The new year is upon us and the online store owners have already begun to look at the future of Ecommerce trends 2018. It is important the business does not stand still in this competitive market. Here we take a close look at the 5 E-commerce predictions for the year 2018.
1. Enhanced Shopping Experience
Often, the major problem with online shopping is the unsatisfactory shopping experience after purchasing something online. This happens mostly due to the minimal pictures of the products that are available for the customer to see.
It is of no surprise that a lot of times the products which are purchased online are returned by the customers. As because once they open the package, the customer does not find the goods as good as the pictures present in the site page.
It is a frustrating phase for the customer and in contrast a costly for a retailer. For many years, the online stores have tried their best to modify their shopping methods by providing the best shopping experience to the customers. Methods such as offering image galleries, videos, customer reviews, etc have been found useful by the customers.
However, now the retailer shops are beginning to use augmented reality to provide the customers with a much better understanding of how their products will look like.
2. Increase in Mobile Sales
There has been a lot of talk about the shift towards mobile shopping over the years. It is predicted that there will be a massive increase in mobile sales in 2018. It is expected that the mobile phone sales will account for about 50% of all the e-commerce revenue.
There are many reasons behind the shift toward mobile shopping. The mobile technology continues to grow, with better smartphones and networks available to the customers. These factors make it easier for the customer to shop. For a lot of people, it is easier to use mobile at home than using Laptop.
With the increased development in phone technology, we are now seeing an additional effort from the online businesses to provide a better mobile experience to their customers.
Various companies are now creating such websites and apps which makes searching for products lot simpler. Due to this new welcome change, the trend of switching to a computer for making an online purchase has stopped.
Last but not the least, an improvised payment method has made mobile an even more attractive device. This has strengthened the faith of customers into mobile payment.
3. Influence of Packaging on Buying
Packaging is very underrated when it comes to the sale of a product via online purchase. Undeniably, it has a number of effect on the e-commerce customers. Packaging protects the product at the time when it is shipped to the customers.
For an instance, there are over 40% of the customers’ worldwide who receive damaged products due to the poor packaging. And thus the customers are hesitant to purchase anything from that online store again.
The process of packaging has a consequence on the brand as well. The brands who sell the top-end goods need to ensure that the product appearance matches the high demands that are set by the customers.
Another key factor to keep in mind is if the packaging that is done, is eco-friendly or not? Whether or not the materials used are recyclable? Is the package provided with sufficient amount of protecting materials such as bubble and tissue paper? This is because many customers worried about the wastage that takes place with the e-commerce shipping.
Providing your customers with a proper packaging will result in an increase in the number of sales and attracting new customers towards the brand.
4. Personalize Shopping on the Rise
With the continuous growth of online shopping, the marketing businesses are understanding the importance of a personalized shopping experience. By providing a better search and customization features to the customers, retailers make a lot more money.
Satisfaction of the customer instantly leads to the increase in sales. Indeed the sites who offer newly personalizing techniques see the usual rise of 5-10% in sales.
The online retailer stores try to provide a customer-centric shopping experience to the customers. A better user interface in sites and apps increases the number of customers. Basically, by employing the data analysis and computerizing, they provide accurate suggestions based on the customer’s wish lists, recent searches as well as the purchase history.
Personalizing improves the shopping experience of the customer, thus resulting in an increase in sales. Such technologies are usually offered to the customers with the use of extensions and the plugins.
5. Improvement in the Shipping Facility
There is a big emphasis on Shipping in E-commerce. This is one of the major reasons why one customer picks one retailer over the other. With Amazon and eBay upping their shipping game, the customers have now set a much higher bar with regards to expectations of their shipping.
E-commerce sites have expectations from the customers to provide similar high-quality shipping services. Basically, when it comes to shipping, the customers want their products to be delivered quickly with no delivery charges as well as in a place of their convenience and time.
Hence, the E-commerce companies will need to provide a range of options to the customers for the shipping of their products. For an example, the companies can offer a free delivery within two days time or possibly charge an amount for the delivery to happen next day.
In the year 2018, shipping options will continue to evolve. The more delivery options the E-commerce retailers provide, the better they will be able to meet the demands of the customers.
E-commerce: The Modern Trend
There are many interesting E-commerce predictions for 2018 as you can see. From the enhancement of the shopping sites to the increasing importance of mobile phones and how it impacts the sales in a positive manner. E-commerce is an on-going trend and it will continue to evolve and improve with time.
The ultimate aim is to make things simpler and easier for the people. Such as the delivering of the products in a quick, easy and convenient manner. E-commerce continues to promise an impact and it will continue to make an impact with more and more new technologies to arrive in the near future.
