The ecommerce domain has grown by leaps and bounds ever since its worldwide introduction merely a few years ago. Arguably the most dynamic industry online, ecommerce has transformed the way businesses conduct operations and consumers purchase products.
By Rakesh Jain
However, the introduction of easy-to-setup online store builders and ecommerce mobile apps has made the competition stiffer than ever before. So, companies big and small are scrambling to keep up with the biggest trends shaping the market this year.
If you have an ecommerce store, chances are you already know this. What you might not know are the specific trends that have the largest influence in the global ecommerce market at the moment. Let us help you expand your knowledge and apply it to your everyday business operations.
Biggest Ecommerce Industry Trends You Should Know About
- Keeping Up with Technology
If there is one thing that makes the biggest impact on ecommerce, it is technological advancements. We have a promising line-up of these coming in the next few years with AR/VR and drone delivery. However, the most easily accessible one is voice-activated shopping.
With the rise in sales for Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home, voice-based shopping might go up considerably. In fact, it is estimated at by 2020 nearly 50 percent of all searches for products will be done via voice-activated software. Naturally, you need to have the right software and technical setup to take advantage of it. Otherwise, the technological momentum might leave your business eating dust in its wake.
- Its About the Personal Touch
Personalization is increasingly becoming the most valuable commodity in ecommerce. At present, we have search history-based product suggestions and customized email notifications on ongoing offers. However, this is just preliminary. There is a tremendous amount of customization possible for each customer. These range from a custom-curated landing page to specialized shopping categories for frequent buyers. For those who create online store apps, the personalization options are even wider and sure to positively impact the conversion rate. The idea behind all of this is to deliver a great user experience and keep the customer coming back for more.
- Unique Content is Compelling
This one should be a no-brainer but let’s spell it out anyway. Custom designs and content are the best ways for ecommerce portals to stand out from the competition. This has a two-fold benefit. First, you get to appear high in search engine rankings. This leads to better organic traffic. Second, the customer is bound to remember the unique content presentation. This further increases the client retention rate. Combined with an effective PR strategy, this method is great for ensuring ecommerce success.
- A Retentive User Experience
If you haven’t noticed the trend by now, here it is again – User Experience and Customer Engagement are key for success in ecommerce. The biggest names in the industry already know this and smaller ventures are also catching up with shopping cart app development. On the whole, companies looking to create online store mobile apps stand to benefit greatly in terms of customer retention and conversion rates. This is sponsored by the great UX they offer and the customizations that make shopping easy and effective.
- Integrative Business Operations
Synchronized operations from different departments are the way into the future for ecommerce ventures. From marketing to content to PR to ORM, all these functions must be integrated seamlessly to present the best enterprise value to customers. This is nothing new. Process integration has been key to business success for years. However, its significance is now is stronger than ever. For example, ecommerce companies that create online store apps should dedicate a streamlined PR, marketing, brand promotion and content creation process to its market penetration.
- Diverse Marketing Channels
Despite the prominence of shopping cart app development and market proliferation, a significant chunk of ecommerce business comes from email marketing. Also, while social media is surprisingly not a very successful revenue generating channel, it remains vital for brand building and promotion. With adequate PR, it can be a prime source for promotion when an ecommerce company plans to create online store mobile apps. The key idea is to keep channels open but also lay special emphasis on the ones with the best RoI.
Conclusion
The future of ecommerce is highly competitive. The march of technology is sure to introduce industry-wide changes as the year’s progress. Within 2018, we can already see the foreshadowing of such change with companies that create online store mobile apps getting more traffic and conversion. Business opportunities can get significantly amplified with quality user experience curation and brand value generation. So, it is imperative for every business to ensure they are consistent with the most influential market trends in the ecommerce industry today.
Rakesh Jain is a CEO and Co-founder of Mobicommerce, an eCommerce website & mobile app development company having a team of best app developers who deliver best eCommerce solutions mainly on Magento and PrestaShop platform. He regularly contributes his knowledge on the leading blogging sites. You can connect with him on Twitter.
Ecommerce stock photo by sdecoret/Shutterstock
