Retailers marketers and consumers need to know more about the top e-commerce trends this year. This is particularly important right now – ahead of the start of a better than ever holiday shopping season.
Location does not matter!
The global breadth does not matter much to the business strategy thought about in corporate boardrooms. Hungry consumers are now open to brands from new territories, and 2016 will have consumers changing the landscape, yet again. A familiar user experience and local pricing is the way to go, with immense supply chain flexibility.
Big buying days are getting huge and beyond expectations
Black Friday, Cyber Monday and more similar days are piling up everyday. The sales for each of these special days involved billions of dollars of sales. Alibaba, the Chinese site took two hours to reach $2 billion and its day’s revenue surpassed a whopping $9 billion. It claims, it outsold even Amazon.com
E-commerce spikes for these days necessitate scale on demand and also involve tight supply chains for diverse markets.
Same-day, in-store pick-up gaining traction
The same day service has failed multiple times, but now e-commerce sites are piling for next-day deliveries. Retailers are now evolving the entire in-store experience. Companies are now investing in warehouses and not resorting to local delivery hubs for inventory storage. E-commerce giants like Target and Amazon are building space rapidly to keep up with consumer demand and immediate deliveries.
Impress the customer or die!
Deliver your products on time, and live up to the promise. (Sign up for a free 30-day trial of Amazon Prime to see how its done) With more shopping and shipping options offered by e-commerce sites, consumers are hyper-empowered, and tracking every aspect of their experience, and expressing them vocally online. Authenticity goes a long way when sites admit to their mistakes. Genuine customer support is the need of the hour!
Fast and free shipping is incredibly important. Give customers some options. Expect more personalization in terms of options offered.
The evolving offline experience
The truce between retail and online shopping is now growing to be beneficial to both parties. Retailers with a good online and offline experience are looking for ways to shop while online stores are trying to leverage the digital investments in the stores.
2015 will be about adaptation and transformation
Transformation is crucial for e-stores and retail stores and they need to be highly flexible to make hay. It is important to adjust to the newly hyper-empowered customers and bet on trends that work well with your offerings.
Understanding consumer demand with social monitoring, social channels, and feedback will acquire high importance too. Retailers and brands will gain market share quickly when they pay heed to customers.
Broader e-commerce market diversity can boost companies to drive profits and avoid declines visible in local economies.
