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Online shopping is increasingly becoming a preferred choice of consumers all around the world. The ease it provides is too much. So much so that even brick and mortar stores are coming up with their e-commerce portals to not miss out on any online customers.
In the year 2017, Nasdaq predicted that by 2040, 95% of shopping would be assisted by e-commerce. It was based on several factors, including advancements in marketing and sales handling, sophisticated technologies, and dynamic consumer behavior.
If we analyze the current scenario, e-commerce saw a sudden boom as pandemic gripped the world. People didn’t have the chance to go out to shop, so they picked up their mobile phones and ordered whatever they needed online.
However, to maintain this shift towards online shopping even after the pandemic, e-commerce stores would need to integrate elements that will both attract and retain a customer, making the buyer’s journey a fulfilling one from start to end.
Professor Gerald Zaltman from Harvard says that 95% of purchase decisions are made in the subconscious. What e-commerce stores need to do is to feed the customer’s intuition in such a way that it leads to a sale.
Let us look at some noteworthy trends emerging in the e-commerce arena that are successfully fascinating customers:
1. A combination of landing page and product display page
When a customer clicks on your ad or a CTA button in a promotional message, it leads them to a landing page. Optimizing it to hold onto your customers for a long time will result in more sales.
If you are planning to start your own e-commerce business, you must not neglect designing an optimized landing page. The landing page is pivotal in building a fantastic first impression on the buyer and brings a remarkable conversion rate.
Ideally, your e-commerce landing page should be a carefully proportioned mix of branding, lead generation, sales and product promotions, and upselling on checkout.
You can also add personalized offers on the page to target various personas. According to Wordstream, around 48% of the tested landing pages contain multiple offers.
2. Use of animations and videos to showcase products
Buying without getting a feel of the product is a reason that makes many people apprehensive of online shopping. Solving this issue will captivate your customers assuredly.
According to a statistic posted by Unbounce, using videos on landing pages increases conversions by 86% on average.
Using GIFs, videos, and any motion in your product images allows the customer to view the product from different angles.
Once, a product video of the fitness watch was a convincing factor for me to buy it as I could see how sturdy and good quality its band was.
3. Augmented reality
The Augmented Reality (AR) makes me wonder what a fantastic invention people of science have made.
It enables the user to experience a thing without buying it. You can virtually try clothes, see how a lipstick shade would look on you, and even get to know how a piece of furniture would look like in a particular area of your home.
According to Social Media Today, websites that offer augmented reality of products are preferred by 61% of online buyers. It also states that 40% of customers are willing to pay a higher price for products that they can view in augmented reality.
4. Run a blog
As per the Wolfgang Digital, organic traffic directed from Google is responsible for as much as 43% of all e-commerce traffic. So what is the best way to increase organic traffic other than featuring high in the SERP?
If you have a blog section on your e-commerce website, you can use a lot more keywords that can’t be placed in product descriptions.
These keywords will signal the search engine about your site’s features and products. It will direct the target audience to your website, who are looking for information in your niche.
A brand that sells wellness products can get a higher viewership if they publish blogs about topics in the wellness niche. As a result, visitors would come to their website and find products that could solve their problems.
5. AI chatbots
Artificial Intelligence and e-commerce are fast becoming a fantastic combo. Embedding an AI chatbot is a convincing way to rope in customers. It lets you deliver excellent customer service round the clock.
AI chatbots respond like a real human to customers; hence they are instrumental in satisfying and pleasing a customer. Automation vastly improves the customer experience.
Chatbots embedded in e-commerce websites have proven to generate more leads. According to Customer Experience Compendium 2017, as many as 75% of online customers expect to be assisted within 5 minutes.
From giving recommendations to the customer to answering FAQs, chatbots can lessen the workload of sales teams.
6. Selling products directly through posts on social media.
Aimia conducted a survey, according to which 31% of consumers are now using social media to browse for new products they need to buy.
Brands are increasingly using shoppable posts on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and snapchat.
Do you know, back in 2015, only Facebook influenced almost 52% of offline and online purchases of consumers?However, marketers are now increasingly embracing Instagram for showcasing products.
X-Cart’s survey revealed that Instagram influenced the purchasing decision of 51% of respondents. To create a shoppable post on the platform, you need to use very high-quality images, and don’t forget to use relevant hashtags to attract target customers.
Twitter also is a significant platform as it is frequently used to give recommendations. Refer to the graph by Hubspot below to view how influential Twitter can be for e-commerce.
7. Influencer marketing
Celebrities or influencers in your niche are a rising trend for e-commerce marketing nowadays. The power of influencers is that their followers trust their choices a lot. Your product could be the next big thing if you choose the right person to endorse it.
Independent bloggers, Instagram influencers, or YouTubers have massive followings. Collaboration with any of the influencers who are popular in your business niche will likely be the best option to bring you huge sales.
For instance, if you run an online underwear company, you can do collaborations with famous athletes who play high action sports like surfing, skateboarding, or cycling.
Performing these sports require one to wear a highly comfortable and supportive undergarment. It would leave a good impact on the public about the quality of your product when they see their favorite athlete wearing underwear by your brand.
8. Reviews and testimonials
A highly economical marketing aspect is the reviews and testimonials which your customers leave for your product. I have bought several things after getting influenced by a customer review who swears by its quality and ease of use.
To be honest, I have never been disappointed whenever I chose to buy a product based on reviews from previous customers. It means most reviews and testimonials posted by people about a product are genuine.
Product descriptions are not enough to trigger the buying decision. A good rating always helps seal the deal for most brands, whether they are a B2C model or a B2B service provider.
According to the statistics posted by BigCommerce, 46% of consumers wish to view product comparisons from e-commerce sites. 42% of customers additionally want more testimonials.
9. Promotional emails
Email marketing works like a charm for most e-commerce businesses. Getting a personalized email that calls you by name and shows what you are interested in can be highly persuasive.
Marketing Profs in 2014 reported as many as 44% of email recipients made at least one purchase based on a promotional email they received.
To create a more optimized email, study the consumer behavior data in depth. An email that resonates with the buyer in every aspect can impact his decision to buy from you.
According to Marketing Sherpa, 91% of US citizens want to get promotional emails from brands they prefer.
Aside from product showcasing, you can craft emails to target abandoned carts, and notify subscribers about a published blog post, and upcoming sales and offers.
10. Diverse payment options
Online shopping is highly dependent on payment options, which the e-commerce store offers. It may have the best products, but if their payment options are limited, most buyers won’t get past the window shopping stage.
Credit cards may be the most preferred payment option for buyers in America, but for the eastern countries, Paypal and COD are preferred. Thus, expanding your payment options will bring you a lot more global sales.
Final word
We have added all the prevalent and emerging trends that are changing the e-commerce market place.
If you have some other emerging trends in your mind that weren’t included in the list, tell us about them in the comments below.
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