12 Ecommerce Trends to Watch out this 2020

We always want to know what’s next because knowing this not only helps people stay updated. It also gives companies, developers, and small businesses the ability to challenge themselves and grow. As we are now in the year 2020, we are to witness what’s new when it comes to the digital world. And, we are to come across a lot of improvements, and changes that will surprise us.

As we step into the next era of technology and the internet world, we will see trends that will emerge everywhere. These trends are essential to people working within the digital world, and one included here are online shops or businesses.

Online shops are common nowadays as they reached more customers compared to a physical store. Business owners who have a brick and mortar shop turn to online selling as more people tend to see their products.

Last year, there were about 1.92 billion buyers online, and by 2021 it will hit to about 2.14 billion digital customers. The market for online selling is increasing rapidly as people concentrate more on the use of mobile phone, internet, and other technologies.

If you are a business owner with an online shop, following the trends is more likely a big help for you. These will increase the growth of your business, and you would anticipate an increase in your income.

Here are some eCommerce trends to watch out this 2020. Read along and find out which one might help grow your business.

Ecommerce Trends to Watch out this 2020

1. Omni-channel Presence

The digital world has created a way for people to connect to one another in various portals or channels. We don’t simply reach out or communicate with one platform only. Even in shopping or purchasing an item, people don’t just look at one shop of a brand.

When people purchase an item, whether it is online or in a physical store, they often put on an effort to check out every channel of a brand. Hence, if business owners want their brand to be more noticeable, it is important to expand and use other platforms too.

Brands must take advantage of other platforms like social media, mobile browsing, the marketplace, and more. These are other channels you can reach out to potential customers. With 4.6 billion mobile users in the year 2019 alone, the number of which is about to rise, and using this channel can only get a business further.

Gone are the days the business will grow in one way only. It is important for business owners to find ways to market their brands. They need this to increase the numbers of their sales and loyal customers.

2. Chatbots

Taking advantage of the modern world, using technologies such as AI and chatbots can do wonders for a business. These can bring a lot more convenience to both the customer and the owner

Chatbots have come a long way, and it has been crafted to perfection that even customers rather seek their presence online than interacting with humans. This year, 2020, 80% of businesses are going to integrate or use chatbots as a support for their brand.

This technology offers a lot of advantages to businesses. Here are some reasons why chatbots will still be a trend this year.

• It provides a quick answer to customers’ queries.
• Easy and smooth communication with the customer.
• It is popular to Millenials.
• People prefer to reach out to a brand by sending a message rather than calling customer support.
• It saves money and time.
• It provides data that the marketing team or business owner can use to create a more personalized approach for the customers.
• It provides unique and personalized content for the customers.
• It sells by giving customers suggestions about a business’s product or service.

As seen, chatbots are a hype this year. With numerous mentioned advantages it can offer, businesses must get a hand with it. The traditional customer support is slowly moving out of the picture as chatbot technology is making its way on the spotlight.

3. Augmented Reality (AU)

Despite that shopping online has been quickly rising to the top, and will even further more rise as the years go by, some people are skeptical about purchasing an item. After all, no one wants to end up buying something they would regret.

Therefore, some businesses have already incorporated certain technology to help them increase their sales. Big brands like Ikea and Amazon have integrated AU into their shopping experience for users. This way potential buyers can see if an item fits their home or if they look the way they want.

AU will give users the feeling that the item they will purchase looks real. In Ikea, AU allows potential buyers to see if a piece of furniture looks good with their other existing furniture. This increases the chance of a user to purchase the item.

71% of buyers prefer to visit a shop that offers AU for their experience. This only means that online shops must invest in this technology to provide convenience for their customers, and to increase their profit.

4. Easy Payment Process

An online store only considers it a success if a customer paid the item. That marks a successful deal for business owners. However, more and more potential buyers only reached up to the point of adding an item to their cart. This is not good for a business.

There are multiple reasons as to why a customer abandon carts instead of finishing the purchase process. Some could be due to extra cost that is too high, crashing of a website, account creation, distrust to input card information, too long checkout process, and so on. If businesses want to increase their conversion rate, it is important to provide a quick way for customers to pay for their items in their cart.

In 2020, businesses will invest in a quicker way to lead a customer to the checkout page. This has already been seen in some like on Instagram’s checkout feature. Here, customers tap on the item, and they will be immediately directed to the checkout page. All they have to do is click the ‘Checkout on Instagram’ button, provide their necessary information, and place their order.

Since technology has already further advanced itself, people are expecting more from it. They want a more convenient and faster way to do their transactions or any other online activities.

