Keeping up with emerging trends in e-commerce has become a necessity for business owners and consumers. For business owners, it is important to know and understand the trends to identify opportunities and manage competition and for consumers, it is necessary to know and anticipate what’s out there and what’s to come.
The e-commerce industry has grown tremendously in the past few years. More and more businesses have evolved and molded their practices to be more consumer-driven and service-oriented in the past few years, shifting away from production and manufacturing-oriented.
Here are some of the emerging trends in e-commerce that will impact the ways businesses will run in the following years.
1. Augmented Reality In Online Shopping : Augmented reality (AR) has completely transformed e-commerce. With this technology, customers can view the product as if in real life, which aids in making their choice. AR has the power to impact the purchasing experience in some cases, such as fashion and home design, aiding customers in getting a better sense of what the end product will look like.
A survey by BigCommerce on augmented reality has shown that about 35% of people were more likely to shop online if they could virtually try on a product before purchasing it, and 22% would visit a real-life store if AR was offered via their preferred e-commerce company.
AR allows users to view how a product would appear as if they were really wearing it rather than simply seeing a 3D representation of it. Augmented reality and its usage is about to become the next big thing and many businesses plan to incorporate this emerging trend in e-commerce into their business practices. AR has a real chance of becoming a mainstream trend in the E-commerce industry.
2. Increased Use Of Voice Search : Not only have people started using voice search and personal voice assistants like Siri and Alexa in their day-to-day lives more than ever before, but experts predict that by 2025, 75% of urban homes will also have a smart speaker to facilitate voice search.
Among emerging trends in e-commerce, voice search and voice assistant are at the top of the list. As and when households and businesses start embracing smart speakers, more and more people will be using these to do their daily chores like:
- Booking a restaurant
- Shopping online
- Buying groceries online, and basically managing a major portion of their lives
This particular feature makes use of keywords and content which makes it optimum for e-commerce businesses.
3. Use Of AI For Consumer Patterns : With most of our shopping happening online, AI comes in handy, in:
- Gathering data on how customers shop
- Knowing consumer preferences
- Understanding the most searched product or service, etc.
This is something that cannot be created in-store by a representative without wasting time surveying customers, here is where AI comes in. AI will ensure that in the future, businesses can offer customers an automated and individualized experience with the help of machine learning.
With AI, companies can now target interest based on each consumer’s online shopping behaviors. Companies may soon educate bots to give comfort and goods depending on consumers’ emotions if they can learn how to build phrases to communicate an emotion.
4. Big Data For Consumer-Focused Experiences : Many customers are now aware that e-commerce sites gather personal information about them, posing a threat to the confidentiality of the data. As a result, experts have conflicting views on the advantages of big data and how it impacts the customized purchasing experience.
As more and more digital corporations bring services in-house, a more personalized consumer experience will find its way to people in time; for example – recommendations on our thermostats and doorbell cameras, just like the ones, you get on search engines and shopping platforms.
5. Digital Payment Modes : Customers have different payment demands, but if they can’t pay as they want on an e-commerce website, they may cancel a possible transaction. Offering a range of payment options is an excellent method to boost mobile conversion rates.
Furthermore, if clients can store their payment information on the website securely, they will be able to checkout quicker the next time they make a purchase as well as be more inclined to make a purchase from the same e-commerce business.
Consider how simple it would be to purchase a product on any website if, at the checkout, you could just provide an ID that was unique to you. This unique ID would be used by a centralized wallet service to securely record all of your payment information, shipping and billing addresses, preferences, and so on. Big giants like Apple and PayPal have made attempts at this in the past, but this emerging trend in e-commerce has more scope to be successful today.
6. Headless And API-Driven E-Commerce For Innovation : Headless commerce is a technology that enables the e-commerce infrastructure of an online business to be totally disconnected from the frontend display layer.
Because of its flexibility on the backend, the
- Increased SEO,
- Content marketing, and
- Digital experience capabilities
more e-commerce organizations are using headless e-commerce. People have greater control over their content and the user experience to checkout with headless.
7. Sustainability In Businesses : Consumers and companies alike are becoming more environmentally conscious. As a result, customers are becoming more sensitive about where and what they purchase, the influence it has on the environment, and the consequences. According to a poll, over 50% of respondents desired greater sustainability in the fashion business, while 75% wanted less packaging. Many firms are becoming more environmentally conscious by going paperless wherever feasible, utilizing biodegradable packaging, and employing recyclable materials.
8.Evolution Of B2B: The days of placing purchases only via fax order forms or phone calls are dwindling. Among emerging trends in e-commerce, more and more firms are realizing the advantages of providing e-commerce customer service. Business-to-business e-commerce teams are shifting away from spending the majority of their time processing order inputs from email spreadsheets or physical copy forms by automating these operations via their e-commerce site. Instead, they are refocusing their efforts on what is most important – interacting with consumers, offering an outstanding customer experience, and developing long-term client connections.
These are the emerging trends in e-commerce that need keeping an eye on to remain one step ahead in business. If you are keen on adding more value to your consumer experience and simplifying your processes through automation and digitalization, please check out our Digital Services.