It is essential to follow e-commerce trends for the success of your business. Although there are many online tools as well as marketing software available that claim they are useful. Often, they tend to be ineffective or costly to implement.
However, that doesn’t mean that all trends in e-commerce are failing, as some of them are revolutionizing the world of online shopping. To increase a business’s income and make the marketer’s life easier, you need to familiarize yourself with these effective trends. Here are 10 of those e-commerce trends you need to know in 2020.
THE RISE OF VOICE-ACTIVATED RESEARCH
Browsers have been the go-to platform for getting information and recommendations on the Internet. It has been an important tool for finding online stores and for displaying their available products.
That being said, e-commerce retailers should take note of the change that is occurring in the most frequently used browsers. They slowly migrate to voice searches instead of typing each request.
The change browsers make by adding voice search has a direct impact on online stores. How? ‘Or’ What? If online stores do not have a voice search feature built into their websites, they will not appear in the SERP ranking or they will be ranked lower.
It has been predicted that voice-activated searches will increase like never before in 2020. Walmart, Amazon, Domino’s Pizza and many B2B platforms have heeded this prompt and streamlined their products to be compatible with voice search. Make sure your SEO eCommerce Strategy incorporates voice-activated searches to secure the future of your online store.
Whenever you need help writing a work, opt for professionals to do the content work for you, whether it’s academic or linked to your website. A good example of this is the description of the products.
MOBILE COMMERCE TAKES THE WORLD BY STORM
Online stores must also ensure that their mobile commerce platforms are ready to launch before 2020. The development of simplified payment methods for smartphones that have been developed by Google, Apple and other payment companies has made shopping easier.
For this reason, the development of the mobile commerce sector has picked up speed and is growing faster than all of the other electronic commerce industries combined. If you don’t have a mobile app, prioritize one and if you already have one, upgrade it to have features like voice control or a simplified ordering process.
Another development that is starting to gain traction these days is the Progressive Web Apps (PWA). PWAs are a hybrid of websites and mobile applications, which makes your life easier because it loads faster than websites. The other useful features of PWAs are that they can be used offline and added to the home screen without requiring updates later.
PWAs have proven to be effective because there are so many companies that have improved the time spent by customers on websites by 15%. When designing the online store you will use, get Ecommerce Website Designs Compatible with Mobile Devices.
AUGMENTED REALITY WILL BECOME AN ESSENTIAL PART OF THE SERVICE
Augmented reality is probably the most interesting development of e-commerce in 2020. The biggest concern of online shopping right now is that buyers cannot see that the product they are buying will suit them.
Augmented reality solves this problem because you can try what you buy or see what furniture would look like in your home. A survey says that 71% of people prefer an online store that supports augmented reality.
The boundaries between the digital and the physical world are blurred because, in a sense, buyers can also benefit from prior contact with the product they are buying.
Sephora has tried this because consumers can now virtually test makeup products before purchasing them. On the other hand, IKEA allows buyers to see if the furniture is going well in their home. Augmented reality alone is expected to increase E-Commerce Profits by $120 million and you can also benefit if you integrate AR into your store.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS BREAKING A NEW WAVE
Years ago, artificial intelligence was impractical for most companies because it was expensive. However, over the years, the concept of Machine Learning has changed this whole industry.
As a result of the change, AI would now be available to all businesses and could be used for features such as developing a highly customer-focused website with very dynamic UX, and that too with great ease. How can it make life easier for e-commerce retailers?
“AI allows online stores to personalize the experience of their customers and solve their main problems. As you can imagine, trying to manually collect a client’s preferences can easily be tedious. It would also be easy to forget these preferences if you have many customers”.
AI solves this problem because it collects all the data for you and then gives you more specific recommendations on each client you have. When you have individual experience with potential customers, your conversion rates and profits increase.
In 2020, 85% of consumer interactions will not be managed by humans but by an AI robot. You can also use AI to strengthen cybersecurity in e-commerce platforms.
VIDEO CONTENT DRIVES MARKETING STRATEGIES
They say that a picture is worth a thousand words; if true, that means a video says a million. The world has been shaped to love moving pictures, and even the most popular influencers use video to connect with their audience.
