The tremendous growth of e-commerce driven by the pandemic is expected to reach global revenue by all the way to 6.54$ trillion by the end of 2023 with an annual growth rate of 50% from 2020. This shows the deep inclination towards online shopping and to be increasingly convenient rather than stepping out to purchase in person. So more and more e-commerce sites are created and it is estimated there are 24 million e-commerce sites worldwide. 

Many e-commerce firms like amazon, flipkart have been ahead of the curve adopting new technological trends to boost their revenue and to sustain in the competitive market. E-commerce trends are important to make customer shopping experiences new-fangled, hassle free and exciting so that they won't abandon carts and go for other sites. E-commerce trends emerge from various aspects like what customers prefer, their response for business strategies, analytics and so on. Let us discuss the latest e commerce trends to look for in upcoming years. 

Contextual and Programmatic Advertising

Contextual advertising enables show ads related to the content that customers look for on the internet. For instance a customer might see a laptop company ad when he browses for a laptop. Programmatic advertising is a software algorithm which selects which ads to be displayed without human input.

Advertisers using this type of advertising can choose the people they want their ads to reach by using demographic information such as age, gender,interests or keywords.For example, a company that sells shoes might want its ad for a new pair of heels only shown when an internet user is looking for footwear. They can target their ads by age (only show it to adults), gender (show it only when someone clicks on women’s clothing). Social media platforms like facebook allows them to target their audience with relevant ads. AI powered contextual advertising is the latest trend in e-commerce that allows to reach larger audiences for better profit margin in the long run.

Marketing Automation campaigns for any e commerce store

E-commerce marketing automation software performs repetitive marketing related tasks. Email automation and scheduling social media posts  are proved to be more effective for any e-commerce site among other automation ways. Automated email marketing campaigns enable you to send out tailored emails to your customers and customize offerings for each customer, display new products to your customers, automated recommendations influenced by what customers click on their visit, retarget customers for necessary products for sale. Marketing automation has now become a new trend and would be the biggest game changer in future e-commerce.

Enhanced shipping options

Enhanced shipping strategy is more important for any e-commerce store. Consumers expect fast, affordable, easy shipping, and offering as much as you can move up on your competition. Same day delivery became mainstream recently and now amazon extends delivery within 4 hours for fifty cities and towns in india. 

Mobile commerce 

Mobile commerce enables e-commerce through smartphones or tablets to conduct commercial transactions online, including the purchase and sale of products, online banking, and paying bills.The range of devices capable of mobile commerce is a growing trend. For example, digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay let customers make purchases without the inconvenience of swiping cards.The flexibility of mobile devices helps businesses extend their reach to their customers through mobile commerce.

Augmented Reality Technology

The Augmented Reality(AR) trend in product visualization would be an advanced move in e-commerce trends. AR in e-commerce allows customers to preview products or experience services in their own environment through smart devices before buying. Augmented reality enables customers to preview products and be more likely to pick the right product the first time. If a customer looks to buy a sofa, he can preview the sofa 3D model by photos taken on camera of his smartdevice to visualize  whether it fits in his living room. AR gives customers a real-time glimpse of how a product will look when it is placed in their own environment.

Voice assistants

Voice search is one of the fastest rising trends in e-commerce and estimated that 72% of people who own voice-activated speakers use these devices as a part of their daily routine. Voice assistants enable customers to search products in online stores by solely using their voice without any manual typing.Voice-enabled shopping has seen a huge surge in the past few years. A forecast by the U.K. based analysts at Juniper Research shows that voice commerce will grow to reach more than $80 billion by 2023.

Chatbots assistants

AI powered chatbots are the rising trend in e-commerce to resolve more customer queries engaging customers at every step of their journey. Chatbots in e-commerce can interact with customers, understand their requirements based on the conversation, and offer relevant product recommendations.It facilitates the leveraging of conversational interfaces (online messaging, chatbots, voice assistants, etc.) to deliver an enhanced shopping experience to customers. It combines the ease and convenience of e-commerce portals with the personalized assistance that customers would receive in a brick-and-mortar store. 

Blockchain technology in e commerce

Blockchain technology's impact on e-commerce will be tremendous over the next few years, allowing customers to make purchases in sites and apps that accept Bitcoin as payment. The benefits of blockchain in ecommerce extend from faster, reduced cost in business processes to greater data security and an improved customer experience. 

Openbazaar is one such e-commerce platform built on a blockchain network that allows transactions through cryptocurrencies. We will see more block chain based e-commerce platforms and cryptocurrency payment systems in future.

