Cash in on the latest trends in e-commerce.
The e-commerce industry is fast gaining momentum. Research indicates that e-commerce sales generated in the US reached $304.1 billion in 2014 and is expected to reach $491.5 billion in 2018. In addition, mobile commerce or m-commerce is also growing at a surprising rate, generating more than $38 billion in revenues in 2013 alone.
In line with these exciting developments, you need to be aware of the latest trends that will shape the future of the industry. Here are some of the trends that are expected to make the most impact.
M-commerce. M-commerce is taking the world by storm and will become a major force to reckon with in the e-commerce industry. Consider the following facts and figures.
- The volume of web traffic generated by mobile devices increased by 120% in 2014.
- Mobile accounted for approximately 30% of all ecommerce transactions all over the world last Christmas.
- The top 25% of retailers generate almost 40% of their online sales from mobile users.
Taking this significant development into consideration, there is a clear need for you to invest in mobile marketing and provide a more personalized mobile experience if you want to benefit from this growing trend.
Social shopping. There is no denying that social shopping is fast becoming a key player in the e-commerce space. In fact, the majority of today?s consumers (84%) are directly influenced by what their social network tells them about a product. Additionally, social media generated more than $2.69 billion in sales in 2014, according to a recent statistic. To get good results, use images to engage your customers and entice them to buy your products.
Always-on shopping. Most consumers are now using multiple devices and are shopping whenever it is most convenient for them. As such, you need to provide a flexible buying experience that will cater to their individual buying habits.
Speedy delivery services. Since most consumers express their discontent about the prevailing delivery services most e-commerce businesses provide, there will be a move toward improved delivery services in the immediate future. Thus, you can expect that deliveries taking longer than three days will wreak havoc on anyone?s profits.
Content evolution. This year, Google will make it more difficult to predict which keywords will help you rank higher in the search engines. As such, marketers will start writing more informative and useful content for their readers. Articles featuring how-to guides, life hacks and other creative content will very soon take the place of keyword-stuffed content.
