Table of Contents
Introduction
Stay ahead of the curve and adopt emerging e-commerce trends…
The e-commerce market might accelerate in 2023, steered by the escalating number of online shoppers and the persistent rise of digital payments. Statista states that the e-commerce revenue in Europe will progress to $939.7 bn and $1,222 bn in 2025.
The emerging development led to an increase in competition between e-commerce businesses, with many capitalizing on technology, logistics, and marketing to transform themselves and allure maximum customers.
The accessibility of higher-quality products coiled with a user-friendly shopping experience will be vital for multiple companies to survive in a competitive industry. Businesses on the go create effortless shopping journeys customized as per individual’s needs and preferences.
Excited to know what that indicates? Have a glance over the trends that experts forecast to rule in 2023.
E-commerce Trends
1. Augmented Reality (AR)
The imminent future of the digital customer experience in retail is well-connected with AR, and here’s why? One of the major challenges that online stores encounter is certainly that their customers cannot try on clothes and accessories or capably wonder how furniture will look in their apartment before making a purchase.
VR and AR tech stacks can acknowledge their issue by essentially expanding the shopping experience. With apt AR solutions, customers can virtually witness how goods will seem in real life: how a dress fits the body type, how a sofa matches the wallpaper in the living room, how much space a table will occupy in the kitchen, etc.
Merely 1% of retailers offer AR or VR shopping opportunities at present, but the situation will change quickly. Merchants now realize that augmented reality is the novel approach to compete: 40% of consumers are willing to disburse more for customized products using AR solutions.
2. Voice Search
A right-hand-to-e-commerce trend is voice commerce, revolutionizing the development of AI-based voice recognition technology. Online shoppers find it easy to use their voice rather than typing requests for internet searching, ordering, and wrapping up the buying process.
Virtual digital assistants like Google Assistant, Siri, or Alexa can help you effectively integrate the online shopping experience into daily life: users can buy something devoid of putting a halt to their routine tasks.
E-commerce businesses indeed need to execute and optimize voice search functioning in their online store websites and mobile applications.
3. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Multiple solutions dependent on artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms have advanced significantly as widely used online shopping aspects and yield more opportunities for enhancing customer experience.
Image recognition is one of the top AI applications in eCommerce, setting off the development of visual commerce. Here’s how image-analysis solutions can enhance shopping experiences.
- Image Classification: Users can organize products in the online store based on parameters such as color and style, which leads to a seamless search process.
- Object Recognition: Users are allowed to take a photo of an object and find out various online marketplaces.
- Irrelevant Content: Users are allowed to set parameters for the content they don’t wish to see, and the solution will eliminate it from search results.
Another well-known use case of intelligent algorithm implementation in online stores is developing personalized recommendations. AI algorithms analyze customer behaviour across all delegates – websites, social media, digital signage, marketplaces, mobile apps, etc.) and produce customized offerings.
Predictive analytics, which forms the basis of artificial intelligence, is often leveraged by retail businesses to analyze and enhance marketing campaigns, plan inventory management, and support the supply chain.
4. On-Site Personalization
Conventional one-size-fits-all advertisements and emailing that offer odd products are out of trend- a personalized touch is the NEW Normal in the retail business.
Modern online shoppers prefer a personalized perspective that helps in discovering what they want, and not merely what retailers want to sell. With AI-powered search and recommendations tech stacks, track and analyze online customer interactions coupled with past orders, thereby identifying their interests and preferences precisely.
Retail businesses often choose on-site personalization for customer retention and, subsequently, the growth of eCommerce sales is based on their interaction with patrons across pertinent content, customized offerings and discounts.
5. Big Data
The collection and analysis of massive amounts of data sets (big data) streamline multiple opportunities for businesses in different industries. Considering eCommerce, big data analytics is the primary source for the creation of personalized experiences.
At present, retailers emphasize the development of a strategy for personal data gathering to reveal customer behavioural patterns and drive valuable predictions. Besides, personal information, retailers embrace massive amounts of insights about supply chain, inventory, warehouses, and delivery services that have a fair in decision-making and lead to improved results. Thus, big data analytics is one of the major eCommerce trends, at present.
6. Chatbots
A mesmerizingly effective marketing tool, chatbots help improve customer experience. How businesses can benefit from chatbots?
- 24/7 operational activities
- Cost-efficiency
- Automation of routine tasks
All these contribute to a better customer experience. Almost all E-commerce companies are now developing their chatbots based on natural language processing (NLP), thereby helping technologies to program and interact with online buyers just like human sales assistants.
Retail industries are among the top influencers to adopt chatbots. Juniper Research states, that nearly 70% of chatbots will be retail-based in 2023.
7. Mobile Commerce
The unstoppable emergence of smartphones and the omnipresence of the internet are essential factors influencing the developing number of mobile internet users.
Mobile commerce or mobile shopping is another e-commerce trend that is evolving exponentially, as people use their handsets to search for goods, compare prices in different stores, and look for detailed descriptions, reviews, and testimonials. Besides, with the emergence of mobile technologies, mobile payments have become more feasible and reliable. Hence, it is safe, secure, and convenient to make better purchases.
8. Video Commerce
Video content is applauded and appeals to a good amount of online shoppers than text or written information. The willingness to buy a product is about 64-85% higher when users watch a video exhibiting its functions and benefits.
Promoting eCommerce products has redefined the video commerce branch. Piece of video content helps retailers boost customer engagement and conversion rates: merely a 20-second video is enough to explain a product’s functions and applications better than image or text; thereby convincing consumers to make a purchase.
9. Omnichannel Strategy
To entice more and more customers in a massive flow of daily news, advertisements, and notifications; retailers must provide ground-breaking and relevant offerings and suffice the clients’ needs, here and there. An omnichannel sales and marketing strategy is the best methodology to do so.
The omnichannel model of trading dictates that the client has numerous options right from where to order, how to pay, and how to choose goods. In short, a retailer incorporates buying channels like a website, a mobile application, social media, digital catalogues, and offline stores into an adhesive ecosystem, and offers the same conditions.
Omnichannel doesn’t imply distinct touchpoints; rather it’s about several integrated touchpoints that track user behaviour and exchange information with an agenda to improve customer experience.
10. Social Commerce
ECommerce is stringently connected with social media platforms. We can even discuss a new eCommerce subcategory- social commerce. This particular trend has wide potential.
- Paid advertisements lure a wide audience base of potential clients;
- Direct sales via social media channels ease the buying process;
- Appealing brand content enhances customer engagement and boosts customer loyalty;
- Influencer marketing thereby boosts sales.
To Wrap Up- Adapting to an Ever-Evolving Industry
The eCommerce vying will always be on the go. E-commerce trends may come and go, but to compete in the ever-changing online retail space, e-commerce firms need to emphasize and choose the most relevant e-commerce solutions for their audiences.
A thing that might work for one business will not necessarily favour another!
A customer-oriented approach is a NEW BLUE! Apply the most appropriate and relevant innovations and switch them to the audience’s needs.
Seeking a tech partner to integrate any of these emerging updates? Smartifnologiks has built and improved infinite eCommerce websites over a decade, serving every business from small to retail giants.
Reach out to us today to explore how Smartinfologiks can help you adapt to the latest eCommerce trends in 2023.
