Top 10 Trends Reshaping The E-Commerce Industry

According to estimates by Statista, over 263 American consumers are purchasing different objects online. During the COVID-19 pandemic, more customers transitioned to buying things online to avoid spreading the disease. These figures indicate how more than 80% of the folks in the country interact with the e-commerce industry today. And these numbers are rising steadily! Business owners should learn about a few trends influencing this industry. These trends will reshape e-commerce globally, and owners must adopt them for business survival. Let's discuss some of these vogues here for your know-how:

Top 10 Trends Reshaping The E-Commerce Industry

1.  Artificial Intelligence

AI has infiltrated every aspect of the business industry. That's how we'll see more business owners adopting AI-powered solutions to drive better marketing results. You can try an ecommerce task automation tool to personalize the user's experience. Moreover, these tools can bolster your brand's customer relations and analyze online reviews to gather crucial data on your customers' behavior. Below, we have mentioned two examples of how AI is useful today.

2.  Helpful chatbots

Chatbots are gaining more prominence in e-commerce. Business owners don't need to rely solely on sales associates because chatbots make interacting with customers more convenient. These AI-powered assistants can guide a customer by answering relevant questions. Unlike human assistants, these chatbots are available to serve a customer and respond to their queries 24/7. 

3.  On-site personalization

Customers demand on-site personalization; something business owners can achieve via AI. Thus, AI recommends products based on a consumer's purchasing habits and previous history. Experts have found that these personalized recommendations are more successful at influencing people's buying decisions. In 2020, AI-powered personalization became the hallmark of successful marketing. Hence, business owners don't have to waste resources advertising irrelevant products to people.

4.  Content marketing

Your e-commerce strategy requires interactive content to continue driving traffic to your website. A company should invest in a long-term content marketing strategy to make the brand reliable as well as the website more frequented by customers. Make your content unique, readable, and filled with relevant information. Business owners today also focus on UGC (user-generated content) to bolster their content marketing strategy, such as online reviews. You can produce these types of content:

• Ebooks (preferred by 3% of customers)
• Webinars (preferred by 3% of customers)
• Infographics (preferred by 4% of customers)
• Blogs/articles (preferred by 18% of customers)
• Video and short clips (preferred by 69% of customers)

5.  Payment options

Customers demanded contactless payment options in 2020 to avoid spreading COVID while buying a product. These alternative payment options are slowly becoming mainstream as people find them a better substitute for the traditional cash-based system. Moreover, digital wallets enable consumers to pay via cryptocurrency as Bitcoin gains legitimacy in our markets. Business owners are now trying to offer different mobile-based payment methods to make shopping seamless.

6.  Live shopping

Businesses live-streaming their products has become common today. We can witness how around two-thirds of Chinese shoppers admit to buying something via live shopping. The success of this tech trend resulted in Alibaba's Taobao Live generating $7.5 billion in transaction value in just 30 minutes in 2020. Sellers can engage buyers directly in these events, thereby interacting with them effectively for a better ROI. So, the e-commerce industry shall see a growth in the trend of live shopping, especially with the increasing popularity of Shopify fulfillment service.

7.  Omnichannel shopping

Statistics indicate that over 80% of customers visiting a brick-and-mortar store searched online before going to a store. Experts describe this trend as an omnichannel shopping experience in which people combine digital and physical aspects of purchasing. Your brand's website, therefore, allows consumers to decide whether they wish to visit your store personally or not. That's why more business owners focus on honing their business presence on many social media platforms.

8.  Voice search

Experts expect 75% of American homeowners to have smart speakers by 2025. This information has made business owners more conscious of integrating voice search with their marketing endeavors. Marketers must realize that voice search requires brands to produce more human-sounding keywords to appear in the search results displayed by voice-enabled devices. These conversational keywords, therefore, make it easier for customers to discover their desired products on your website online.

9.  Zero-party data

Privacy concerns worry customers who don't want companies to share their data with marketers. A business owner should know about the zero-party data policy. Unlike collecting data from a third party, brands gather information directly from customers. That's how you can get the relevant data for your marketing campaigns without disappointing your customers. Just don't ask them for a lot of information at once. Start with simple polls, quizzes, and surveys to collect the data today.

10.  Sustainable shopping

The pandemic renewed people's interest in sustainability. Today, customers know how their buying efforts affect the planet's climate. That's why almost 80% of American consumers consider a product's sustainability before buying it. We suggest brands invest in becoming a part of the "green economy" and reduce their carbon emissions. For instance, shipping contributes to emissions in our environment heavily. So, brands can try mass shipping to decrease these harmful emissions now.

Conclusion

Several trends today are impacting the e-commerce industry in the United States, including technologies such as voice search. Moreover, AI has infiltrated all aspects of business worldwide, and e-commerce isn't an exception. Customers demand alternative payment options today and expect companies to offer on-site personalization. People want brands to adopt various solutions such as zero-party data, sustainable shopping, and omnichannel marketing. An internet-based business today can't survive without incorporating all these trends. Use chatbots to hone the user's experience on your website and conduct live shopping sessions to attract a wider audience.