The e-commerce industry has been making its way into every household in recent years. Due to the popularity of the internet, the e-commerce industry has been growing at an exponential rate. In several highly populated countries like India and China, because Internet speed is available at competitive prices when compared to the global market, E-commerce is highly popular. While it was introduced during the dot-com bubble, nowadays, due to the popularity of technology and its affordability, the internet and e-commerce industries are booming like never before. Globally, over 5 billion individuals have access to the internet and over 4 billion people are using social media websites (Source: Statista). This is partly due to reducing data costs and the increased standard of living in developed and developing countries.
It has become a necessary part of everyday activities. People are going online for most of their everyday activities like learning, purchasing through e-commerce websites, getting entertainment, and socialising on social media sites. The e-commerce industry has revolutionised the supply chain and logistics industries and digital payments through their global reach and a wide variety of markets. Nowadays, you can find anything you wish on an online site and order it so that you can have it in a matter of days. Due to the increased competitiveness in the industry, every small and large company is innovating and adapting to the times. This is why there are emerging new trends in the e-commerce industry that are worth looking out for especially if you are an e-commerce professional. Here are 7 interesting e-commerce trends that are expected to rule the future.
7 E-Commerce Industry Trends
1. Global retail e-commerce sales will increase worldwide.
According to a Nasdaq report, 95% of all purchases will be through e-commerce by 2040. Online shopping has recently risen to the top of the list of web activities. Therefore, business owners place a strong emphasis on improving the user experience. They are constantly implementing innovative procedures that give their customers a more pleasant online purchasing experience. Websites today are easier to navigate and more user-friendly. It enables users to choose their items and carry out the relevant tasks like logging in, registering, and check-out process with ease.
Additionally, these websites provide a variety of secure payment channels that have been backed up with state-of-the-art technologies and design. The majority of e-commerce websites have refund policies and a committed support staff in case of customer dissatisfaction or a complaint.
The companies also implement stringent security measures to guarantee the privacy of all customer data. These facts are encouraging clients to shop more on E-commerce sites than in physical stores because they eliminate all the trouble of going to stores.
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2. Rise of Mobile Shopping
In recent years, thanks to continuous innovation, investments, and competition in smartphone manufacturers, mobile usage as well as shopping on these devices has grown significantly. Mobiles and tablets will become more of an everyday necessity for students, professionals, and elders in the future. Due to a myriad of advantages apart from calling, browsing, and messaging, mobile devices are super popular. Customers from all over the world are expected to use their smartphones or tablets to buy goods and services on the internet. According to Outerbox, currently 40% of all online purchases made during the holiday season are done on smartphones. As mobile shopping increases, online businesses also adopt the mobile-first strategy.
Making an e-commerce website optimised for mobile devices is already an unwritten rule of web designing. As mobiles become more powerful and capable with additional technological advances in augmented reality and artificial intelligence, mobiles will dominate the market share of e-commerce purchases. This is why e-commerce professionals should not ignore the scope and importance of mobile optimisation and personalisation for these visitors.
3. Voice Shopping will Take Centre Stage
Online shoppers of the younger generations are increasingly using voice shopping. In the future, voice searches will compete with regular searches because of their convenience and comfort. Voice commerce is expected to exceed $30 billion by 2024 (Source: The future of E-commerce). Speech recognition software is becoming sophisticated every day through the efforts of corporate giants and volunteer users. As more speech recognition engines like Google and Amazon will emerge, voice search will be highly sophisticated. For now, people use voice searching because they find typing on a handheld device to be very uncomfortable. Voice shopping has already been implemented in online grocery stores run by major players like Amazon, Alibaba, Walmart, and other giant corporations.
The rising popularity of voice assistants is contributing to this trend. More than 40% of internet users in the US have used voice assistants to research products or make purchases (Source: 99 firms). Because of this, e-commerce stores incorporate voice search options into their search bars. As a result, customers may effortlessly make purchases using their voice commands. The purchasing procedure will be more streamlined with voice shopping. By providing a vocal description, users can search for, evaluate, compare, and buy things. Hence, keep updated on the trends and happenings in the voice searching feature.
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4. Social Media Enters Online Shopping
According to Kinsta, 74% of consumers rely on their social media networks while making purchasing decisions. Social media is no longer just a tool for bringing people together. Social networking platforms enable retailers to sell their goods directly while also advertising their goods and services. Popular photo-sharing apps like Instagram tag your product photos and help customers in buying your products and services through these tags. Shoppers on social media can now buy items by clicking the "Buy" button on Facebook or Instagram posts, stories, and profiles. According to a Shopify report, 85% of orders from social media sites come from Facebook. The social media platform is frequently the initial point of contact for many customers with any company. Consumers today prefer to read reviews written by actual people. They support the brands and are more likely to purchase goods from such businesses. Social media is catering to these needs.
