The year 2019 was great for the e-commerce industry, but now it’s clear that 2020 will be even better. The pandemic of COVID-19 has deeply shaken the whole world, but it seems to have had a positive effect on the online market – shopping has moved online faster than ever, and customers concluded that this type of purchase has more benefits than it seemed. Traditional shopping will never be the same. E-commerce trends emerge every day – on the market where everything is subordinate to gaining customers, everybody’s trying to be better than the competition.
In this article, we’re giving you a comprehensive guide through the most popular e-commerce marketing trends for 2020 where you can find useful tips and ideas for improving your business.
- E-commerce after COVID-19 pandemic
It was already clear at the beginning of the year that the e-commerce market will grow bigger and bigger due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The coronavirus has changed everything and it’s expected that buying behavior will explode. Our world has drastically changed in just a few months, and all this accelerated the already dizzying growth of the online shopping trends. Pandemic teaches us that buying things online is more practical than waiting in the cash register lines, which saves time and saves us from exposure to potential health threats.
What did quarantine teach us? It revealed the importance of having an e-commerce business and incorporating online marketing strategies into your long-term plans. As consumer behavior shifted dramatically during the pandemic, businesses that adapted to this new landscape thrived. The necessity of shopping online became clear, as many people sought convenience and safety over traditional retail experiences.
This is why, investing in effective Dalton GA web design and SEO or elsewhere, could be crucial for any business looking to capitalize on these changes. A well-designed website could enhance user experience and improve visibility in search engines, making it easier for potential customers to find you. Additionally, content marketing could play a vital role in attracting and engaging customers. By creating valuable content that addresses customer needs and interests, businesses could establish authority in their niche and drive traffic to their sites.
Ultimately, it’s simple. If you don’t have an e-commerce business today, you are missing out on serious revenue and risking your market position.
- Voice search becomes more and more popular
Let’s be honest, voice search is a really cool feature. You can easily find what you are searching for while your hands are busy, or if you just hate typing. While search engines (like Google’s assistant, Apple’s Siri) and lots of mobile apps like YouTube already optimized its content for voice search that should do e-commerce websites too. Actually, the latest Google guidelines voice search content should include more textual content. The latest research predicts that there will be 8 billion devices with voice assistants by 2023, and that will voice shopping grow to 40 billion by 2022. Implementing voice search and voice-enabled buttons can improve business by leading to more conversions and more profit. Some companies, like Amazon, recognized all potential of this kind of search and already have started making e-commerce apps for voice assistants.
- Chatbots becoming new personal assistants
Chatbots are not completely new – we’re using them a few years now, but chatbots powered by artificial intelligence are becoming more and more popular. Why? Because they help increase user engagement by providing relevant options that can be useful. As chatbot’s growth is becoming bigger and bigger, they are cheaper, smarter, and approachable. Some companies like Starbucks, Sephora, and Duolingo already successfully implemented chatbots due to improving customer experience. For example, Sephora has a Reservation Assistant and Sephora Color Match which allows customers to make appointments with beauty specialists and to easier select colors using augmented reality.
One also needs to look into certain factors while looking to incorporate a chatbot for a website, or other places. A user-friendly interface so that customers can navigate through their queries seamlessly; taking the feedback from a soft launch; promoting the chatbot to the audience; and a customised chatbot according to the previous user data – could significantly impact the customer experience and perception of a company.
- Personalization of customer experience
Think globally but work locally. In our case, locally means personalizing e-commerce by creating shopping experiences that cater specifically to individual customers and not a single broad audience. Global is the whole plan. Personalization is great – it refers to the adjustment of your website’s content for a single customer by identifying the IP address due to provide more contextual services and products.
With various customer data, personalizing websites and delivering relevant products gives your business more opportunity for conversion. The data included customers’ purchase history, social behavior, geolocation, etc. All of this provides delivering the best to each individual customer. The great support in these efforts should be a good hosting package, as a provider of a fast and functional website. Hostinger has the best hosting solutions for all kinds of websites, with great prices and the best uptime, 24/7 tech support, and a lot of other features in order to the best experience. So that shaped personalization should aim to better the customer experience. If you include other services, like fast and free shipping, discounts, and easily navigate the website, customers will be really delighted.
The latest market researches show that over 85% of internet users are more likely to buy products from e-commerce websites that provide personalized customer experience. It is also great because it increases the willingness to share personal information in exchange for the best offers.
- Influencer marketing is bringing the new renaissance
According to the earlier researchers, more than 65% of millennials are influenced by the recommendations of online influencers. That means that influencers are real celebrities today – they have a real audience and the real impact on their targeted group. Customers’ decision making is strongly relatable on influencers’ recommendations, which became especially noticeable during the quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though underpriced as irrelevant and not-so-much-famous to be important, influencers are taking the primary role in increasing sales in various markets. The main mission is to find relevant influencers for your niche on different social media platforms and to look at how your e-commerce sales are sharply increasing. The great thing is that today you can find many micro-influencers specialized for smaller target groups such as cooking, which are strongly connected to their audience and with great impact on their buying behavior.
- AI and the Future E-commerce
Artificial intelligence is not only transforming how we shop online but also how visual content is created. In industries like fashion, where high-quality imagery is crucial for marketing and sales, AI is making it easier for brands to produce professional photos without traditional photoshoots. AI-driven platforms now allow users to generate realistic images by simply uploading product photos and descriptions. For instance, Hautech.AI enables fashion retailers and designers to create on-model images of apparel using AI, eliminating the need for models and studio setups. This technology helps streamline the content creation process, allowing brands to produce stunning visuals more efficiently and at lower costs.
- Mobile shopping and payments are more popular than ever
Since the advent of smartphones, mobile shopping is constantly rising – more than 60% of all online conversions in Europe are coming from mobile devices. This trend will likely stay in 2020 and it has strong reasons: first of all, more and more shoppers use online shopping, especially in conditions of world pandemic. Second, e-commerce businesses invest in optimizing apps and mobile-friendly websites so their customers can have the best mobile experience possible.
Conclusion
Our world is changing and that process is obviously clear in the last 10 years, but the year 2020, due to unplanned events, accelerated that process and completely changed the way we live. E-commerce will get bigger and bigger and trends will be changing rapidly. New technologies are encouraging all of that.
E-commerce owners must embrace themselves and to find the best working models for their needs. Provide the best user experience for the better sale, give users value, and follow the latest trends to be better than the competition.
