Rising E-commerce trends

2022 was a significant year for ecommerce industries, it was a year post COVID-19, a year where people celebrated their festive fear free with energy that they built up for the past two years in lockdown. Result, a massive boost to the ecommerce industry.

With competition to tie-ups among brands, to various marketing campaigns, we saw it all.

Amidst this there was a lot new changes, trends and patterns in various parts of the industry which we witnessed. The following are a few trends, that will continue with us the next year.

Omnichannel presence

Omnichannel selling combines several platforms and channels to offer a seamless experience to the customer. This includes online markets, brand apps, physical stores and websites. For a brand to succeed it’s imperative that the shopper experience across these platforms is uniform and equally engaging.

A company should have their presence wherever relevant and should focus on providing a one stop solution to the consumer.

A simple example would be Lenskart; Despite being a successful D2C brand, it has grown its offline presence by adding 1100+ stores across India. Their customers can make purchases at a physical store and then exchange items by using any digital storefront (apps, desktop websites, mobile websites, etc.) vice versa.

According to a Harvard Business Review study of 46,000 consumers:

• Companies using a omnichannel strategy have a clear-cut advantage over online only retailers in the market, as they can leverage their existing store assets, from a supply chain as well as consumer experience POV.
• 73% of the research participants admitted to have used multiple channels during their shopping journey.
• There was a 13% increase in physical store purchase for brands who took their stores online, this indicates that customers researched the products on different platforms before making a purchase.

 

Use of AI

Coming into the tech segment, AI (Artificial Intelligence) has been a crucial part of the evolving E-commerce industry. AI has enabled a better product recommendation, advanced search options, enablingpersonalizedexperience in the most user-friendly ways.

Product recommendations

With personalization being a key focus for e-commerce businesses, using AI can actually help improve the way your brand interacts with customers. Features such as product recommendations, advanced and hyper-targeted personalization at scale is only possible with technologies like AI.

AI allows you to gather insightful data plus trends about each prospect and customer. You’ll be able to offer timely and relevant suggestions based on various factors like their profiles, interests, and purchase history. Consumers expect businesses to be proactive and suggest what products they might need next. Moreover, product recommendations account for up to 31% of E-commerce store revenues.

Advanced Search Experience

Voice and search by image are constantly on a rise, they can become game changers for the E-commerce industry.

Voice makes online buying easier, which makes voice-enabled searches more popular and widely used. According to an article on Mint, India’s userbase of voice E-commerce shoppers—those who use voice search options for shopping—is set to rise to 168 million shoppers by the end of 2022. In India 42% of female shoppers said they have used voice assistants for online shopping. Most shoppers belonging to the age group 18-24 years frequently used assistant enabled devices to shop online.

A study VWO shows that 62% of millennials and Gen Z want to use visual search. Therefore, only a few brands in the market have instilled this feature. A good example for this would be ASOS, a popular online retailer, which came up with its style match feature. In this feature, a customer can upload a photo of a product they want, and they will receive a list of products most similar to the uploaded photo. Since shoppers can’t touch or feel products, they rely heavily on images to make purchase decisions. Optimizing E-commerce sites for visual search is an essential part of any successful shopping experience.

Ecommerce marketers need to plan for the future of search, which at the moment, is exceptionally visual and voice-focused. As Google continues to push the boundaries of what search is and what it can be, E-commerce marketers must be ready to take on the challenge.

Social Commerce

Selling through social media is probably the fastest growing channel today, making the most of mobile shopping. 79% of smartphone users have made a purchase using their mobile devices. The popularity of social commerce can be attributed to the fact that it enables online consumers to browse products, interact with businesses, and place orders all within the same social media platform.

Direct sales to social media users are extremely convenient for businesses. It is cost effective, compared to building and maintaining an E-commerce website or an app.

Influencer marketing

Influencer marketing has become a common term in recent years. Brands have been using this opportunity in the digital world to exhibit themselves on social media platforms. People now trust the advice of their favourite influencers because they look up to them. For businesses trying to build brand recognition and increase product sales to their target demographic, influencer marketing is a fantastic opportunity.

