Introduction
The eCommerce market has been growing substantially over the last decade. In a constantly shifting and rapidly expanding ecosystem, businesses are being forced to rethink their digital strategy creatively.
More than ever, merchants are trying to create and improve their businesses to meet customers where they are. The Covid-19 pandemic kicked eCommerce into an even higher orbit with the rate of digital adoption doubling across the globe. Shipping and logistics have been transforming accordingly – from books to clothing to groceries, we can get almost anything delivered to our doors.
With the global retail eCommerce sales projected to reach $8.1 trillion in 2026, the eCommerce landscape shows promising growth. How can retailers and brands prepare for the year ahead? Investing in artificial intelligence, seamless customer experiences and digital business transformation are key to maintaining a competitive advantage.
However, though it may seem like everything in eCommerce is evolving, we have narrowed it down to the biggest trends that will affect businesses in the coming months and years.
Top Trends
Augmented Reality: AR is benefitting the online shopping experience enormously. With this type of technology, customers can truly see the item they’re shopping for, which helps them make a buying decision.
Increase in the Volume of Voice Search: More and more people are relying on the technology of voice search to complete their daily tasks. This creates an opportunity for eCommerce businesses in terms of strategic keywords and content.
Learning about your Customers: AI can be commissioned to continuously collect data on how a customer shops, when they buy purchases and what they’re looking for in a product or a service. This makes it possible to provide the customer with automated and personalized shopping experiences.
Using Chatbots: Chatbots interact with online shoppers much like in-store sales associates. They are all the rage today for customer support. As they become more intuitive, online shopping will become even more user-friendly.
Mobile Shopping: Customers want the convenience to shop from anywhere using their handheld devices. If your ecommerce site isn’t responsive on mobile or through web apps, you’ll be missing out on big opportunities.
Multiple Ways to Pay: Offering a wide variety of ways to pay is a good way to increase conversion rates. Individual customers can have different preferences over payment methods.
Headless and API-driven eCommerce: Headless commerce allows an online store’s ecommerce platform to be completely decoupled from the frontend presentation layer. This provides flexibility on the backend, plus added SEO, content marketing and digital experience capabilities.
Video Marketing: Videos are a great way to grab attention and engage customers. They can leave a lasting impact on their minds. They are much better at explaining your products than standalone images.
Engaging through Subscriptions: Providing discounts through subscriptions helps sustain a continuous relationship with the customers. It also helps plan for inventory and sales that are already locked in.
Using Sustainable Practices: With consumers and businesses alike becoming more aware of the environment, sustainable practices are improving the customer base. It side-steps the negative impact of production and promotes an all-round feel good factor.
Dynamic pricing: With the help of AI, retailers are able to adjust prices in real-time based on factors like demand, inventory levels, and competitor pricing. Thus the seller remains in direct contact with the market boosting his sales and revenue every day.
Live Commerce: During live commerce events, customers can interact with a host over a live-stream as they purchase products. This helps businesses highlight promotions and encourage a sense of camaraderie among buyers.
Data Management and Harmonization: This involves synchronizing the systems of customer relationship management and order management, to provide a holistic view of all activities. It thus becomes possible to implement AI, automation, and machine learning to help you market, serve, and sell more efficiently.
Conclusion
As you can see, the world of eCommerce is rapidly evolving to meet new consumer preferences. Given the rate at which eCommerce is expanding, new forms of digital commerce are appearing day-by-day.
Future eCommerce leaders will be those that make the most of new technology and smartly capture the evolving trends. There’s a lot of new things happening in this area. One thing is for sure, that it’s not too late to jump in now – you will learn something new, and evaluate if it’s right for your business.