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If your small business operates in ecommerce you should want to stay up to date on the latest trends. Doing this will allow you to better serve your customers and in turn increase your profit margin . Today we have compiled some projected ecommerce trends so you can begin to consider incorporating them into your operations.
1. The rise of augmented reality
There are a growing number of AR tools and 3D modeling programs that will make it easier than ever to add AR to ecommerce stores. This will allow consumers to do things like “try-on” clothes and visualize homewares before they even place their orders. For business owners this means more people making purchases after browsing and fewer returns. This is a big step in closing one of the biggest gaps between online and brick and mortar stores.
2. More personalization and customer engagement
Something missing in online stores is the friendly employee who can make a personal connection with the customer, give them recommendations, and encourage them to make a purchase. However, website personalization is a great way to provide a similar experience online. Using online data about purchase history, page visits, and search terms is a great way to better serve your customers with recommendations and a personalized shopping experience that increases conversions. If a customer does leave your site without a purchase, a customized follow-up email make cause them to come back and make the sale.
3. Artificial intelligence and chatbots
Artificial intelligence assistants can complete several tasks for customers that would normally be handled by an employee which can cut down on response times. They can also handle tedious processes, like inventory management, which gives you more time to manage other parts of your business.
4. Voice search
Today, over 20% of search queries are made through voice and as devices like the Amazon Alexa and Google Home continue to rise in popularity, it is expected that 50% of searches will be done through voice by the end of 2020. Typically search queries are longer through voice so this is a great time to be descriptive in your product descriptions while using search keywords.
5. Dropshipping
Dropshipping can be a good model for small businesses that do not have a large amount of capital when starting out. As a dropshipper, you are the middleman between the supplier and customer. You process the purchase on your website, but never handle any actual product. A quick Google search will produce a long list of pros and cons about dropshipping and it might be worth some additional research.
6. The emergence of micro-markets
We are seeing more sites encourage purchases outside of a traditional ecommerce store. For example, the ability to buy things directly within Google search results or in-app on Instagram. Features like this are expected to expand in order to allow businesses to capture people where they already are online.
7. Web payments
The W3C is developing a new web standard that will drastically simplify online payment. Everyone hates filling out online forms and this system aims to eliminate the need for a user to fill in the same forms over and over again. This will be an easy and very secure way to autofill payment information. This is great because I don’t know about you, but I have definitely decided not to make a purchase in the past because I didn’t want to go find my debit card.
Do you plan to follow any of these trends? Have your own predictions about the future? Let us know on Twitter, @KuvioCreative.
Kuvio Creative is a web design and development company with a remote team collaborating from across the globe to innovate and bring our client’s ideas to life.
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