Close to 80 percent of Americans shop online. Let that sink in. With numbers like that, the only thing that’s stopping people from doing all their shopping online is limitations in technology.
However, the advancements in technology being made right now will soon lead to the ride of many future eCommerce trends. If you’re starting an eCommerce business, you’ve come in at the right time. It’s a better time than ever for running a business online.
However, to truly succeed in this world, you need to study mobile shopping trends. This article will walk you through some of the most important of these trends out there so that you can better understand eCommerce, and make some money along the way.
1. Shopping On the Go
While eCommerce has already taken over the world of shopping, mobile commerce will soon rule the day. Soon enough, the days of the shopping list will be gone. People will be able to buy things at the simple click of a button, eliminating annoying wait times.
Revenue generated by the world of mobile shopping is about to skyrocket in the 2020s. In the future, shoppers won’t even have to leave the social media pages that they’re on in order to buy things. All of the most relevant social media pages won’t just have targeted advertisements, but direct buy buttons as well.
In the past, customers used to get constantly frustrated by checking out on the small screens of phones and tablets. Perhaps due to increased proficiency in the average mobile user or easier ways of paying mobile paying, more people are making use of mobile sopping than ever.
To deal with this, make sure that you update your SEO plan to include keywords that people would make use of on mobile devices. Keep in mind that people use mobile devices while on the go, and so will most likely use much more quick keywords.
To find out if you’re handling your SEO right, get yourself a technical SEO audit.
2. VR Will Bridge the Gap Between the Internet and Real Life
Previously, the “online” world and the world of “real-life” have been viewed as markedly different.
(Fun fact, this is a key concept to the subgenre of sci-fi known as cyberpunk, grandfathered by Thomas Pynchon in his book Gravity’s Rainbow as a sort of head-space called The Zone. When characters enter this zone, they start to behave differently and divorce their actions from their consequences.)
However, the technological advancement of the world of virtual reality is making it easier than ever to step into this other world. Now, customers will be able to replicate the experience of shopping at an in-person store from the comfort of their own homes.
This will eliminate many of the disadvantages of contemporary eCommerce. No longer will customers have to read indications of size and hope that garments fit them in real life. They’ll now be able to see these articles of clothing and compare them to others in the virtual space.
Currently, VR is mainly being used for video games and entertainment. However, businesses that find a way to make use of these technologies in other ways are sure to shine.
3. Cryptocurrency Will Become Tangible
Okay. . . we’re not saying that cryptocurrency is going to become an in-person currency. However, it will most likely dramatically shift from the way that it’s looked at now.
When cryptocurrency was first introduced back in 2008, it was treated as little more than a curiosity. Even now, with bitcoin being worth over 40,000 dollars, bitcoin is a currency that most people speculate on — it’s essentially a game for people in the stock market to play to try to make some money.
On top of this, the technology that makes bitcoin run — blockchain — was so innovative that it’s being used in its own right. Plenty of companies have adopted blockchain independently of bitcoin as a way of keeping their supply chains secure.
All of this has led to people forgetting one key thing about cryptocurrency — it’s a form of currency. Currently, very few businesses accept Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, etc, as a form of currency. However, this might not be true in the future.
As more businesses start to realize that cryptocurrency isn’t just a passing fancy and begin to understand just how secure and quick it is, more businesses are going to start accepting it in purchases. This is especially true of eCommerce.
4. Increased Personalization
The internet age is the age of personalized experiences. Never before in human history have people with extremely niche interests been able to experience content for them at the tip of their fingers. This has trained people to expect quality customized experiences.
While it’s not your business to try to please everyone, you should try to offer the best and most personalized customer service possible to the people who do choose to shop with you.
But that’s not all. In the 2020s, the more passive parts of your business must feel personalized as well. Your website has the opportunity to be a unique experience that feels tailored to the types of customers you’re trying to attract.
This is why recommend making use of a website customization service. The worst thing you could do in such an out-there and in-your-face age is to look like everyone else. A good website customization service will be able to figure out what your customers enjoy aesthetically and capitalize on this to create a unique look.
Aesthetic isn’t everything in the 2020s — but it sure is a lot.
5. Voice Search
With research suggesting that voice search now accounts for 20 percent of all Google searches, it’s easy to see that this innovative technology will transform our landscape. Voice searching allows people to search with the same casual inflections that they speak with.