Videos are a very authentic way of communicating with potential customers and can be used in many ways. Some companies may choose to use video content to showcase new products and explain their benefits.
Alternatively, some online stores may have educational video content that can be used to train customers on how to use the products they have purchased.
The creation of video content for products is a very personal way of presenting it and encourages engagement in a way rarely found in a digital retail environment. You don’t need to get very expensive setups to create video content, a tripod, lighting, a smartphone, and an editing app or software can work wonders.
USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO INCREASE SALES
Social media is a big contributor to eCommerce sales and some platforms have started to offer markets where transactions can be executed. This makes shopping easier because you don’t have to leave the social media network.
On the other hand, Instagram has a business account that makes it easier to do business. In China, shopping on social media networks has become a norm because many online shoppers have used these platforms to buy products.
Besides having a direct impact on eCommerce sales like this one, social media also has an indirect effect on online shopping. User-generated content (UGC) on social media channels affects the decision of some online users/shoppers.
If you get negative reviews or comments on social media, buyers are likely to look away. However, if you get positive feedback, chances are the companies will convert to you.
AUTOMATE ALL SYSTEMS THAT CAN BE AUTOMATED
Systems automation is a growing trend that should affect all traders around the world. Electronic commerce should benefit the most because it handles all the tasks that could easily be forgotten by humans. With automated systems, customers will have a better impression of the business you run.
Entrepreneurs can easily be included in other management tasks of their business and can regularly abandon tasks such as publishing on social networks. The good news is that it can be fully automated. In fact, all marketing-related tasks can be automated, including others that could take up most of your time.
Tasks that you can automate include posting new offers to all social media platforms, tracking customer actions on the site, and responding quickly to customer queries. Beyond saving you time, automation can increase income because tasks do not require human intervention.
FAST DELIVERIES KEEP CUSTOMERS STAYING
The logistics of online stores can be a nightmare. Late deliveries can make customers worse and they can stop shopping at online stores that have slow deliverers. Speed and efficiency are essential in online shopping, but sometimes you can’t do anything about it.
When the pilots are spread out and can’t reach certain places in time, it’s no one’s fault, but customers can leave even if that is true. To solve this problem, some couriers and transport companies have set up collection points where customers pick up their products from a central location.
In this way, the drivers’ time is saved because they do not need to go around the place and deliver packages from door to door. However, some companies offer same-day delivery, which can be used to meet customer needs.
Amazon has experimented with the Prime Air Deliver, which is an unmanned drone that offers fast delivery. The first delivery was made within 13 minutes of ordering and this is where the future e-commerce is headed.
B2B OPERATIONS SIMILAR TO B2C
The obvious divisions between B2B and B2C e-commerce are slowly starting to fade. The change is happening because B2B operations are transforming and becoming similar and unified with those of B2C trading. The operations are starting to be similar because the ordering process is simplified as much as possible.
All the formalities and paperwork are starting to be inefficient and are no longer really a necessity.
It does make sense, however, some B2B buyers are on the go and want to make a purchase on the spot, then on the online store. If you provide services to B2B customers, try to find ways to facilitate their ordering process and this includes the removal of all unnecessary things.
In 2020, the e-commerce industry is working on a very simplified purchasing process for all online buyers, including B2B buyers.
USED E-COMMERCE MARKET
The online used goods market is on the rise and is currently at its peak with positive growth prospects. The main selling point of this form of trading is that it allows customers to access the most wanted products at a lower price.
In addition, it is environmentally friendly because the reuse of these products instead of throwing them away promotes green life.
The year 2020 will be the period when the online market for used goods will gain even more traction.
THE ESSENTIAL
These ten trends in electronic commerce should be implemented now to take 2020 on a good note in terms of electronic commerce. You can take a few things and work on them to simplify the workload, but if you can take all of them, it’s even better. In any case, if you follow these trends, you will get the share of the pie of e-commerce.
Author Bio
Name- Raunak Pandey
Bio- Raunak is a Mechanical Engineer by qualification & Marketer by passion. He is the founder of Maiden Stride, a leading digital marketing company that provides world-class search engine marketing services and website & application development.