Social payments in e commerce

Social payments use social media platforms for money transactions in business. The trend was first popularized by PayPal, but other companies have since hatched their own versions, including Facebook payments, Google Wallet, ApplePay,Venmo and Twitter Buy. 

Social payment services link directly to the user's bank account or debit/credit card information and can take the form of a website or an app for transactions and makes money exchange as simple as clicking a button. Though social payments make transactions easy, they are often prone to hacks so it's wise to use extra security on your phone if it's connected to a social payment app by installing a PIN on the phone and logging out of the app when it's not in use.

Customer personalisation

Contextual merchandising in e-commerce plays a vital role in customers' personalized experience. It involves displaying related content to each individual customer identifying the IP address of a customer. Analyzing each customer's data points such as Search Queries, Purchase History, Shopping Cart, Social Behavior, Geographic Location or Segments relevant products are displayed on the page. Enhanced customer personalisation improves customer satisfaction and thus long time customer retention. 

Enhanced customer relationship management

Enhanced customer relationship management is mandatory for any e-commerce site to maintain customers lifetime value by analyzing their On-site chat, Facebook messenger, SMS, Emails, Order statuses, Customer groups, Loyalty programs, Referral programs and more. It enhances businesses streamline processes, build customer relationships, increase sales, improve customer service, and increase profitability.

Optimized supply chain management

A systematic and well-organized supply chain that includes  inventory, sales, distribution, and fulfillment processes speeds up pretty much all the major e-commerce operations and distribution processes ensuring that the customers’ expectations are constantly met. The internal chain connecting people, establishments, and activities ensures a timely delivery of products to customer doorstep. Supply chain management requires planning  proper supply chain connectivity during the entire process, from inventory to delivering, is necessary to generate more leads, build relationships, and grow sales. 

Influencer marketing to boost up sales

Marketing campaigns with the right influencer to promote your products can bring an audience of highly engaged fans to your brand. It is surveyed that 70% of customers are influenced by celebrities' recommendations.  As per Influencer Marketing Hub’s 2022 Benchmark Report, 90% of companies believe influencer marketing is a useful tool for increasing brand awareness and sales. In order to properly measure the success of your influencer marketing efforts, you need to analyze, establish your goals, understand your target audience, choose suitable social media platforms, select the right influencer and develop campaigns. Hence market your products through relevant influencers that increase e commerce sales sharply.

ROPO will rise

Research online and purchase offline is a recent trend in the buying behavior of customers and could be a great deal in the ecommerce industry. customers research about products online before they purchase offline. 

• Customers analyze the products they are interested in by going through websites of the companies 
• read reviews of other customers who have already bought the same product as them
• make a comparison of products, prices and the conditions offered by each supplier. 
• Once they are more than aware of each and every one of the details of that product, they go to the store and make their purchase in a physical business.

your business would not only have to offer the right product, but respond to the broader needs of each customer because they find versions of your product in thousands of different stores. so, you have to personalize each customer’s shopping experience and create that emotional connection with them. So, once they have searched for their perfect product on your website, they will go to your offline store to buy it.

Enhanced fulfillment options

Enhanced fulfillment chain is a crucial factor for any e-commerce store as you cannot make your customers happy without properly delivering them their products. These include picking, packing, shipping, and delivery of products to the customer’s doorstep.The package you ship to your customer is the first physical impression they have about your brand. So, if the fulfillment of your products is hampered, your sales and marketing will suffer directly. To ensure top-notch customer satisfaction and make sure your customers come back to your store for repeat business, you need to streamline and optimize your fulfillment chain providing your customers more freedom selecting fulfillment options.

Drone delivery technology surge in e commerce

E-commerce in India has now started hopping on the unstoppable drone bandwagon.Flipkart Health+, a pharma business division of e-commerce platform Flipkart Internet Pvt Ltd collaborated with Skye Air One to deliver medicines via drone to further reduce turn-around-time and bring an exciting experience for its consumers.Apart from healthcare, it will be widely used in quick commerce (grocery), e-commerce, agri-commodity and shall find more usage around food delivery too in the coming months. 

Social commerce trend will boom

Social commerce is one of the important trends to focus on which uses social media platforms like facebook, instagram to buy and sell products or services. Shoppers can use social media platforms to discover brands, research products, interact with customer support and purchase products. Social commerce is a more convenient and interactive shopping experience that is becoming increasingly popular.

Conclusion

These are the anticipating future trends in e-commerce that will take to new levels. You can choose the one that best suits your business objectives. E-commerce trends help to give better customer experience which is very important to retain customers. Spurtcommerce with its robust technology offers extensive customizability to adapt to any e-commerce trend.