E-commerce relates to all the transactions taking place over the internet. It is the activity of selling goods and services by using the internet. It uses technologies like mobile commerce, electronic fund transfer, online marketing, electronic data interchange and so on.
Benefits of E-commerce
- It saves time and money because customers can buy their products by seating at their home.
- Transactions can take place 24×7 therefore, it is convenient for users.
- It leads to low operational cost and better quality products and services
- It is possible for businesses to reach a wider range of customers.
- A company can operate its business without a physical set up.
5 Hot Trends To Change The E-commerce Horizon In 2018
A Larger international Market
A recent study shows that more than 50% of the shoppers prefer to buy products from the overseas retailer. Big Commerce sellers can handle operate their business in more than 150 countries. Hence, it is easy to accept payments through PayPal and Stripe without transaction fees. It is now easier to sell products to the global market by using shipping calculators and integration. Sellers can afford shipping fees and taxes without reducing their profit margin.
Channel Ape
It is a software to help you to list products for sale to third-party markets like Amazon and Walmarts. Besides, it helps sellers to avoid overselling of a product. By using Channel ape it is easier to synchronize and automate all business activities so that the productivity of business is improved. Channel ape enhances customer support coming via email, phone, and live chat. Utilization of this software does not deduct charges from your revenue. Instead, when the merchant pulls inventory and passes them to his sales channel, a deduction from his business takes place. Channel ape supply you information on inventory, customers, shipping, suppliers, sales channel, etc. With Channel Ape, retailers can pull goods from suppliers and push them to third-party marketplaces such as Walmart sand Shopify. If a retailer uses 50 supply channels then Channel ape will help him by centralizing these channels into a single data point.
Power Of Personalization
Personalization allows marketers to gather data on consumer’s browsing history, buying habit, and every minute detail to facilitate their decision-making process. Personalization is a two-way matter in the sense that now it is also a consumer’s expectation. It is easy when sellers have access to correct information. Everage allows the seller to interact with each customer that visits their site or uses their app. Therefore, customers can gain a personalized experience. Using Everage sellers can track the shopping behavior of every visitor’s shopping behavior on their site and mobile app. Sellers can offer a highly effective personalized product and content recommendations on the basis of individual preferences. Everage is converting more shoppers into buyers and increase average order values.
Chatbots
Approximately half of the social media users prefer messenger app to connect with brands, in spite of an email, phone or live chat. Chatbot can reach customers and can respond to their requests at the perfect time. It collects more data on customers and their responses. It can engage with shoppers in the absence of a native app with them. Chatbots can also integrate with Facebook Messenger, Kik, and Skype. A chatbot is a computer program therefore, it cannot empathize with the visitors. So a human as a representative of customer service is required to be present for this purpose.
Here comes the creation of Pandarobots. to build smart chatbots for e-commerce. It can build a virtual agent according to the Seller’s specification. It allows the seller to add an avatar and speech capabilities to complement chatbot.
Increased Security
Customers suffer from insecurity and do not use e-commerce. Retailers also lose billions of dollars every year as a result of fraudulent activities. therefore, merchants are emphasizing the security factor of customers. 58.5% of the merchants consider their address verification service, card verification number, and device fingerprinting as effective tools for verification. On the other side, only 25% of merchants consider negative lists and two-factor phone authentication as the most effective tools. 62% of merchants think chargeback is the best fraud prevention tool.
Manual review is also efficient in avoiding fraud but it is the most expensive tool. 79% of businesses use manual review. With the help of Chargeback, merchants can bring all of their data sources together and thereby, they can spot fraud before it occurs. Even if they fail to spot fraudulent activities, they can control the damage created by these activities. This, in turn, helps to refund customers, prevent order fulfillment and reroute shipment.
Success of E-commerce
These hot trends will encourage more merchants to promote their products to a global market. It will bring a new horizon in the e-commerce industry. Increase in customer base and revenue will also be an advantage for merchants. Integration with third-party marketplaces will build brand awareness among customers easily. Customers will have a personalized shopping experience. Last but not the least, it will be easy to prevent fraudulent activities.
