It’s a quick-moving business climate. Leveraging the latest trends in the industry, therefore, becomes essential for driving ecommerce business growth and expansion.
In this article, we will dive into 6 ecommerce trends that you should watch out for in 2022.
Trend#1 Customers seek Personalisation
Innovations in artificial intelligence and big data have made it possible for the ecommerce industry to deliver personalised shopping experiences. Customers want personalised recommendations based on their previous shopping history.
They prefer their online stores to be more bespoke and aligned with what they’re generally interested in buying. In addition to meeting these rising standards, investing in personalisation can also offer your ecommerce business the opportunity to upsell and cross-sell to your customers.
An effective marketing strategy that goes alongside personalisation for maximising conversions on your online store? Leveraging user-generated content. We all know that engagement on social media is a good example of how you can show social proof—like using comments, likes, and followers as indicators that people are buying from you and interested in your brand.
Also Read: Shopify impact on online business
But another effective method to leverage user-generated content to build customer trust? Reviews and ratings. Gather all the reviews/ratings content that you can get from your users—provided you are able to walk the talk and give them a stellar online shopping experience. This is a guaranteed way to get your online store visitors to convert.
If you’re looking for a review tool to use for your ecommerce business—and have narrowed your options down to Opinew and Ryviu—we recommend that you go with the Opinew - advanced Ryviu alternative.
Trend#2 The Shift to a Mobile-first online shopping experience
Ecommerce businesses are heading towards a mobile-first orientation. This is largely due to the ever-growing penetration of smartphones across the world, with more and more people having smartphones with the latest tech to seamlessly order online. And with younger, tech-savvy consumers growing into their adult years—ecommerce is going to see a massive shift to mobile.
As an ecommerce business, it’s becoming imperative to provide a mobile-friendly experience to consumers—be it through a mobile app or website design for smartphones and tablets. Consumers want everything to be at their fingertips, and the industry has to adapt in accordance.
Also Read: Advantages & Disadvantages of Dooshipping for ecommerce
Trend#3 Voice Search is becoming more & more popular
Voice search has come a long way since its inception—we’re seeing more smartphone users turning to voice assistants like Siri and Alexa to search for things online. This consumer trend is expected to rise and therefore influence the ecommerce industry as a whole. People want to buy things quickly, through as many different channels available to them.
Given this consumer behaviour, it’s vital to ensure that your ecommerce software is optimised to handle voice search. Dive into common search queries that people are voice-searching for, how you can personalise your website accordingly to show the best search results, and prioritise things that people want through this search medium as well.
Trend#4 Provide as many payment options & mediums as you can
Given the explosion of cryptocurrencies and alternative payment mediums that we have seen recently, it is becoming vital to allow your online customers to pay through the medium that they like. As much as you provide an optimal experience for users on your ecommerce website, if you do not give users different options or schemes to pay, it won’t matter—they’re simply going to churn.
Also Read: what should be Selling price of the product
You can also explore the option of partnering up with fintech firms that offer their users buy-now-pay-later options for online shopping. For starters, allowing payment through commonly available options is a must. These include debit and credit cards, online payment apps, payment through cryptocurrencies, and the like.
Also Read: How to create an eCommerce App
Trend#5 Omnichannel Customer support
Not only do online shoppers these days want customer support through multiple channels, but they also expect their customer service to be a streamlined and unified experience.
They want tools like live chat, phone, and email support, as well as popular social media platforms. Given such rising customer expectations for support, it is necessary to invest in a CRM platform that enables you to provide a memorable experience and increase customer delight.
Also Read: Why CRM is essential for Lead Generation
Trend#6 Alternative Tech like Augmented Reality
We recently witnessed Facebook rebrand itself to Meta and unveil their grand plans for a VR-based ‘metaverse.’ This is reflective of the direction in which technology is heading—providing users with more immersive and real-like experiences.
This can be applied to ecommerce as well. Companies are now investing heavily in technology like Augmented Reality (AR) to give online shoppers the ability to view items in their personal environments as if they had purchased them.
Wish to see how a couch will fit into your living space? With AR, all you would have to do is point your camera and adjust to view. This is also true for other commonly purchased items online like clothing, wearable items, furniture, decor, and more.
With innovations in technology moving us to new frontiers and changing consumer expectations, ecommerce is set to experience even more rapid changes in the coming years. We hope that this guide gave you a peek into some of these trends and that you can leverage them for your own online business.
Also, integrating a punchout catalog into a mobile-first online shopping experience can provide a range of benefits, including seamless integration, mobile optimization, personalization, enhanced search and filtering, simplified authentication, offline access, and improved speed and performance. These improvements contribute to a more convenient, efficient, and enjoyable mobile shopping experience for users.
