Changing E-commerce Landscape: 8 Global Trends for 2019

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In the present time, Amazon, Alibaba, Walmart, and eBay are controlling the market more than ever in the past. But it's not the case that the companies dominating now will keep dominating in the future.

Small eCommerce companies can keep a close eye on the latest eCommerce trends just to first sustain and then, to stay ahead in the competition.

But before that, let’s have a quick look at the Stats and facts on eCommerce:

• eCommerce is only around 5 percent of omnichannel spending, but it is accountable for 40 percent of its overall growth. (Nielsen)
• Around 72% of eCommerce will happen on a mobile phone by 2021. (Statista)
• 87% of shoppers today use eCommerce reviews to decide whether to purchase, and 77% of those shoppers buy online. (Business.com)
• Online sales will reach 4135 million dollars in 2020 and it will exceed 4878 million. (Statista)

It is quite true that the future of eCommerce is uncertain. Several trends help us to understand this fact. Let’s take a dive into all these latest eCommerce trends one by one.

1. Dropshipping

Dropshipping can be a profitable business model for small eCommerce businesses. The reason lies in the fact that it does not require enough money to start with. In this business model, your firm works as a middleman between the manufacturer or supplier and the customer.

You process the purchase, but the product gets shipped directly to the customer without you actually handling the physical product.

Dropshipping is mostly helpful for selling bulky items that require a lot of space in warehouses and stores.

With Dropshipping, you get various benefits such as:

• You need to buy the product only when a customer places an order
• You need not spend money on storing inventory
• Your overhead costs will be less

The 2018 State of the Merchant eCommerce Report showed that out of 450 online stores, 16,4% were using dropshipping.

Businesses using this model experienced average revenue growth of 32.7% and had an average conversion rate of 1.74%.

Since dropshipping has numerous benefits, it is expected to see a lot of dropshipping in the future.

2. Big Data

An interesting future eCommerce trend is the use of Big data. Any eCommerce giant like Amazon wants to personalize the customer experience. Accenture has declared already in the year 2017 that around 6 out of 10 users would shop more if they received more accurate recommendations.

These more accurate recommendations can be achieved with the help of Big Data. With proper processing of big data, this data can suggest important things about customer’s requirements.

In the present time, Big Data is already used by several eCommerce businesses. Big data processing helps you to know about various shopping habits that a customer likes or dislikes. It can be quite helpful in providing precise recommendations to all the customers. Ultimately, it results in more personalization experience in customers.

3. Same Day Delivery

Same day delivery means your product will be delivered to you within 24 hours of purchase. If the order is purchased in the afternoon, then the customer will receive it in the next morning.

It is quite beneficial to customers as well as businesses, but most of the eCommerce businesses do not provide same-day delivery. However, this service is going to be generalized in the next few years. Even small local retailers will provide it with the help of logistical outsourcing.

It is still a big challenge for Amazon, Walmart, and other eCommerce to provide shipments in 2 hours or less to the more number of customers. However, this service is only available in various cities.

4. Faster Mobile Payments and Checkouts

Another interesting eCommerce trend is associated with the mobile traffic boom. According to Salesforce study, 60% of eCommerce traffic already comes from tablets and smartphones. It is crystal clear that this growth comes with a sudden rise in mobile payments.

Adoption of mobile devices continues to grow around the world. More and more users prefer searching and purchasing products with the help of mobile phones. And looking at the scenario nowadays, it can be declared that there is going to be a definite reduction in the number of desktop users in the future.

Moreover, the condition of less effective checkouts will also get enhanced. According to statistics, 8 out of 10 shopping carts are abandoned. Most of the times, the reason lies in the complex or slow checkout process.

But companies know about this problem and planning to make checkouts faster.

5. AI can be a game changer for eCommerce Industry

According to Business Insider, all the retailers who have executed personalization planning gets around 6-10% sale increments. Also, Chatbots are new to the market. According to Gartner, around 25% of the customer support and services will have an integration of virtual assistants by 2020.

According to Kelly, who is the founder of The Taproom Agency says that customers want prompt and accurate answers to their questions. He was quite thankful about increasing smartness of chatbots.

Furthermore, Kelly says that machine learning makes these tools capable of having a better understanding of which questions customers often ask. They can convert the customer data into a simpler form for more convenience.

There are various companies offering robust eCommerce development services that provide well trained and skilled AI Developers. These developers can create AI Chatbots for your business or they can add more efficiency to existing Chatbots.

6. AR is going to make a blast this year

According to Piers Thorogood, Augmented reality is going to touch the edge of fame this year. Piers Thorogood is the co-founder and lead designer at a design-focused e-commerce agency.

According to Ben Froedge, “ AR is filling the most difficult gap to bridge when comparing the shopping experience between brick-and-mortar and online.” He further adds that it will be a game changer for e-commerce sales gain as AR helps a customer to see its product in realistic form while sitting in the home.

Augmented reality gives a realistic view of the product that a customer wants to purchase. Therefore, Augmented Reality can be quite helpful in sales gain for eCommerce businesses.

If you are an eCommerce business and looking to gain more leads, then you can try utilizing this powerful AR technology.

Also, you can hire various skilled AR developers in order to create Augmented reality applications for your website. Augmented reality is going to transform the sale and purchase on the eCommerce platforms.

7. Virtual Reality

According to CCS Insight, it is forecasted that around 24 million Virtual Reality devices will be sold across the world. Utilizing VR in e-commerce portals can permit users to explore virtual showrooms. It also makes users capable of visualizing products virtually.

For instance, look at Lowe’s Holoroom initiative, IKEA’s virtual reality kitchen, and other similar proposals. This technology can complement and enhance the shopping experience in each way.

If you are an e-commerce business or willing to start an ecommerce business, you can hire VR developers. These developers will create amazing e-commerce portals that are more user-friendly and give a realistic view of the online store to the customer while having the comfort of sitting in the home.

8. Add-ons and monthly subscriptions as a new business model

Do you also think that the use of add-ons and monthly subscriptions are not adapted to the eCommerce business model? Amazon and other eCommerce giants have proved that it is not true.

Experts predict that there will be a greater number of companies based on subscription models. Amazon Prime Now has set the trend. This is a great way to reward customer loyalty and provide added value.

Moreover, monthly subscriptions and premium programs are an ideal context for providing add-ons. Usually, add-ons are extensions of provided products. But Amazon and other marketplaces have used them in a different way.

For instance, Amazon Prime subscription provides access to Prime Originals productions, Prime Music, Prime Reading, and other various services.

Conclusion:

So, these were the latest trends in eCommerce. You can incorporate them into your eCommerce business to stay ahead in the competition. Also, it enhances your business resulting in the increased overall revenue.

I hope that now you are quite clear about future trends in eCommerce. AR/VR, same day delivery, faster mobile payments, and Big Data are going to play a crucial role in enhancing the eCommerce business operations.

You can adopt these latest trends in your eCommerce business. For this, there are certain eCommerce development companies out there. You can take their help. They can create several applications based on the latest technologies like AR/VR and Artificial Intelligence.