketing team to join hands and work hard together to produce the best results. What’s more important is increasing the knowledge regarding the latest e-commerce trends and knowing where they will take you this year.
The trends that you must be looking forward to working on this year are as follows:
1. New technologies and solutions will emerge for e-commerce
The news from Smart Insight has stated that the year 2016 showcased 3,500 new tech solutions and service providers. Technology innovation that is used to improve the online customer experience is now considered a major thing. The growing E-commerce presents an increasing demand for new technology that completely understands the function of an e-store and works accordingly.
The new tech solutions are expected to improve the:
- Customer experience
- On-site and off-site personalization
- CRO
- E-commerce trade
- Analysis of the e-commerce activities
2. Predictive analysis will become the key to success
Predictive analysis, as mentioned above, will become increasingly important in the year 2017 and those coming ahead. Any idea what a predictive analysis portrays? It portrays the algorithms that help in predicting the customer’s behavior while shopping. Through this, you can find out the following things:
- Search and purchase history
- Customer preferences
- Past click-through attitude
- Age and demographics of the customers shopping
All this information and stats are then used to find out what customers are looking for at the store. These things then help you fulfill your customers’ needs and desires by providing what they want. E-commerce’s predictive analysis is your shot at beating the competitors by winning your customers’ hearts.
3. Black Friday and Cyber Monday will emerge on online platforms as well
As the rise in the trend of online shopping is evident, we now see that the shopping holiday events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday are now moving to the internet as well. The buzz promotion of these events starts days before the real event, and more and more people get interested in it. Those who earlier avoided visiting the sale owing to the crowd and rush experience can now easily shop through the internet-based stores.
4. The introduction of interactive platforms using artificial intelligence
The interactive online shopping platforms are now becoming interactive to fulfill the needs of the consumers. These platforms cater to the needs of each and every single client through their interactive platform. The customers now get to have a say in the kind and design of the product they want. Moreover, artificial intelligence is also influencing the lives of merchants and buyers.
The digital assistants help people with their problems and solve their queries. Every platform has introduced its own digital assistant. The Amazon store has Alex while Apple has Siri, Microsoft works with Cortana, and Google has its own. Thus, to excel in this field, your platform needs to introduce its digital assistant to guide the customers through every step.
5. Free shipping and prompt delivery will be the top priority
A good online shopping experience is useless without a good delivery system and free shipping service. Though every e-store has its own terms for offering the delivery of the product, now you need to make sure your e-commerce store has the best one. The importance of the need for an improved product delivery system can be estimated from the fact that a Forrester report states that 29% of consumers would be willing to pay extra for same-day delivery. Thus, in 2026, free shipping and fast delivery of the product will be the top priority for the merchants.
6. Focusing on mobile web/ e-store designs and responsiveness
The ease of handling the mobiles rather than the desktop/ laptops has instilled confidence in the users to browse through their smartphones from wherever they are. Whether your potential customer is at home or walking in a park, visiting friends, or getting ready for a party, they wouldn’t resist opening their phone and browsing your website/ e-store. Thus, you need to make sure that whenever the user browses the e-commerce store, they get to enjoy a seamless browsing experience. The design of your e-store must be mobile responsive and easily accessible.
Following these e-commerce trends will help you stay one step ahead of others. E-commerce is the future, and these trends will help you protect the future of your business lines. A customer-centric approach is the real key to a business’s success, and this is only possible if you can please your customers.
