eCommerce: what’s going next?

eCommerce is a constantly changing landscape shaped by innovations in tech and an incredibly competitive market. What is the future of eCommerce?

Amazon, the overlord of eCommerce only is 24 years old. That’s a rather short amount of time when u look at the big picture of eCommerce, but a time of a big growth and a lot of changes.

Nowadays we know a lot of advances await us, from faster delivery to the way customer services operate.

But long-term success is based in understanding the opportunities of the market and being able to implement basic changes.

Let’s look at the strategies which are shaping the future of eCommerce and which your business strategy can rely on.

Multi-Channel Retailing

The majority of people use at least 2 channels for shopping.

It’s become common to do online research first before buying offline. It helps with the decission making.

For example, people’ll see something they like in a normal store and then look for it online to check if there are discounts for online shopping.

This is shaping the future of eCommerce as businesses adopt multi-channel retailing, which essentially means they sell wherever their customers buy,  watching these customers behaviour.

So customers mix traditional offline outlets (stores, catalogs…) along with online outlets (online stores, social media… etc).

eCommerce Automation

In the world of eCommerce, where growth can be big and fast but comes with its own set of demands, automation software is taking over as a fundamental part of business.

eCommerce has an advantage over other types of business as it inherently integrates automation from early stages, considering the availability of high-quality apps to rely on.

Here are only a few of the tasks where eCommerce automation is best implemented:

• Marketing automation.
• Scheduling promotions and price changes for predetermined dates (seasonal marketing strategies).
• Preloading new products and publishing them across various channels at the same time.
• Unpublishing out-of-stock products.
• Applying discounts for special customers.

Mobile Purchasing

Mobile internet use is surpassing desktop use globally, so it is not new that mobile purchasing is expected in the future.

Mobile shopping is a natural progression of eCommerce, but there’s more to the phenomenon.

Although mobile purchasing is gaining popularity, statistics show that only 12% of consumers find shopping on mobile convenient. Here are some major concerns about mobile purchasing, according to research from DynamicYield:

• Pages and links being too small to click on.
• Security concerns.
• Interruptions from messages and calls.

However, people find mobile convenient for browsing and the majority of surveyed shoppers stated that mobile shopping experiences can be improved.

In light of these stats, experienced web design and development companies are increasingly building eCommerce stores for the mobile-first experience.

Relying on consumer behavior and the popularity of mobile, the focus is shifted to overcoming the main obstacles of mobile shopping that we’ve mentioned, and as a result, mobile apps are taking over.

B2B eCommerce

B2B is a much bigger market for e-commerce than B2C, so eCommerce wholesale platforms are not a new thing, but we can expect even more of them in the future.

When it comes to B2B eCommerce, statistics point to steady growth, and this rise in opportunity is naturally expected to bring about significant changes.

For one, the B2C eCommerce shopping experience is affecting the expectations of B2B eCommerce . After all, the buyers involved are also B2C shoppers and would like to see the same effectiveness.

That means an expansion of buying on websites and streamlined operations that provide them with a clear path to checkout.

Overall, B2B eCommerce is increasingly experimenting with self-service and different channels, which is going to play a large part in shaping how companies do business with each other.

Micro-Moments

The use of mobile has changed the market on a profound level, both for companies and consumers. Consequently, it’s led to companies capitalizing on the so-called micro-moment behavior.

According to ThinkWithGoogle, “consumers immediately turn to a device to know, go, do, and buy.”

Micro-moments include spur-of-the-moment purchase decisions, options to try new things when faced with routine circumstances, decisions to solve problems instantly, and the “pursuit of big goals during downtime”.

All in all, you can see how these points, or rather this type of behavior, points to marketing messages that trigger buying behaviors.

This includes content creation, targeted social media ads, promotional offers… etc.

eCommerce businesses are now more than every optimizing every last detail and relying on consumer psychology to deepen engagement and ultimately generate sales.

Purchase confirmations and transactional e-mails, for example, are optimized and approached in a more relevant and engaging manner as a way to improve customer experience and gain repeat sales.

Stay Smart!

eCommerce is a world of opportunity, but we have to examine all these opportunities comprehensively.

A successful strategy requires adaptability and realizing the potential for growth in all current patterns.

Reflect on these five points that are key factors in the future of e-commerce as you make decisions for your business, no matter how small.

You’re not just keeping up with trends, you’re reaching shoppers the smart way!

• Extra tip: have you had a chance to explore the PMAX campaigns initiated by Google and Microsoft? They’re certainly not to be overlooked!

Larry is a tech writer for DesignRush  

A new digital destination to offer inspiration & overview of the current design and tech trends.

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