E-commerce has been a wonderful addition to the World Wide Web since its birth. The sales volumes of companies through e-commerce swells each year. The market is growing exponentially and new trends make their way every year. The year 2013 saw exponential growth in online shopping trends. According to ComScore, Cyber Monday sales reached $1.7 billion this year. Earlier, on Black Friday the sales through online shopping reached $1.1 billion.
This is phenomenal and all those companies and brands not utilizing e-commerce are missing a huge opportunity. All these statistics are for laptop and desktop based users. Add mobile device users into these and the figures will reach new heights. All these facts and figures are pointing towards one direction, i.e. online shopping trends will be on an adrenaline rush in the year 2014.
Mobile Apps for Online Stores
There are several online stores and merchants utilizing mobile apps. These mobile apps are doing wonders on different levels like customer retention, building better user experience, and product promotion. The trend of using mobile apps for e-commerce stores will continue to rise and more future stores will use this approach and provide a personalized user experience.
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With new technologies like iBeacon and NFC, customers will have an outstanding experience when they physically visit a store in the mall. We have explored this idea briefly in a previous post. A recent article published in Forbes claimed that 31% of the e-commerce visitors on this Thanksgiving holiday were using mobile devices and 17% of online transactions on e-commerce portals came through mobile devices. The report suggests that the average tablet user spent $126 per order and smartphone users spent around $106/order. These statistics suggest that mobile e-commerce is not simply ‘nice to have’, but rather a ‘must have’ thing for 2014.
If you have not optimized your e-commerce website for mobile devices as yet, the year 2014 will be the best time to do it. This optimization may include but not limited to, adding a responsive design and mobile friendly payment options.
Personalization & Customization through Apps & Social Media
Retaining a customer has always been a priority for businesses. You may use several tactics to retain an existing customer. Offering a personal user experience and custom made options is one way to hold the customer. Modern day tools enable e-commerce businesses to save data related to each customer. What items customers bought in previous visits, how long did he/she stay on a particular item page, what queries he/she filled for items, and what is the feedback for the overall experience. Mobile apps, Facebook games, discount codes, and promotional vouchers will provide a better personalization experience and will engage customers on different levels, beyond selling and purchasing.
B2B replicating the B2C Processes
The simple and seamless process of purchasing items is the trademark for business to customer model. The user experience comprises of few clicks and on-time delivery. Another inspiring feature of B2C market is providing product information through videos, graphics, and interactive resources. Currently B2B e-commerce portals are bit complex and not very user friendly, but in the year 2014 we might see a change in approach as they will try to replicate the B2C smooth and seamless processes. We may see B2B e-commerce portals like Alibaba and TradeKey featuring video, graphics and interactive resources to display product information.
Localizing the Experience
A previous study by a private institute (Bain & Company) predicted that China may outspend the United States in terms of online shopping in the year 2013. A recent article published on CNN’s website tells us that China’s e-commerce is bigger than US, thus proving B & C’s prediction true.
Global e-commerce will expand on consumer preferences (product choice) and local purchasing experiences. In the year 2014 many e-commerce businesses may shift to localize the user experience in order to achieve better results. For example Amazon, Yahoo, and Groupon will try to localize the user experience to gain better success rate in China. The user experience may include language, currency exchange, discounts, and promotion. This trend will rise due to the demand of foreign brands/products with a local purchasing experience.
Conclusion
The above discussed trends show the growth of e-commerce in a global world defined by customer choices and connectivity. Ultimately, companies will localize the user experience and bear its difficulties in order to be competitive in e-commerce. On the other hand companies will explore and spread their social commerce existence to achieve a presence in the world’s largest conversations, or remodel B2B experience to give an outstanding user experience.
