The eCommerce industry is booming and has become mainstream for people of different generations. From clothes and groceries to books and electronics, goods can be delivered straight to your doorstep at the time you choose.
Big to small eCommerce brands are leveling the fields and bridging the gaps between the seller and the buyers. Not just the eCommerce stores give the flexibility to buy products at the best price but provide a stellar online experience as well.
However, companies must stay one step ahead of the competition in setting up and following the eCommerce trends.
The Importance of Customer Reviews
By implementing a review management solution like Opinew for Shopify product reviews, businesses can benefit from more customer feedback that works as social proof.
Online shoppers want to research the goods or services before they spend money, and opinions of people who shared their experience are valuable.
Voice Search as a Main Player
Voice assistants have come a long way, and smart speakers can be the reason behind it. Siri, Google Assistant, Alexa, and other similar smart tech have become ubiquitous in smart houses.
Needless to say, a lot of devices will integrate smart speakers, and users will be using them majorly for making retail purchases.
Significant advances in AI technology can be another factor that results in driving the growth of digital voice assistants.
Mobile Shopping Will Rule the eCommerce
Creating a mobile-supporting interface will allow the customers to shop from anywhere on the small screen. So, when you build a website for your business, optimize it for all screen sizes.
If your website is not responsive on different mobile devices, you will miss out on a huge opportunity to earn a big share of profit.
Mobile users will get additional benefits to shop on the go, provide quick feedback for services, along with the ability to pay digitally via multiple platforms.
Augmented Reality Can Be a Game Changer
Augmented Reality (AR) has contributed a lot in creating and enhancing the contours of online shopping over the last decade.
With the advancements in AR technologies, customers can get an in-depth 360° view of the product they are interested in buying.
It helps customers to make the right purchase decision while saving a lot of time. It truly transforms the shopping experience in fashion, and home decor as customers can get a better feel of the product in real-time.
AI-Assistance as Upselling & Cross-Selling Tactics
Artificial Intelligence will once again play a major role in predicting customers’ shopping habits based on their shopping and browsing history.
It’s hard for the human brain to give a unique shopping experience to all the users; this is when AI-assisted bots come to maximize customer engagement while upselling and cross-selling products.
While few eCommerce brands have the right volume of data that AI-technology proves to deliver an excellent experience, machine learning can play a vital role.
Multichannel Customer Support for Smooth Experience
Your existing or prospective buyers may want to reach out to you for support. They might need answers to their questions or want to share some suggestions.
eCommerce brands must integrate multi-channel support via telephone, email, chatbots, WhatsApp, and more.
Employing chatbots can shred the burden of the customer support executive by answering customer queries in real-time.
Instant Analytics to Optimize Sales
Analytics gives you in-depth insight into the sales team’s ergonomics as well as customers’ buying behavior.
Integrating analytics into your business allows you to build a robust supply chain, analyze data to detect fraud practices, and forecast inventory for the upcoming sales quarter.
Measure your marketing by tracking ad clicks, customer engagement and retention rates, and more. By determining these stats thoroughly, eCommerce brands can find their ROIs and fine-tune their marketing strategies to get the best results.
Checkout From Within Emails
The eCommerce industry may require some more time to think about integrating payments gateways within the email to increase sales.
To implement payment gateways within emails, the eCommerce players will need to optimize their marketing strategy to deliver a more personalized experience to the customers.
For example, for an abandoned cart, a customer gets an email that displays the product that one tends to purchase along with the size chart and prize info. The customer then selects the size and makes a purchase straight from the email message.
Easy Subscription Forms
Encouraging website visitors to subscribe to newsletters to stay informed about the latest business updates is the best way to keep customers engaged.
Subscription forms have to be easy and straightforward. They must be short and should only ask for basic information such as full name, gender, age, and email address.
This much information is sufficient to deliver a personalized experience and keep the customers engaged. Ask your customers to subscribe to your services via a website or social media page.
API Integration for Quick Turnaround Time
APIs can enhance the performance and functionality of eCommerce platforms by integrating features quickly that would otherwise take months to develop.
For example, shipping APIs are vital for every eCommerce store as it allows handling the shipment booking process automatically.
Similarly, payment APIs allow for the easy transaction of domestic and international payments via secure gateways.
