Current eCommerce trends have come a long way since the first online sales transaction occurred 27 years ago. It was at that time that Dan Kohn sold a Sting CD to a friend using a website and data encryption technology to retrieve the buyer’s credit card information.
As Smithsonian reports, “even the NSA” wouldn’t have been able to know that transaction occurred at the time. Today, eCommerce continues to get more sophisticated. Let’s have a look at the five biggest trends in the eCommerce industry.
1. Mobile Shopping
Mobile shopping is one trend that has taken off considerably as Internet users have turned more towards their phones than their desktops to conduct business. There are many payment processors on the market that make sending and receiving money a zip.
Expect this to grow as more retailers incorporate additional ways to pay. This will break barriers to anyone who has yet to make purchases through a mobile device.
2. Online B2B Sales
Among the B2B eCommerce trends we see is the move of businesses to conduct sales transactions electronically. Even as B2C went more online, businesses continued to use traditional channels (i.e., checks and purchase orders) to conduct transactions. Now businesses are starting to embrace online portals, as well as one-time virtual credit cards.
3. Improvements in AI
Advancements in artificial intelligence will be an ongoing thing in eCommerce as the technology continues to improve based on past user behaviors. Companies like Amazon have used AI to great effect through their “Customers also bought” function. Online e-tailers have followed suit with their own incorporation of AI into cross-selling.
4. Mastering Search Algorithms
Companies with something to sell, whether B2C or B2B, realize that algorithms are here to stay in the world of online shopping. The companies that master how to attract buyers using their online platforms win the day.
That’s why Google factors greatly into current eCommerce trends. Aside from that, companies will continue to find ways of optimizing for voice search since voice-to-text technology has improved greatly in recent years.
Last but not least, Google trends in eCommerce because they’re always changing their algorithms to improve search results and enhance the user experience. Google now makes dozens of algorithm updates each year.
5. Forms of Payment
Expect the addition of more cash sending apps, incorporation of bitcoin as an accepted form of payment, and other inclusive eCommerce payments trends. This decentralization of money will continue to be a trend and open up new markets for buyers and sellers.
These eCommerce Trends Are Here to Stay
New forms of payment, the embrace of AI, and a continued move toward mobile payments. Call these eCommerce trends, but they are trends that are likely here to stay.
Understanding how these trends operate and working to keep up with them will become essential to growing revenue for your business. That’s true whether you are a B2C or B2B firm. An effective digital marketing strategy is needed either way and here are five more tips that will help you get there.
