2020 was an unprecedented year for all businesses, especially retail. As more businesses shifted to online channels, the future of eCommerce looks brighter than ever. Each year, we see more and more eCommerce businesses emerge, allowing entrepreneurs the opportunity to finally sell their products without having to set up a physical retail location while providing them with benefits such as a remote workforce.
In this article, we’ll discuss where eCommerce is heading and what you can expect in the future.
Voice Assistance
With Alexa, Cortana, and Google Home taking over the world by providing consumers with convenience, you can expect to see changes to the way people shop online. Voice shopping is already popular among those with Alexa and Amazon accounts. As soon as you realize you’ve run out of something, you can ask Alexa to purchase it for you without having to lift a finger.
Voice shopping will continue to become more popular as more people adopt this technology into their homes. Instead of only allowing consumers to purchase from large marketplaces like Amazon, eCommerce stores can integrate voice assistance with their stores to provide customers with better options and even more convenience.
Omnichannel Commerce
Many shoppers use multiple channels during their shopping process. For example, let’s say someone is looking for comfortable workout shoes. They would likely start with a Google search and end up on a few different websites, from the brand’s Facebook pages to their eCommerce websites. With voice assistants and smartphones being used daily, omnichannel shopping will become more prevalent. eCommerce businesses need to optimize their websites and social media pages so they can sell their products where they can reach their customers, including Facebook and Instagram.
While eCommerce brands already know the benefits of using social media to market their brands, they might not be using the recently added commerce component that can facilitate shopping on each platform. Rather than asking a customer to leave their scrolling behind to purchase something on a website, shoppers can shop from an Instagram post without leaving the platform, making shopping much more convenient, which increases sales.
Enhanced Customer Experience
Customer experience is everything in the retail world. Without providing customers with a great experience, you’ll likely lose out on a sale and even future sales. eCommerce businesses have a great opportunity to provide an enhanced customer experience with Augmented Reality (AR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI can be used to recommend products based on the customer’s shopping, browsing behavior, and past purchases, while AR allows customers to view how a product would look in real life before deciding to make a purchase.
While many businesses can opt to use both AR and AI, you might be better off prioritizing one over the other. For example, if you sell weight-loss medication and services, you might choose to prioritize AI so you can learn about your audience while providing them with a personalized experience on your website. In this case, AI could help you in the form of a quiz that not only captures important information you need to know about potential customers but gives them valuable information based on their answers.
More Payment Options
Designing an eCommerce website with a great user experience means the good experience should begin with a shopper’s first click to the website and end with their purchase. With multiple payment options, you can get more purchases and provide convenience for shoppers.
Without multiple payment options, you may be losing out on valuable customers. For example, your eCommerce store should always allow people to pay with a card. What you may not know is more people are opting to use digital wallets like Google Pay along with PayPal to make checking out quicker.
Dynamic Pricing
eCommerce stores need to price their products correctly, but pricing them dynamically means you can sell products at the right price to boost sales and make a profit. Dynamic pricing software allows business owners the tools to learn about market prices, demand, and production values in real-time, which can help them update their pricing.
Mobile Commerce
Mobile commerce is increasingly popular as fewer people hop on desktops and laptops to shop, do research, and communicate with their friends. Fewer people than ever use laptops and desktops at home when they’re away from their jobs because their mobile devices can do everything a laptop can do.
Abandoned cart rates are high for eCommerce sites that aren’t responsive or mobile-friendly, so it’s important to make sure you work with a developer that can make the mobile shopping experience convenient.
Better Data Collection and Analysis
Online brands need to collect data on their customers to learn about them and find ways to get them through the sales funnel. Collecting data can help eCommerce businesses better target their customers and retain them. Data will only continue to grow eCommerce sales in the future because marketers will be able to make more strategic decisions using real data instead of guesses.
B2B eCommerce
B2B businesses are finally undergoing the necessary digital transformation they need to stay relevant. B2B businesses will continue to think about their online presence and ways to understand their buyers. They will even begin taking relationships and purchasing online. For example, a business that sells products to a retailer may create an eCommerce portal for customers that allows them to purchase their inventory online instead of through email or a salesperson.
As more and more B2B companies move online, they’ll also begin building an online brand narrative with content marketing, customer engagement, and more.
The Future of eCommerce
As technology advances, eCommerce companies will have to determine which advancements will help their businesses grow. While there are a lot of emerging trends in this industry, you’ll need to prioritize them based on the needs of your customers. For example, if your customers are asking for a better way to check out, you’ll need to allow them multiple payment methods instead of jumping right into AR.
Depending on the size of your organization, you won’t have time to capitalize on every future trend, so make sure you determine which ones are right for your business based on the industry and your goals. For example, B2B businesses that sell refrigerators to retailers likely won’t have as much success selling products on an Instagram post as they would enhancing their customer experience.
As always, make sure you listen to your customers. If you’re not sure what they need from you, send them a survey so you can make their shopping experience better and use that information to grow your business.
Matt Casadona
Matt Casadona has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, with a concentration in Marketing and a minor in Psychology. Matt is passionate about marketing and business strategy and enjoys San Diego life, traveling, and music.
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