Nowadays, social media personalities including influential cinema stars and sports personalities are using social media sites and E-commerce websites to refer products or services to their fans and earn part of the commission for the advertising. This is called influencer marketing in the e-commerce industry, which has the potential to bring new customers to a company. Influencer marketing is highly beneficial because it has a higher ROI and market share. Marketing success to friends on loyalty rather than on several followers. E-commerce owners can get influencer marketing from anyone on Instagram and Facebook who has a decent following. Small exposure accounts can bring high-value customers if they have a loyal and unique following. As a result, social media has become a marketing tool for companies and individual influencers.
5. Increased AI Use in E-commerce
According to InsightAce Analytics, $3.71 billion was spent globally in 2021 on AI technologies for eCommerce firms. The market is predicted to reach a value of $16.8 billion by 2030, rising at a promising rate of 15.7% CAGR during the following eight years, according to the analysis (Source: Soocial). The application of artificial intelligence on websites is revolutionising the e-commerce sector. Forecasting consumer behaviour based on the goods they are interested in and the number of times that they purchase is driven by machine learning and AI. Just like social media sites, which recommend social media posts based on the customer's browsing patterns and interests, e-commerce websites have started integrating recommendation systems on their websites. This software tracks customers' browsing history, recognises patterns and makes them personalised product recommendations.
Though recommendation systems that employ artificial intelligence have not become state-of-the-art, it is already a major driving force behind sales conversions. In the future, when artificial intelligence becomes sophisticated, it will bring several advantages to e-commerce websites. AI chatbots are dominating the customer service industry on the digital platform. Similarly, virtual assistants, intelligent recommendation systems, AI personalization software, and AI inventory management, are going to transform the e-commerce industry in the future.
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6. Augmented Reality to drive Purchase decisions
According to a Google consumer AR poll, 66% of respondents are interested in adopting augmented reality to assist them while shopping (Source: Reydar). Online shopping brings products to your doorstep without you wasting your time travelling, standing in a queue, and comparing products in various shops. Thanks to e-commerce, you can now compare several products at once from different manufacturers, choose what appeals to you, and get it at your doorstep within a week. However, this has a major flaw. Customers are buying these products based on the pictures and videos provided and the reviews from other customers who have previously bought the product. This is where they cannot see the product physically and experience its physical properties. This is a major drawback of the e-commerce industry. However, augmented reality can bridge the gap to some extent.
Virtual reality can provide you with a 360-degree view of any product or place; this quality is already being implemented on Google Maps with their 360-degree view of places. The e-commerce industry is still lagging behind in using this to its advantage. In the future, when all e-commerce stores will offer 360-degree views of their products, it will revolutionise the industry. Virtual reality can allow customers to see how a product looks on them. It gives them detailed product specifications so that customers can make informed decisions. Furthermore, a virtual artist feature allows E-Commerce customers to try different products, like clothing lines and cosmetics, on them without trying them on physically. This boosts the customer's buying patterns and gives them a more personalised shopping experience. As a result, e-commerce sales will boost in the future.
7. Increase the Popularity of Subscription Models
The SaaS industry, app developers, news websites, and web-based media sites are all using subscription-based services on digital media. On the internet, these subscription models have attained popularity in recent times. Customers pay for digital services because they save time and effort. The subscription-based e-commerce model is popular among today's digital media publishing sites, apps that they have can help you with your work, like learning, video editing, or photo editing, apps that will give you news and information like online magazines and publications, and apps stores like Google Play Store have all started offering digital subscriptions (Source: Statista). Because customers pay only a small amount regularly, recurring payments minimise the chance of bounce rates due to higher costs which is often the case with one-time subscriptions.
If a software or digital service is exceptional in quality and helps, informs, or entertains people, then it will always be in demand. Subscription models also come with cancel-anytime policies, which offer customers flexibility with their money and financial decisions. This is not always the case with products which require a one-time payment. Music companies like Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube music video streaming platforms like Netflix, online messaging platforms like Telegram, and several publications on the Internet are all using digital subscriptions to earn profits apart from advertising. Due to all this, digital payment platforms such as Paypal, Stripe, and UPI have simplified the process of automating recurring payments. With so many companies offering their services through digital subscriptions, you cannot be wrong that it will be a major trend in the future.
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Conclusion
The e-commerce industry is here to stay because it brings higher flexibility and a great opportunity to access products and services from different parts of the world. Without physically going anywhere, you can shop from the comfort of your home. As a result, e-commerce will be a necessity in the future. As the current trend shows and technological advancement will follow, the industry will be transformed by the technology and buying patterns of the customers. Sales will only increase exponentially as more and more people use e-commerce for their year-round needs. Handheld devices like mobiles and tablets will be available to every person on the planet and will indirectly feed the industry's growth. This brings new customers.
Due to the reach of the internet, global markets will emerge. Voice shopping will dominate the e-commerce search patterns as more people will have access to voice search apps and integrations. Augmented reality will transform the decision-making process of customers and help in the growth of the e-commerce industry. Digital subscriptions will be a major trend in the future, as we can see already. New social media platforms will emerge, the roles of influencers will grow, and the e-commerce solutions offered by these platforms will have a major impact on the e-commerce industry. Finally, the use of artificial intelligence in recommendation systems will deeply personalise product recommendations and impact the decision-making of customers.
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