By Subhasree Nag
The e-commerce domain has seen huge transformation and growth over the years. As more and more sellers jump onto the e-commerce bandwagon, the competition grows phenomenal.
With this, there is a need for online stores to stand apart so that they can attract customers and draw them away from other websites selling similar products and services.
While offering excellence in looks and features is crucial, there is also a need to keep pace with the trends. Every year brings new e-commerce trends for sellers in this tech-driven domain, and it has kept on growing. Here are a few trends that are making it big for e-commerce sellers.
Benefits of e-commerce in business
E-commerce has changed how businesses operate, as it comes with various advantages that the traditional form of business cannot match. Let’s check the basic benefits of e-commerce.
24/7 convenience and availability
One of the main advantages of e-commerce is that it is available 24/7. Traditional stores have limited operating hours, whereas e-commerce allows business with no time limit.
This means customers can go through and purchase products at any time, increasing convenience and also eliminating restrictions on physical store location and time zones.
Global market access
Another important benefit of e-commerce is that it provides all businesses with access to the global market. With the help of targeted advertising campaigns or localized websites, businesses can reach out to their international customers and expand their customer base beyond locational boundaries.
Easy scalability
In the traditional business model, scaling a business is costly and complex. However, ecommerce platforms allow businesses to scale their business easily without the limitation of physical infrastructure.
With the right resources and technology, businesses can explore and expand their inventory and product range and deal with the growing customer demands. This scalability and flexibility allow businesses to seize the opportunities to adapt swiftly in the market with the changing trends in e-commerce.
Top e-commerce trends that are currently leading
One of the most consistent things about the e-commerce market is it is always looking forward. From artificial intelligence and augmented reality to chatbots and mobile shopping, the industry is living at the forefront of innovation and technology.
Let’s look at top e-commerce trends and determine where the industry is going.
1. Personalized experiences meet the customer expectations :
As customer expectations become even greater with the passage of time, sellers are looking to deliver personalized experiences to meet them. The key lies in understanding the shopping preferences, behavior, and demographics and crafting experiences accordingly.
Seeing this, more and more sellers have embraced the technology of data analytics to collect and analyze user data and develop insights. Based on these insights, they deliver personalized shopping recommendations and offers to entice shoppers.
2. Conversational commerce is a new kind of e-commerce :
Currently, e-commerce has seen a disruptive shift towards conversational commerce. Merchants are investing in AI-powered chatbots to converse with potential customers and deliver an experience that is as good as human customer service.
The advent of these smart virtual assistants has ushered in a new beginning for online sellers as they can match the impact of human customer support, in addition to the benefit of being available 24 by 7. They use machine learning to understand the queries and expectations of the shoppers and answer them intuitively.
3. Faster shipping is becoming the key to success :
According to Mo Harake, CEO of e-commerce agency Stray Digital, faster shipping is fast becoming the key to success as it makes the seller stand apart for the quality of service.
The same-day delivery concept of Amazon Prime has taken customer expectations to a new level, and businesses have no option but to keep pace with this trend. Today’s online shopper does not mind spending an extra buck for same-day delivery.
E-commerce sellers thus have to pay extra attention to improving the quality of their shipping and logistic functions because they cannot afford to lose their customers because of slackness in delivery.
4. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality are hot :
Another trend that is now merging as a winner is online stores embracing innovative technologies such as augmented reality and virtual reality as a part of the customer experiences.
Most online shoppers, particularly those buying outfits and home décor items, hesitate to purchase products because they cannot decide how they would look. The technologies of AR and VR have resolved the confusion by offering lifelike “virtual try” experiences. They can now actually visualize how an outfit would appear on them or how a piece of furniture would look in their room.
5. Voice searches are becoming a rage :
The success of an e-commerce store depends on the ease with which the shopper can shop. The growing popularity of voice-activated devices such as Google Home and Amazon Echo has made voice search a raging trend this year.
Nothing matches the convenience of just speaking a few words and having a whole range of products opened up right in front of you. Therefore, it is becoming critical for e-commerce stores to enrich themselves with voice search functionalities to elevate the standard of experiences they deliver to the shoppers.
6. Image search is as popular as voice search :
It has been an amazing year for e-commerce customers as there has been a lot of focus on making searches easier and more intuitive than ever. Besides voice search, they are getting to taste the convenience of image search, too.
All they need to do is click an image of a product they like with their mobile camera and share it with the store to search for a similar product. With this technology, it becomes possible to search for matching products without even entering keywords or brand names.
7. Mobile retains its position as the top-selling channel :
Smartphones have been the dominant e-commerce selling channel for the past few years, and this year is no exception. Customers love to shop on the go, and mobile apps serve their whims to perfection. Moreover, they deliver better experiences with features such as fingerprint recognition, one-click payments, transaction security, push notifications, and more. No wonder having a responsive website and a mobile app is now essential to the success of any e-commerce store.
8. The focus is on providing better content :
Whether it is about the text, images, or videos, this year’s focus has been on delivering stellar, user-friendly content. As online shoppers have become smarter than ever, they prefer to shop from stores that look and feel honest.
Clear and attractive images catch the eye, while valuable content increases the store’s credibility. More and more of them include high-quality product videos to make the products more clearly visible to the consumers.
Another type of content that is making it big is user-generated content, which is sourced from real customers rather than professional writers. Reviews and testimonials are the most popular form of user-generated content. Amazingly, this form of content costs nothing but enhances the brand credibility manifold.
9. AI-assisted cross-selling and upselling
Machine learning and artificial intelligence do an amazing job of predicting shopping habits depending on their shopping and browsing history. No human can customize a website according to every unique visitor.
This is where AI comes in. Not all retailers have the same amount of data needed for true artificial intelligence; some CRM and ERP symptoms, including machine learning features, assist with upselling and cross-selling.
10. Flexible payment options
It is important to make the checkout experience as smooth as possible. Even if a small issue comes up, it can turn a sale into a customer loss for life. However, for most customers, the best experience is one that offers flexible payment options.
Moreover. 13% of customers leave their carts behind if they do not find enough payment options. It focuses on different forms of payment, such as credit cards, one-click checkout options, and digital payment options like Apple Wallet or PayPal.
Go With The Trend
In addition to these rapidly emerging e-commerce trends, some have held their place for years. The most important ones are social branding and promotion because social media is the best channel for maximizing the reach of an online brand.
This is one trend that an e-commerce seller should never ignore at any point in time. The best way to keep pace with these innovative trends is to partner with an experienced e-commerce agency that can keep your online store updated with all that is in.
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