By 2025, India’s influencer marketing business is predicted to be worth 22 billion Indian rupees and expand at a CAGR of 25%.

Livestream Shopping

The difference between livestream shopping and typical internet buying is that the former is unedited, with the audience participating in real time with the host. In contrast to typical internet shopping, viewers can ask questions or make comments, and the host can respond to them as they demonstrate or review a product. These programs are typically live streamed on websites, social media platforms, and e-commerce apps.

A simple example would be of Nothing phone when launched in India. Flipkart conducted a live session, called “Flipkart Live”

A press release claims that the Nothing Phone (1) sale was only active for 10 minutes before all of the offered units were sold out. There were around 3.8 lakh users logged in for the sale. Flipkart has been experimenting on this segment on its app, it engages with numerous content creators to promote different products.

According to a RedSeer research, the size of the live E-commerce sector in India is anticipated to reach a gross merchandise value of $4–5 billion by 2025, Subscription model

Subscription based E-commerce is a type of business that allows clients to subscribe for the goods or services they use frequently. The frequency of subscriptions might be weekly, monthly, yearly or as desired by the customer.

According to Zuora, the subscription economy in India has grown by 400%, in the past eight years. Such models provide consumers with ease and discounts, while the brands enjoy repeat purchases and brand loyalty.

Nowadays, D2C brands offer products and services that are a part of daily routines like groceries, nutrition supplements, and beauty products, daily meal kits, etc.

Showing sustainable growth, 70% of business leaders agree the subscription model plays a vital role in the future of E-commerce growth and expansion.

Multiple payment method

Sites with a variety of payment choices attract more customers than those with only one. Additionally, they receive more repeat customers. By providing a variety of payment options, you can ease the checkout process and motivate customers to finish their transaction. A brands conversion rate and revenue will rise if it can reduce cart abandonment. Providing an alternative payment scheme can add a competitive edge to your business.

One of the most popular options is BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later) or EMI.

As the name entails, customers can pay for things in instalments through BNPL, which is generally interest-free. By 2025, this payment method is expected to account for $680 billion in transaction volume, and this trend is expected to continue. BNPL is a fantastic approach to boost customer satisfaction because it is widely available.

Customers are more likely to acquire products thanks to BNPL’s lower initial payment. As a result, there are more purchases and a 35% decrease in cart abandonment.

Efficient Logistics

Global E-commerce statistics for 2023

• Total retail sales are still expected to grow around the world
• “Delivery expectations” are the most common fulfillment challenge
• The average e-commerce conversion rate is 46.1%
• The average cart abandonment rate is 69.99%
• High extra costs are the top reason online shoppers abandon carts
• Speed and convenience of delivery are almost as important as its cost
• 84% of online shoppers are concerned about packages not arriving on time
• 44% of customers trust the retailer more if they have auto-complete address entry
• More than half of the consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable fashion items

As you can see above, five out of nine global E-commerce statistics involve issues faced by consumers related to logistics. Having a flawless logistics system is very difficult, at the same time very crucial. After covering all the above points, in the end if you are still not able to deliver your product faster and at low cost, it is all a waste. In order to have a perfect logistics system the following are essential

• Storage, warehousing and materials handling
• Packaging and unitization
• Inventory management
• Information and Communication

Having a logistics aggregator becomes essential. As they are one stop solution for all the logistics needs of your company. Shipyaari is one such aggregator. Shipyaari streamlines all such logistics functions on one platform. Shipyaari services over 28,000 pin codes, has partnered with 20 courier partners pan India and internationally and has catered 20,000+ clients since 2013.

Conclusion

The E-commerce industry is growing rapidly. You can make the most of the vast opportunities it brings along, given that you have right intent and put in efforts. The above mentioned are some of the key trends, an E-commerce brand should be aware of. The key is to realize, all of these are ways to make your consumer’s buying process as user friendly as possible.