A brand new year, a brand new decade and a brand new way of doing business; from the way people shop to the way they handle online business — e-Commerce is gearing up for some big changes.
We might rhapsodize about how far ecommerce has evolved over the last decade, but at the end of the day, what we’re talking about is the current situation of the e-Commerce industry which is witnessing an exponential growth year-after-year especially after the global e-Commerce industry reached 2 trillion USD in 2019.
Relevance needs to be a top priority in this highly competitive market. As an online company, you have to consistently improve your brand’s image and presence in the eyes of the audience to attract them.
And to stay ahead of your competitors, being updated about the latest developments in e-Commerce shouldn’t be taken lightly because if you want to push your brand forward at all times, you need to stay adept with the latest on-goings.
There are vast numbers of rivals seeking to catch the same customers as you, no matter what your market niche is. This means that your website and your customer service cannot afford to stagnate. You need to stay on top of the latest e-commerce trends and introduce them if you are going to engage potential customers and develop your business, which is why this article will take you through the 7 e-Commerce trends of 2020 to help grow your business and beat your competitors hands down!
Without further ado, let’s dive straight in.
Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR)
One of the main drawbacks in doing business online is that the consumers cannot see and feel the product, until they purchase it, making it one of the greatest obstacles that online businesses face especially for those businesses selling clothes, furniture and other accessories. That is where AR and VR come in and help solve this issue by allowing consumers to try on goods remotely without physically touching them. Organizations such Amazon and IKEA are already using this technology so that shoppers can see and feel the product remotely without physically checking them.
Social Media
Social media these days is much more than just likes, share and cute pet pictures. A number of social media platforms have become mini search engines for customers’ to check reviews of a certain product they might be interested in buying online. These websites make it incredibly convenient for brands to sell online with the help of backlinks re-directing the audience directly on their website. This method has made it much easier for brands to improve sales and increasing traffic to their website, while engaging with the audience to improve their overall brand image.
Multiple Payment Options
When a consumer chooses to buy a product from an overseas company, they expect the vendor to have tied up with various local payment gateways to move forward with the transaction. In addition, consumers are used to shopping conveniently on e-Commerce websites such as Amazon and Flipkart where they save the billing and shipping details of the customers allowing them a fast and easy checkout experience without much data input. Hence it is imperative to tie up with various payment getaways catering to your customers’ needs.
Subscription Based Services
Subscription plans have a number of advantages for retailers because they make it easier to predict delivery needs and allow you to retain customers at a higher long-term value and since customers are gradually becoming more cautious of the way they sped their hard earned money, multiple subscription services would be more pocket friendly and the preferred option in the future. It’s very important that you customize your subscription service based on your customers’ needs.
Going Sustainable
One of the latest things that customers are taking note of is if the product is by any means harmful to the environment. Sustainability and sustainable living is hot right now and people are staying up to date with the latest ways and means that they can contribute in protecting Mother Nature. When it comes to brands, they need to find innovative ways and means to integrate that into their products, their distribution strategies and their marketing. Brands which are manufacturing sustainable products play a huge part on purchasing decisions of the customer.
The Growth of Voice Search
People are increasingly relying on voice assistants such as Google’s Assistant or Amazon’s Alexa to do everything for them from weather testing and playing their favourite songs to purchasing items online. Picture this, you are in your kitchen and you notice that you’re running low on certain grocery items. So what’s the best way to save time? Send a simple voice command and you’re set! Voice search saves time to browse, enter payment and shipping details as the app knows a previous order which makes repeating the order very simple. This technology is becoming extremely popular among households making it mandatory trend for brands to follow.
Chatbots
The chatbot which serves as a brands greeter and salesperson is at the crux of personalization and AI capabilities. Chatbots allow stores to connect with thousands of customers, while providing them with a sense of personal attention and insightful feedback based on their response. With the inception of bots, an increasing number of customers have preferred conversing with them. One study found that more than 60% of customers say that they prefer websites, applications or chatbots to respond to their simplified inquiries owing to the quick response time.
Even though trends come and go naturally, it is critical that e-Commerce companies pay attention to those that have major impacts on consumer engagement and conversions. Although these patterns may change over time, many online retailers are seeing impressive returns.
If you’re someone who wants to setup an online business, an e-Commerce store or you want better visibility, it’s best to leave it to the professionals because, we at FinPlus Business Solutions are dedicated to take your business to the next level; whether it be creating a responsive website, an e-Commerce store or driving traffic with the latest digital strategies, we’ve done it all. Over time, we have helped over 300+ brands to consistently improve their e-Commerce presence and helped them grow their business consistently by 150%, within a span of a few months. As being official partners with Amazon we help brands to maximize their outputs on market places. With the help of our digital experts we make sure your audiences see your product through different mediums including Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn etc. while also optimizing your search results by effectively using Google’s tools. We also create influencer contents for that instant boost of visibility through our 200+ influencer network covering each category on platforms like YouTube and Instagram.
If that doesn’t feed your curiosity, feel free to contact us and let’s chat to see how we can help you grow your business while not burning a hole in your pocket.
