No matter what the season or time of year, it’s really pretty important to keep up with the trends in eCommerce and order fulfillment.

That information can literally make or break your online business, especially if you’re relatively new or trying to claim more eyeballs in the coming year. Faster, more personal shopping is the thing for 2017 and these are a few ways you can implement the changes you need to stay competitive today:

  • Install Chatbots. You may be surprised to learn that shoppers are responding to smart chatbots in a big way. Instead of waiting for customer service reps in sometimes very long queues, chatbots give instant answers in an intelligent fashion. They’re cheap and effective tools to make it even easier for your shoppers to buy more.
  • Provide more personal shopping experiences. Your site is probably filled with lots of neat products and interesting facts, but if you’re not teaching it how to upsell related products or suggest things your shoppers might need, you’re missing out on order fulfillment opportunities.Artificial Intelligence (AI) is poised to explode this year, giving customers even more personalized experiences than ever before. Get it while it’s hot, or get left behind.
  • Invest in social selling. Social media is becoming a cornerstone of most marketing campaigns, so why haven’t you started investing in social selling? It’s not too late to jump on this bandwagon as an increasingly number of social media outlets are providing better ways to sell.Facebook has been offering social selling for years, but Instagram and Pinterest are also excellent places for eCommerce businesses to share their goods. If you’re a B2B shop, don’t hesitate to try out LinkedIn to increase your sales numbers this year.
  • Offer more shipping options. Yes, the speed of order fulfillment is getting almost terrifyingly fast, but remember that you’re still competing with brick and mortar stores that can literally put an item into a shopper’s hands in an instant.Until teleporters are invented, your customers are willing to settle for waiting for the UPS man or the postal service, but they want to choose their shipping speed. Partner with an 3rd party logistics (3PL) firm that can offer more dynamic and flexible delivery options, including drones when they become available, and you’ll never hear buyers complain about their order speeds again.

eCommerce is maturing in a big way, with faster, cheaper and more personal shopping remaining the biggest strength. If you take advantage of some of the latest software like AI-based chatbots and more personalized recommendations, you’ll quickly go a long way toward building customer loyalty and a consumer base for life.