5. Voice Shopping or Search

Since the launch of smart speakers, people become more and more involved in the use of such. Aside from that, this has also paved the way for the increase in the use of voice search. The number of voice search has been steadily increasing because this method of doing research is faster, easier, and can go along with our fast-paced, multitasking lifestyle.

In 2020, 50% of searches online will be done by voice search. This gives sellers an idea that optimizing their online store with a voice search option will matter.

It is important that sellers must take note of the difference in keywords use when conducting a voice search. In a voice search, keywords use makes more sense and are often long-tail.

6. Mobile Commerce

As people more and more use their mobile phones every day, businesses have to adapt to this trend. The usage of mobile phones has surpassed desktop and PC users. This happens as smartphones have almost the same features of desktop, and it is easy and convenient for users.

Now that people are more on to their smartphones, online stores must find a way to provide easy access to the shops in a mobile version.

Here are the trends in mobile commerce that will become a big help for businesses this 2020.

• The website must load faster as its desktop version.
• Mobile AU must become the norm.
• Personalization in the mobile realm is also important.
• Include geo-tagging.
• The presence of chatbots for customer support.

Similar to the desktop, online businesses must also keep in mind that they have to find a way to make a mobile version to cater to users convenience.

7. Growth of Dark Stores

It is foreseen that this year, dark stores, together with AI, will become a trend in eCommerce. With this being said, we will more likely witness more and more people shopping online than on a physical store.

Dark stores are outlets that provide online shopping convenience to customers. This is common for grocery shopping, where buyers go online to shop instead of the need to walk in a grocery. The items they shop online will be prepared by personnel in the large warehouse. Customers will either pick the item they ordered or delivered to them.

This format of shopping is expected to rise as people would want an easy way to shop and collect their items.

However, this way of shopping will not only limit to grocery goods, but other brands or products are also being tested or have been using this concept of shopping for customers.

8. Social Media Selling

Since mobile users are on the rise, more people are engaged in the use of social media. Now we see a huge difference from what social media was before and now. In the past, social media has been a platform for people to communicate and share with friends and family members.

However, when online shopping burst and became a norm, it has also conquered social media. Therefore, many people purchase items they see on social media. Even the rise on influencers had occurred due to online shopping.

This 2020, more and more eCommerce shops are to expand their brands by reaching out through social media as a means of selling their products.

9. Personalize Everything

Visitors of a site are more likely to stay longer and turn into buying customers when products are tailored-fit according to their wants and needs. People nowadays prefer personalized ads than seeing advertisements that are something they are not interested in.

Lucky enough, we have found a way to create technologies that can gather information or behavior of users. This shopping behavior is used to personalize ways to reach individual customers.

This year, businesses will focus more on creating items that provide a unique experience to users to increase the chances of conversion rate.

10. Strengthen Privacy

As we enter a new era in the technological world, with more inventions to come along, we are also to expect more invasion of privacy and data breach. Therefore, strengthening a websites’ server is important.

Online businesses must increase their security protocol to avoid hackers to get into the site to steal private data of users or customers. Often when a website is hacked, customers are hesitant to return and purchase on that site. Therefore, it is important to secure it as much as possible.

11. Headless Commerce

Gone are the days when intact eCommerce was created. Now online shop owners are able to design a store not only made for their website and certain mobile apps. With this feature, developers can create and deliver content for their websites such as blog posts, products, reviews, and more that will perfectly be viewed in any devices.

Unlike the traditional platforms that are strictly designed to cater to the form of websites, headless commerce is flexible enough to be controlled by developers. Therefore, delivering content that fits the users’ devices.

12. Direct to Customers (D2C)

Looking for the cheapest price of an item is easier done online than going out and visiting different shops. That’s why many prefer to shop online. They’ll be able to look for the best and affordable item without the need to leave their house. Online shops that deliver a D2C service are more likely to be preferred by customers.

D2C eliminates the need for distributors, retailers, and wholesalers. Instead, the company directly sells the item on its eCommerce shop. The prices of these items would be cheaper than when the item goes from one hand to another.

This will be a common trend this year, as people prefer to buy directly to the brand because its affordable. Meanwhile, businesses who sell directly can build better relationships with their customers.

Conclusion

Now that a new year has arrived, more and more trends will be coming out, and all of these would help to improve and provide a better shopping experience. Ecommerce may be a tough market to explore because of the massive and tight competition. However, businesses can find a way to survive and step ahead by exploring the trends and giving what the people or users want.