We have seen many ups and downs in the eCommerce market. Some trends were predicted by analysts at the beginning of the year 2019 and there were some surprising trends. Some of these trends will continue in 2020 and others may take a back seat. But one thing here is admittable that eCommerce is an ever growing market. The change of policies for eCommerce marketplaces and regulations have given small vendors an opportunity to get in touch with customers.

Some brands decided not to sell their products on the marketplace and rather sell on their own eCommerce platform. Some decided to stick with the eCommerce giants. There is no denial that eCommerce is fasted growing the industry and there is still a long road to go. Fast technological development toward making customers experience with the eCom-store better every day, has enabled small merchants to embrace the online market. Keeping up with new trends of eCommerce can help your small business to grow exponentially.

Mobile Commerce

Mobile commerce is convenient and faster. People prefer to shop from their smartphones more than the desktops. Between mobile apps and mobile sites, the best choice is mobile app. Because apps are faster and more secure. Mobile apps are good for marketing with in-app features and push notifications. Brands have reported a 9% increase in sales from the mobile app than the mobile site and this makes a huge difference. This trend is going to stay until 2022.

Social Commerce

87% of online buyers have reported making buying decisions based on social media activity of the brands. There is a big shift in how businesses can leverage the social media. These platforms now enable the user to make a purchase without having to leave the platform. Facebook and Instagram have a complete commerce system that enables merchants to reach to the right audience of their products and services. Social commerce has given rise to influencer marketing too and 34% of buyers have made a purchase being influenced by these online influencers over social media.

Augmented Reality

Augmented reality a great technology and now it is not limited to fantasy games. First started by the furniture industry and followed by fashion, now it is a very trendy way to engage your customers and influence their buying decisions. eCommerce development platforms like Shopify already started to address this emerging technology. Because according to Retail Perceptions, 71% online buyers would prefer a shop that provides AR-powered ’Try On’ features. Merchants can stand out of the crowd by using AR features before it gets too common.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence is setting new standards for the eCommerce industry. For half a decade, eCommerce industry was ignorant of data collection to predict user behavior and buying patterns. Now, big data is fueling all big players in the industry. The accuracy of a prediction made by data science is directly affected by the quality of data being collected. eCommerce businesses are now focusing more on the collection of quality data to take a more intuitive marketing approach to appeal to the market. Remembering the preference of the user and making more accurate recommendations is a new way of using AI in eCommerce. Now AI is going to work as a salesman for eCommerce businesses.

Direct-to-Customer

There has been a rise in the Direct-to-customer (DTC) channel in 2019. There are many reasons why Direct-to-customer has become so important in the business. DTC is all about giving your customers a personalized experience, which was not possible with eCommerce marketplace like Amazon. The brands need to make a brand image and relationship with the customer via the DTC channel.

Search Engine Market Place

We have seen a huge change in the way search engines like Google work, in the past three years. Search engines become a huge marketplace and with new marketing techniques such as SEO and SEM, eCommerce has an open opportunity to leverage this huge market. Search engines are being used to influence the buying decision of a consumer by rating and reviews. Search engines increases the visibility of your online store on the web which helps in lead generation and conversions. eCommerce merchants are now more focused on optimizing their website and mobile app according to the search engine algorithm to make them more SEO friendly.

Voice Search

Enhancing user experience is the theme of the eCommerce in 2020. There is a tendency among users online to search everything online. While they enjoy typing in their chat box, they prefer a voice search. Major players in ecommerce industry like Alibaba and Amazon have made themselves to the voice assistants like Alexa and Siri. In the coming decade, this will shape how internet works. In the next five years, there will be a 50% increase in voice and image searches.

Content Is The King

Marketing on search engine marketplaces and social media, the content wears the crown. With new updates and technologies like natural language processing (NLP) for search engines, the content is going to be a very crucial part of the eCommerce strategy. While the content on Social Media needs to be more creative and authentic, the content for SEO needs to be more informative. The better the content, the larger the audience. eCommerce businesses are now working on the kind of content that is being created for a more engaging marketing campaign across online eCommerce channels including search engines and social media.

Faster Check out and Secure Payment

Providing faster and secure payment method is never going to fade away. Working on a faster checkout process will benefit the eCommerce merchants in 2020. Saving the payment details, two-step verification, in-app transactions and wallet transactions are some best ways of providing the user a guarantee of security and faster delivery.

Summary

Overall, with the technological advancements, the trends are mainly focused on one thing and that is User Experience. If you are an eCommerce merchant you should consider incorporating all of the above trends in your strategy for your eCommerce business in 2020. You can get help from professionals, who can help you with choosing the right kind of technologies and mediums to make your website and app ready for the most successful year ahead.