Much has changed in the world of e-commerce in the last three years. The year 2020 has forced retailers to re-evaluate their eCommerce strategies and invest in the digital transformation of their business. 2021 showed that a fast and secure eCommerce store was not enough for business growth, but personalisation, in fact, was what drove sales.
2022 has set new challenges for businesses looking to stay ahead. Changes in consumer behaviour, digital tools and supply chain issues have transformed the entire eCommerce landscape.
As global eCommerce sales are set to skyrocket in the near future, it seems worthwhile to look at current and future eCommerce trends, gaining a significant market share over your competitors.
- Augmented and virtual reality
The time when augmented and virtual reality belonged to the realm of movies or video games is definitely over. These two technologies now play a very important role in e-commerce, as buyers can actually see the product they are interested in, which helps them make the decision to buy it.
With augmented reality, the shopping experience in certain industries, such as fashion and home decoration, has been radically changed, as the customer can get a better feel for the item they want to buy without having to see it in person.
At the same time, virtual reality is the only means by which an online store can “mimic” the way products are presented in a physical store. Through VR, a customer can get a 360-degree view, navigate through a store and examine a product from every angle. So, they can better perceive, for example, the dimensions of a product and not only rely on descriptions, which may differ significantly compared to reality.
- “Vocal” consumers
As artificial intelligence technology evolves, new digital tools emerge that can be implemented in an online store. Thus, voice search is now gaining ground with today’s customers, saving them time and the “hassle” of a traditional search. It is an application that uses voice to quote queries or commands on the web. Essentially, it allows users to say what they are looking for and then the e-shop displays it for them.
According to research, 60% of mobile device owners make purchases using voice search, which signals that now is the time to optimize your business in terms of this app.
The question is how can an ecommerce business redesign its content marketing strategy to align with both traditional and voice search?
In answering, we advise you to understand the difference between traditional search keywords and voice search keywords. When people type, they are likely to use a standard keyword phrase. But when they use their voice to search for the product they want, they prefer to do so in the form of a query (e.g. instead of “smartphones under 1000 euros”, “What smartphones are available under 1000 euros?”).
Therefore, as customer search behavior has changed, it makes sense that your content marketing strategies should be centered around this change. You should therefore use keywords with more than three words, incorporate potential voice assistant questions on pages, and write simpler and shorter texts for your descriptions, since they are to be heard rather than read by users.
- Personalization (Personalization)
By this term, we mean providing as personalized an experience as possible to each customer by dynamically displaying content, suggestions or offers based primarily on previous actions, browsing behavior, purchase history and other personal data.
Personalization is becoming increasingly important for online marketers. This is because it is proven to increase customer loyalty, as well as the likelihood of them returning to a store for new purchases.
Until now, personalization has been largely based on a website visitor’s behavior, their demographics and their search history (cookies). However, now, with the advent of artificial intelligence, brands suddenly seem to have a lot more knowledge at their disposal.
In practice, AI algorithms can use search queries to predict whether the customer is dynamic or about to abandon the cart. In the case where a user has a history of cart abandonment, AI can also be used to present personalized products that match their shopping history.
In this way, site visitors get a pleasant shopping experience and can more easily find exactly what they are looking for.
- Video Marketing
Creating a video for your website is a great way to directly attract a customer and inform them about your product or service. This is another trend that is dominating the e-shop creation stage, as videos are attractive and easily grab the attention of visitors.
These can be short, presenting your store, about your specific products or simply informative, explaining how the user can make purchases in your online store.Here are some tips regarding videos that will help you get started:
- Keep their duration between 15-30 seconds, as the users’ attention span during the viewing is limited on average.
- Leverage them to develop personalized content.
- Make sure they are optimized for mobile phones.
- Multichannel trade (Omnichannel)
This is the model that is expected to prevail in post-pandemic trade. It is an approach to sales that focuses on providing a seamless experience for the customer, wherever they shop.
This means that retail stores, call centres, social media, your e-shop, SMS, all need to come together to deliver a positive shopping experience.
For e-commerce businesses, the biggest and most readily available tool is the smartphone. This can be used effectively to create a seamless shopping experience. For example, if a customer is shopping in a store, to navigate through it, they can use their smartphone.
- Multiple payment options
In the world of online shops, the competition is more than just fierce. Customers have individual needs when it comes to payment methods, but they may cancel a potential sale if they cannot pay as they wish on an e-commerce site.
The trend, therefore, that now dominates online shops is, the more payment methods the better. The visitor, in other words, should be able to pay by cash on delivery, by using a credit card, by debit card, by depositing into a bank account, and also by PayPal.
Offering a wide variety of payment methods is a good way to increase mobile conversion rates. Also, if customers can save their payment information on your site, they can complete checkout even faster the next time they make a purchase.
- Fast deliveries
This is about optimizing the supply chain and efficiently managing a store’s deliveries. Today, there are still e-commerce companies that face significant problems because they have poor “visibility” throughout their supply chain.
This means that companies cannot see the obstacles that occur in deliveries and, correspondingly, cannot improve their shipping processes. Obviously, this leads to a poor experience for customers, who consequently stop trusting the brand in question.
So, give due importance to fast product deliveries to increase both customer loyalty and your profits.
- “Ethical” e-commerce
Today, consumers are increasingly interested in the values that businesses stand for. This means that customers are looking for more “ethical” commerce, both environmentally and socially.
Younger generations, in particular, frequently check the sustainability of a brand before buying a product. Indeed, this trend seems to have been reinforced during the pandemic, with most consumers believing that brands should behave in line with the expectations of the society in which they operate.
In particular, the production method, the origin of the products, the materials used by the brand, packaging, recycling, emissions, working conditions and the contribution to society are nowadays criteria for a purchase, but also reasons why a brand may be rejected outright.
- Digital Marketing
Online marketing is a valuable tool for any e-shop, helping to increase the number of sales.
We advise you to contact a digital marketing professional who can guide step-by-step every online advertising campaign of your store. Thus, combined with email marketing outreach campaigns, you can build trusting relationships with your customers.
At the same time, leverage SEO (search engine optimization) to create a search engine friendly online store by boosting your visitor numbers.
Remember that the results of every action under this strategy are measurable, so you always know what works and what doesn’t for your online store.
Conclusion
It is a fact that we are currently going through an exciting period for e-commerce businesses. While the challenges that every eCommerce company now faces may be numerous, the opportunities are even more numerous and lucrative for your company. So, take advantage of the trends mentioned above to stay one step ahead in the current, rapidly evolving marketplace.