This might not seem like it could change much at first — but consider how drastic the differences between speaking and typing are. If someone’s looking to find a great burger restaurant, they might type — good burgers near me — into their search engine. But no one would say that out loud.
A person looking for a burger restaurant near them would say something much closer to — hey where can I find a good burger restaurant? They might even throw in some slang and say — is there a cheap burger joint around here?
(They feel comfortable throwing in slang because contemporary technologies — Alexa, Siri, etc — replicate human speech. They make the searcher feel as though they’re talking to a human.)
This means that when customers use voice search, they’re more likely to find products that are listed in a more casual tone of voice. If you’re looking to boost your eCommerce traffic in the coming years, we highly recommend throwing some more conversational language into your content.
6. Influencer Marketing Will Continue to Soar
One of the most innovative forms of marketing to arise out of the 2010s is influencer marketing. With seven out of ten people on social media, it’s no wonder why so many companies are abandoning getting their ads going on TV.
Influencer marketing is a form of direct marketing. It allows companies to cut out many middlemen and speak right to their customer’s desires.
Rather than paying an advertising company to conduct research and hire actors and a director, in influencer marketing, companies hire influencers in circles where their products appeal. They’ll pay these influencers to come up with their own original content for advertising. This makes it more likely that the content created will appeal to these niches.
Influencer marketing works well for both businesses and influencers. Influencers are able to profit from doing a thing that they love, and businesses are able to profit by gaining an increase in business and buzz.
If you’re going to make use of influencer marketing, we highly recommend making use of some SEO terms that your influencer users in their content, because that’s the way that customers will search for you.
7. The Rebirth of the Subscription
As the 21st-century rolls on, more and more trends from the days of yore are coming back around. The internet age is a unique breeding ground for new waves of technology to meet classic concepts from culture.
One of the old-school ways of doing business that’s come back is the subscription model. Companies like Netflix and Dollar Shave Club have made it their entire business plan to provide premium services for one price.
The process of paying one fixed fee for services was defeated by the supermarket model. However, in the age of the internet, the subscription model is more viable than ever. People are willing to reduce the amount of variety they receive if it can mean consistency and quality of content.
We highly recommend finding a way to make your eCommerce business a subscription service. How can you find a way to consistently provide your customers with quality content? Is there any way you can pair down your product in order for it to be delivered repetitively?
8. Artificial Intelligence Will Make the Shopping Experience Easier
Artificial intelligence — or AI — will prove to be one of the most important technological advancements of our time. It will serve to make plenty of customer interactions more personal and save people a lot of time.
AI can be used in a number of ways. It can be used to collect analytics to make sure that customers are getting the most personalized experience possible. In this way, it can help out other items on this list.
AI can also help make suggestions to guide a user’s experience. AI doesn’t just benefit you, the business owner, it also benefits the shoppers as well. AI could very well increase your reputation.
AI isn’t just about increasing your bottom line, it’s about making a better world for consumers to shop in. If you commit to technological advancement, you’re committing to better customer service, which can only lead to your business spreading in popularity due to positive word of mouth.
9. An Increase in eCommerce
All of these specific trends in the world of eCommerce can make it hard to see the big picture. But if there’s one thing that’s definitely going to be trending in the 2020s, it’s eCommerce itself.
At the end of the day, anything you can do to increase your companies eCommerce will do you well. Whether this means increasing online advertising, keeping more of a certain product in stock, or simply creating a website and getting online for the first time, there’s something every company can be doing to better engage themself in this world.
While the internet has been integral to our culture for a number of years now the 2020s will see the internet become completely ubiquitous. Older generations do have problems using the internet.
However, as the COVID 19 pandemic showed us, shifts in the way we look at the world and the necessity of going outside and doing things can vastly shift the amount that we use the internet as a culture.
With the increase in technology that allows people to shop while on the go, have a completely integrated shopping experience while staying at home, and new forms of payment that make shopping online easier than ever before, it’s no wonder why eCommerce will completely take over in the 2020s.
Make Use of These Future eCommerce Trends
The above trends aren’t just simply good pieces of business advice — they’re where the world is headed. Whether you make use of these future eCommerce trends or not, they are going to take off.
The best thing to do from a business standpoint is to get on top of these business trends, so you can provide your customers with the great service that they deserve.
For information, contact us today.
