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If you are always looking for Ecommerce trends to improve your business, we hope this article will serve as a useful guide for you. You may have realized the Ecommerce industry has been getting crowded especially since the COVID-19 pandemic hit globally. Furthermore, with increasing buying and shipping costs, it is even more crucial for you to ensure that you retain your customers. Not to mention, acquire more new customers to increase your business revenue. With changing consumer behavior, you will also need to keep up with the current Ecommerce business trends to stand out from your competitors.
Do note that this is just a general overview of the Ecommerce business trends for 2022 and not all apply to all business types. Without delay, let’s take a look at them now.
Trend #1: Use Social Media channels as Additional Sales Channels
Based on Statista, the average amount of time each internet user spent on social media is about 147 minutes per day in 2022. Social media has become part of our lives. And as a business owner, this presents an opportunity for your business to increase your brand visibility and reach out to a wider audience. If you notice, many social media such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc… have been evolving to include a Shop function for their users. Moreover setting up a shop on social media channels is relatively easy and free.
Unlike Marketplaces, you can still control your company branding. Furthermore, you can also create advertisements within your comfortable budget to reach out to your potential customers. Not to mention, doing Live Shopping to engage with your customers. So there is no reason why you are not leveraging social media to your business advantage when people are spending a significant amount of time on them.
Then again, you do not have to be on all social media channels. Choose the social media channel where most of your customers are, and ensure that your company’s brand tone and content are a good fit for the chosen channel. If your content is more visual-heavy, Instagram and TikTok may be a better fit.
Trend #2: Add More Payment Options
When Ecommerce first started, many of us used to make online purchases using our credit and/or debit cards. Then came along options like PayPal and PayNow. As technology further advances, we have even more ways of paying. Examples include Mobile wallets such as Google Pay, Grab Pay, Apple Pay, etc. Another popular payment mode is Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) e.g. Atome, ShopBack, and Latitude Pay. With the ability to split the payment using interest-free installments, they allow customers to enjoy shopping more with a lesser burden.
Lastly, even cryptocurrency may also be a good option. Some Ecommerce stores and businesses are starting to accept it, and some customers are using it to pay.
Trend #3: Integrate Chatbot for Customer Support
Many Ecommerce businesses may not have enough resources to employ full-time customer service staff to support customers round the clock. If you face similar challenges, you may want to consider using chatbots. Because they provide better customer service than FAQ pages and support forums, chatbots are becoming more and more popular. When customers get an answer to their questions, they are more likely to buy from you.
On a side note, some customers may perceive chatbots to be “cold”. However, you can turn this around by selecting the right tone and words that sound closest to what an actual staff would say.
Trend #4: Offer more Flexibility for Orders
Nowadays, customers are looking for more alternatives when it comes to online shopping. For example. They may want to place a bulk order of several items but ship to different addresses. Or they would like to pre-order an out-of-stock item. As an Ecommerce business owner, you want to offer options like split orders, pre-orders, wish lists, or in-store pickup. By giving customers more flexibility, it will encourage them to buy from you.
Trend #5: Engage Brand Ambassadors
Influencer marketing on social media is becoming a popular marketing channel. Paying someone with many followers to become your brand ambassador could help to increase your sales. Furthermore, you can easily track the results through ways like special promo codes, customized landing pages, etc. Given the availability of many social media channels and the time people spend on them, this may be a more effective way to advertise your business instead of running ads.
However, choosing an influencer whose audience or followers are your target audience is crucial. If this is one of the Ecommerce business trends you wish to adopt, this will be the key to its success.
Trend #6: Create Personalized Experience
A personalized experience is a feature of an Ecommerce setting where users are given product recommendations and targeted email promotions based on their prior behavior. Nowadays, customers expect businesses to be proactive and make instant recommendations for the products they might need or are interested in. You will be one step ahead of your competitors if you can customize each customer’s shopping experience so that they won’t need to hunt for more products elsewhere. Furthermore, personalized experiences make them feel valued and cared for. As a result, building their loyalty towards your brand.
That being said, do check to ensure that your Ecommerce platform has the personalization tools to do so.
Trend #7: Voice Search Optimization
According to Google, only 27% of the world population is using voice search on their mobile. When voice search was first introduced by Google in 2011, it was more of a “nice to have” than a “good to have” function that people depended on at the time. However, advances in speech recognition technology have driven voice search to be another important element of search engine optimization (SEO). As this technology continues to advance and connected devices continue to add and improve voice-enabled functions, digital marketers can analyze the most recent voice search statistics to spot new trends that show how the search habits of their customers.
You may debate that voice search is not as popular in Singapore now, but this is a growing Ecommerce trend business that you should pay attention to. After all, it is better to stay ahead of your competitors before it gets too challenging to rank on page 1 of search results.
Trend #8: Grow Your Email Subscriber List
With Apple’s recent iOS update and Google’s announcement to phase out 3rd party cookies by late 2023, it has been more difficult for Ecommerce businesses to use online advertisements to effectively target their ideal customers. Consequently, online advertising is now more expensive and more difficult to track for campaign results.
With data privacy being an increasing concern for most people, it may get even more challenging in the future. In response, you will need to start owning and building your internal marketing lists. One workaround will be growing your email subscriber list and utilizing email marketing to blast out news on promotions or new product launches etc. to customers. Furthermore, you can also upload customer lists for custom and similar audience targeting when advertising on platforms like Meta and Google.
Trend #9: Share your Sustainability Efforts
Younger generations in particular are becoming more environmentally conscious. And the pandemic has also made more people value sustainability issues more than before. As such, companies who are making an effort to lessen their impact on the environment are gaining popularity. If your business is practicing sustainability, you can add a section on how you are doing it on related pages. For example, you can add the sentence “All our shipping materials are recyclable” on your checkout page. In this way, it may give your customer a reason not to abandon their cart. Or, you can display certificates or labels on products to show your support for the environment. Doing so will give your customers a good feeling when they buy from you.
Trend #10: Use AR (Augmented Reality) to Showcase Products
One of the biggest drawbacks of Ecommerce businesses is the limitation of trying on and interacting with the product as you would in a brick-and-mortar store. AR shopping allows online customers to “have a feel” of the product before buying it. Despite this technology is still in its early years, large players like IKEA and Loreal, have started leveraging on AR. According to Statista, the number of AR users is forecasted to increase every year. Hence it should be no surprise when more and more businesses join in the race.
Conclusion on Ecommerce business trends shared
Despite the unquestionably numerous challenges that Ecommerce businesses are currently facing, they also present more opportunities for you to differentiate your business. No matter which Ecommerce trend you are considering adopting for your business, the golden rule is to understand your customers to offer them better shopping experiences.
Trust you will agree that the first impression matters especially when you are trying to attract new customers. Our team at TechTIQ Solutions is here to help you develop an Ecommerce website that will provide your customers with a seamless and immersive experience. Not to mention, a custom platform that helps you manage your backend operation. Get in touch with us today to help your business stand out!
