Ecommerce Trends in 2018
As the ecommerce industry turns another calendar year, the search for ecommerce trends for 2018 hits a new high. Whether you are a top eCommerce website development company, an aspiring entrepreneur trying to understand how to set up an online boutique, a consultant for the online marketplace, or just a customer who is hungry for more, you will be extremely interesting to review what 2018 holds for all of us.
Here are what we think will be the biggest trends for eCommerce for 2018. We’ve grouped them as (a) Customer-Centric Trends, (b) Technology-Centric Trends, and (c) Engagement-Centric Trends.
Customer-Centric Trends:-
1. Customers will expect more: For starters, the customer will expect a clean, error-free website, a smooth shopping experience, and a clear return/refund policy with no unfair fine print.
Then the customer knows that Big Data has come a long way. Therefore, the customer will expect you to save time by knowing their buying patterns: suggest the right product, at the right time, at the right price.
2. Shipping and agility will be key: E-commerce companies that can get products out the moment the customer places an order and yet charge no or negligible shipping fees will win by a bigger margin. In this competitive environment, e-commerce companies must be innovative to optimize their last mile deliveries.
In 2018, we may see many drone delivery service companies such as Flytrex start operations, and major logistics companies such as DHL and UPS will invest more in drone delivery services to make them accessible to customers. eCommerce store owners.
Tech-Centric Trends:-
1. Artificial intelligence will grow: With artificial intelligence (AI), we will see more use of natural language processing to ultimately drive much better search results. Next, we’ll look at AI tracking customer buying (or cart abandonment) behavior at a much deeper level than humans are capable of. With that, AI will lead to a hugely efficient and productive sales process because it will generate real, high-value leads for email marketing.
By the end of this year, you will see customer calls decrease and less and less time spent in this form of contact. Instead, customers will buy products and services, place orders, and request support through Chatbots.
2. Augmented Reality will grow too: Just a couple of summers ago, Pokémon Go showed how exciting Augmented Reality (AR) could be.
While AI is geared towards making interactions and processes faster and more efficient, AR focuses on product usage and applications. If a client is looking for, say, a vase, AR will place the image of a vase in a digital room so that the client can see how it looks in relation to the other objects in the room. If a customer is looking for sunglasses, they can upload a selfie and AR will digitally overlay the sunglasses on the selfie to help the customer see how they would look with the sunglasses on.
3. It will be a multi-platform, multi-device world: No matter what other metrics you get right, if your store is unresponsive, you have no chance of winning the battle in 2018.
Most customers start their search on one device and make a purchase on another. If they see major disturbances when they switch devices, it will discourage and possibly scare them away. That means you’ll need to keep everything from product descriptions and searches to navigation consistent and consistent, regardless of device and platform.
Engagement-focused trends:-
1. The importance and versatility of email will continue to grow: With all the content marketing tools available, email stands out. According to CampaignMonitor, in their 2016 report, every dollar spent on email marketing sees an ROI of $44, or a return of 4,400%!
In 2018, use analytics to create better targeted email marketing campaigns. Depending on whether they are a casual visitor, a customer making their first purchase, or a loyal returning customer, your emails will change. Emails will perform a variety of functions, from selling to remarketing to re-engagement, and they’re only getting more powerful.
2. Data analytics will improve marketing at every stage: Sophisticated analytics can now produce data on every action taken, or not taken, by visitors and customers. For example, any leading Magento eCommerce development company can help you set up analytics for your site to improve search engine optimization (SEO). The question is how e-commerce companies will use this vast amount of data.
3. Better content, yes, but video? If there are a dozen online stores selling similar products at comparable prices, a customer will buy from a store that excels in engagement. And that engagement will come from personalized and ‘stored’ content. Next year we will see superior content not only at the point of sale, but almost everywhere.
Conclusion
E-commerce is growing rapidly, and in order to stand out from the crowd, one must pioneer and innovate with the changing trends that are prevalent in the e-commerce industry. Those tasked with developing eCommerce marketing strategies in 2018 need to pay close attention to these top trends and formulate an effective strategy to stay ahead of their competitors and convert as many leads as possible.