Jun 2, 2020

7 E-Commerce Trends To Watch Out For

It can be quite difficult to keep up to date with the trends and ever changing way we use the internet. This can make it especially difficult to keep your E-commerce website relevant and enjoyable for your customers to use. So we’ve created a list of the 8 most important trends to keep an eye on during 2020.

1. Subscription Based Services

This is an easy way to create sustainable cash flow long term. Customers love subscription based services as they are given online deals and a more personal experience with the business. If you don’t already have a form of subscription on offer, now is the time to start coming up with ways to allow your products to fit into a subscription-based business. By doing this you’re allowing easier management of your inventory and increasing personalisation options that can be used to build stronger relationships with customers. But the best outcome from introducing subscriptions is the recurring income generated that can help predict future sales as well.

2. Re-Commerce

Perhaps you’ve started to hear the phrase “second hand market” being thrown around recently. In simple terms this is just Re-Commerce which is selling used products. Think of your local opshop but as an online platform for products that are still in great condition. This way of making money is becoming a lot more popular in recent years with people shifting towards more sustainable ways of shopping, not to mention the huge savings! The market for used goods is alive and well. So now the question is how can you jump onboard with this trend?

There are four questions you’ll need to answer to see if this trend is possible for your business.

  1. Can your customers purchase used items, and if so which ones?
  2. How will you reimburse those who return items to your store?
  3. How much will it cost to refurbish and prepare products for resale v.s the price you’ll get for reselling it?
  4. How will you market your new re-commerce initiative?

3. Move to Mobile

These days almost everything is accessible via a cell phone, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that 50% of all web traffic takes place on mobile phones and that 40% of e-commerce sales during the holiday period does also. If your website isn’t mobile optimised you are at a huge disadvantage and risk losing customers. Here’s some helpful tips to get the most out of your mobile website:

  • Firstly find out how much of your web traffic comes from mobile users. You can do this by becoming more familiar with your Google Analytics report which allows you to see the percentage of users across all devices.
  • Google Analytics can also give you insights into how your customers interact on your page. By watching what actions they take you can make informed decisions on how best to improve your website experience.
  • It is also a good idea to use a tool such as Google Page Speed Insights. The reports produced will help you fix technical issues that could be causing your site to load slowly. This is crucial as the majority of mobile site users will leave a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load.

4. Becoming Less Dependent On Third-Party Advertising

2020 is the year for businesses owning their marketing and using it as a new form of leverage. When you have control over what happens with your marketing you open up pathways to use the data gained to continue marketing and open it into other areas such as social media and EDM’s. Third party advertisers are very costly and offer little insight into customer data. But by growing your customer list and using marketing channels that are within your brands control you can not only save money but use the data collected to improve the customer experience.

If you still need another reason to switch from traditional digital advertising then it’s also worth mentioning that nobody can take your email list and owned channels away from you, or charge you more money for the privilege of reaching your own audience!

5. The Importance of Live Chat

Today people are shifting from phone calls to using various apps to message instead. This shift shouldn’t stop at socialising and needs to be incorporated into E-commerce websites as customers are less likely to want to ring for help. This is where having a live chat increases the ease and experience on your website for the customers who require instant answers. Due to the instant gratification culture in today’s online world, waiting for an email reply leaves customers unsatisfied with their experience which means they are less likely to purchase your products.

6. Drop Shipping

We keep hearing about drop shipping but many of us don’t actually understand how this works, and how we can make money off of this easy movement. In simple terms drop shipping is a supply chain management method that allows the retailer to make sales even though they do not store the stock themselves.

What happens is they transfer the orders from their website to either the manufacturer, another retailer, or a wholesaler who ships the purchased product to the customer. Want to learn how to start a drop shipping business in 2020?

7. Social Commerce is taking over

Social media is booming and will continue to grow in the years to come. Today in 2020 around 3.8 billion people are active on social media which is half of the world! So of course it can be expected that social commerce; the process of making purchases directly from social media platforms is steadily increasing. The key step in getting sales from social media is being aware what platform your target audience uses and when. The next step would be coming up with a social media marketing strategy. Sometimes that can require some expert advice.

Get Started

Staying relevant is the key to increasing sales. This is why it is so important to stay up to date with the trends and use them to your business’s advantage. The next step is coming up with creative ways to apply them to your business. Talk to a Squid today about how you can thrive in 2020 and in the years to come.