In order to remain ahead of the competition and be successful in your ecommerce business, you need to be in the know about the latest trends so you can take advantage of them. Staying up-to-date enables you to remain agile, adapt, and evolve without getting left behind.
If you’re wondering what the ecommerce trends will look like for 2023 and beyond, read on. In this article, we’ll tell you all about both existing and emerging trends that will shape the industry over the next few years.
By knowing what’s coming m, you can strategize properly and come up with product ideas that are most likely to lead to better returns on investment (ROIs) and profitability.
Ecommerce Top Trends To Watch:
Here are seven important trends you need to know about:
1. Post-Purchase Experience
One of the most critical trends in ecommerce right now is the post-purchase or after-sales experience. Businesses that make customer experience a priority enjoy 4-8% higher revenues than those that don’t. This is clearly a growing concern, since the number of companies trying to improve their customer experience has gone up radically from 36% to 66%.
To ensure that you’re providing a positive post-purchase experience, you’ll need to implement the following measures:
- Provide a good return policy, and possibly offer free shipping on returns.
- Proactively follow up with customers who have purchased from you to see if they need anything else, or if they have any questions about your product.
- Make sure customers are happy with their purchases.
- Offer a discount or another incentive if they refer friends to your site.
These initiatives make customers feel appreciated while building your brand. If someone has a positive experience with one of your products, they're more likely to buy from you again in the future.
2. Mobile Commerce
Mobile commerce has been around for a while, but it’s recently grown to such an extent that app and software developers are paying closer attention now. As a result, you can expect to see more new features, such as virtual reality shopping experiences on your phone.
you're selling on Amazon, the good news is that this platform already has a mobile app that makes it easy for customers to complete phone-based purchases.
However, if you have your own site, you'll need to make sure that your site is optimized for mobile use. Here’s a checklist to help you out:
- Make sure all pages are responsive and load quickly, whether on a computer or mobile device.
- Use appropriately sized fonts so people can read your content and easily find what they’re looking for.
- Make all buttons big enough so they can be conveniently tapped with a finger.
- Add adequately sized product photos so people can accurately view and appreciate your products.
- Add informative and quality videos where appropriate.
- Ensure that your site and its elements automatically and quickly change dimensions, based on the size of the viewer’s screen.
- Add links to the mobile version of your Amazon product pages so people can find them easily.
As of the second quarter of 2022, 59% of website traffic came from smartphones. Google is responding to this trend by including mobile-friendliness as part of its ranking algorithm. Ensuring that your website is optimized for mobile use is not only convenient for mobile-based users, but also helps you rank higher on Google search engine results pages (SERPs).
3. Omnichannel
Omnichannel strategies have also been around for a while now, but they only recently became a necessity for businesses that want to stay competitive. Employing this smart strategy means giving your customers multiple channels to accomplish the same tasks or access different functions, like checking out and browsing products.
If you’re an Amazon retailer, this can mean having a separate website that sells your products, or including external links that lead to your Amazon product pages. It may also entail giving your customers different ways to check on their order status, such as on the site where they ordered their product and by email.
To effectively deploy an omnichannel strategy, you need to find out where your customers are shopping and browsing, so that you can create an online presence in those domains.
Companies with omnichannel strategies retain 89% of their customers, whereas companies without one have a much lower 33% retention rate.
The end goal is to provide as seamless an experience as possible, from browsing to receiving their order. Many companies now provide this type of shopping experience, so businesses that are unable to keep up may be left behind.
A few years ago, Target partnered with Pinterest to increase its online presence and sales. Though the retail giant is primarily known for its brick-and-mortar retail outlets, this enabled people to take a picture with the Pinterest Lens while the Target app presented them with similar items that are available for purchase.
4. Live Streaming
You've probably heard of live streaming, and may be wondering how it can help you. Live streaming is an excellent way to communicate with your audience and grow your business.
Live streaming is another feature that’s been around for a while now, but it's becoming even more increasingly popular and accessible with time. You no longer have
to be an experienced video editor to create your own quality live streams.
You can connect with your audience in real-time as a live streamer. Doing so creates an intimate connection between viewers and presenters that other forms of media such as text or email can’t match.
By interacting with viewers on social media platforms like Facebook Live and YouTube Live, you can build your brand, increase monthly sales, and create a loyal following. You can also reach out to people who may not have heard of you before, and get them interested in what you have to offer. In addition, live streaming gives viewers the chance to ask questions and interact with presenters in real time, which makes them feel more involved in the process.
On a global scale, people spent over 480 billion hours viewing live stream content on their mobile phones in 2020, and the live streaming industry is expected to be worth $330.5 billion by 2030.
5. Personalized Experiences
Personalized experiences are the future of ecommerce.
In a recent survey, 71% of shoppers felt somewhat frustrated or very frustrated by the impersonal nature of modern retail experiences. Additionally, 80% of consumers said they were more likely to purchase from companies that provided a more personalized experience.
Personalized experiences are important because it's a key way for retailers to differentiate themselves from competitors and build loyalty with customers.
A stronger connection between brands and customers can lead to increased sales, higher customer satisfaction ratings, and more repeat purchases.
It's important to note that personalized experiences don't have to be expensive. In fact, many of them can even be accomplished on a shoestring budget. Some of the most effective personalization strategies include:
- Offering customers product recommendations based on their past purchases
- Sending emails with an offer for a new product similar to one they recently bought
- Customizing checkout pages to provide more relevant information
- Creating an email experience that is more personal than traditional generic, mass-market emails. This may include creating a custom image for the email, or including information about the customer's purchase history.
6. Chatbots
Chatbots are a new trend in ecommerce that's growing exponentially. More and more ecommerce companies are using bots to improve customer service, integrate with other apps and tools, and provide a new way for customers to interact with products.
Chatbots are also providing new ways to sell online. Some of the biggest global brands are using chatbots to reach out directly to consumers and engage them in conversations about their product catalogs.
Chatbots can easily help customers find what they're looking for, answer questions about shipping times or return policies, and even provide information about new products that might interest the consumer.
Chatbots are also being used to improve the customer experience. A chatbot can send out automated messages in response to specific scenarios, such as reaching out to a new customer or sending an order confirmation.
This reduces the amount of time it takes for someone to respond, which can help reduce costs and increase efficiency.
7. Voice Search
Voice search is quickly becoming the preferred method for searching for online products. This feature allows users to ask questions and get answers from their devices in a natural way, which makes it more enjoyable than typing. It's also easier to use than most mobile app-based search engines because it doesn't take up space on your phone or require downloading another app.
Voice search is an important detail for ecommerce, because it allows shoppers to find products that they might not have found otherwise.
For example, if you're looking for a pair of running shoes but you don't know the brand name or model number, voice search can help you find exactly what you're looking for. You can ask Google Home (or other similar devices) questions like, "Where can I find Nike running shoes?" or, "What color is this shoe?"
This can be especially useful for shoppers who don't know much about the product they're looking for, but have some idea about their preferred features.
Conclusion
There’s no time like today to get ahead of the competition and offer a superior online retail experience for your customers. As these trends grow and dominate the retail landscape, you’ll be glad that you made the effort now to change and adapt based on customer behavior, ecommerce industry trends, and the latest tech features.
We hope that our insight into these seven trends will help you not just survive, but thrive, as we approach 2023 and beyond.