This is part one in a two-part series. Read part two here.
eCommerce is a rapidly expanding sector, showing 16.2 percent growth year over year in the Third Quarter of 2014, but all that fuel still doesn’t guarantee that your business will make it.
The key to success with eCommerce is keeping ahead of the trends that are helping the industry grow. We’ve consulted our handy eCommerce crystal ball to bring you a two-part series on the trends that will most likely affect your business this year, including:
An increased use of devices. The mobile phone, tablet and web-ready devices have matured into forms that are ready to take their owners online to buy anything and everything they desire. But don’t think it’s just one device that needs your attention — today’s shopper moves fluidly from PC to mobile phone to tablet and expects that you’ll move with them.
The socialization of eCommerce. Your eCommerce order management is about to get more interesting with the increasing emergence of social commerce. If you’re not highly engaging in Social in 2015, you’ll be left behind as platforms like Facebook go beyond talk. Customers want to be able to purchase the products their friends recommend and do it in a way that ties into things they’re already doing — like utilizing social media.
Interest in micro-targeting. A few companies are already dipping their toes in this water, providing ultra-customized advertisements and site views based on customer’s social profiles and demographics and this trend is only going to get more prevalent. Customers like a personal experience that speeds up their shopping — by combining the wealth of data out there, you can certainly provide the same type of highly targeted marketing.
Retargeting to capture window shoppers. One of the biggest problems faced by eCommerce is reducing shopping cart abandonment. A solution that’s catching a lot of fire is called “retargeting” and is meant to bring customers back to their shopping carts by sending reminder emails and offering discounts to rekindle the customer’s initial interest. Your shopping cart software will offer a tool for this soon if it doesn’t already — use it!
Right now, eCommerce is a fast-moving stream, but with all this growth and change comes a wealth of opportunities to increase your product distribution and your bottom line. In part two of our guide to 2015 eCommerce trends, we’ll share even more trends to tap in the coming year.
Read more in part two here.
