Online shopping is a growing trend. This may be due to the current world pandemic, technological advances or simply a natural development in business development. We can see the steady growth of e-commerce by looking at the numbers (picture below).
Many companies had to go online during the Covid-19 pandemic. Some companies discovered the benefits of e-commerce, and they continued to focus on the online market even after the pandemic was lifted. This allowed them to return to offline.
The figure shows the share of e-commerce sales in total retail, before, during and after the pandemic. Source Statista
What are the trends we should expect in this fast growing online world?
Mobile commerce
M-commerce should definitely be mentioned at the beginning of this blog. Smartphones and tablets are becoming increasingly popular, as is the ease of shopping on smartphones. Statista predicts that mobile commerce will account for 53.9% of e-commerce sales in the US in 2021. That is more than half of the total number of purchases. Is your web shop optimized for AMP? If you do not, I strongly recommend that you make it number 1 priority. M-trading is all about speed. Ericsson’s studies show that smartphones have the same cognitive functions as a movie, or the ability to solve mathematical problems. This means that customers do not wait for your web shop to load, but instead look elsewhere for their needs.
This figure shows how stress can cause mobile delays, compared to solving math problems or watching horror movies.
Different payment methods
It’s the little things that make customers happy. One of these is the variety of payment options. This is the last step in the shopping process. A lack of preferred payment options can cause problems. It is important to let customers pay how they want and to make it easy. Did you know that more than half of all smartphone purchases by 2025 will be made with E-marketer? This scenario is ideal for Apple Pay and Google Pay.
There is a growing trend for installments to be used as a payment method, including bank transfer, credit card, PayPal and bank transfer. In Central Europe, Twisto allows purchases from third parties. This means that you can divide the amount into three months. Different companies offer more services throughout Europe. It could benefit from having customers who cannot afford the products under temporary circumstances.
Professional tips:
Here are some tips to make your web shop more user-friendly:
• Place an order with one click
• Express check-out
• Popular payment methods
• Save user data
• Direct purchase on the product side
• Offer installments
• Delivery price and delivery time are visible
Social trade
Next is the subset of e-commerce. This is often used by D2C (Direct to Consumer) companies. Its goal is to make shopping easy – find the product, make the decision and then check out at one place. Everyone has their pros and cons. Most professionals are for the customer, which is crucial for this trend. All this happens on social media platforms (Facebook and Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok), which allows consumers to see reviews from others and get in touch directly with sellers before buying the product. Social commerce allows companies to take part in consumers’ lives, tell stories, provoke emotions and get valuable feedback. A new trend in social commerce is Live Shopping. It is detailed below.
This topic is covered in more detail in our blog post Social Commerce.
Professional tips:
It is important to have your product flow ready to be able to market products online. Can you optimize and manage your product flow for social media or other e-commerce channels like eBay?
• All data must be in the correct order and with the correct description
• You must have the same product flow information on your website
• Optimize the image of the product for advertising (Read more about image transformations)
• The title of the product must convey core characteristics, but be very concise
• Your price must match that on your website. It must also be in the correct country of sale.
Are you not an expert in product feed management? Get a demo of Wakeup Data Connect or Actions for free and learn how to optimize your flow.
Omnichannel and hyper-personal customer experience
Social media will continue to grow in popularity and customers. This is something we already know. However, they will not disappear. Everyone has their preferred method of buying goods and not everyone is comfortable buying them via social media. It is important to be visible in as many places as possible. Omnichanel that sells through all channels, online and offline. Greater reach means more people, organically or paid.
Hyper-personalization allows companies to offer the best customer experience. The company has an important resource: all information from the omnichannel about customers is available. The customer is the first to be contacted at all touch points (CMS and TV, Watch), Native Apps, Social Commerce, and then it goes headless (CMS, TV. The next step is the customer data solution. This information can be compiled from customer surveys, actionable insights, offline visits , data integrity and consent management as well as other sources. The customer’s information will be processed by AI online and offline. A Customer 360 profile will be created. The last magic happens in e-commerce applications. All information collected by the company can then be used in its e trading platform. It will be available online in product catalogs, search, configurable and promotional products, shopping cart, order management and all other places in Omnichanels. The choices, options and pre-filled windows will be customized to the customer’s profile.
We can expect an emphasis on hyper-personalization now and in the near future, as we experience the transformation of the market into direct sales (D2C). People do not like to be targeted in big campaigns, but they will buy products and services that are tailored to their needs.
Google’s local store listings
Google LIA is an innovative tool that is rapidly spreading across Europe. It is a tool that uses the customer’s location to highlight nearby products. Its marketing principle is very simple. The search results for the desired product will be displayed on Google. To avoid complications, customers can visit the store and try the product before they buy. ).
Google claims that consumers who can physically see the product are more likely than others to buy it. Sellers can now activate a download option later.
You can read our blog post about Google LIA for more information. Book a meeting to learn more about Google LIA.
Cookies
What? What? Cookies as a trend. Cookies are not a trend. They are a necessary component of data processing. It is important to give customers choices about which data you will process and which you will not. This helps build trust with them. You need to show respect for your customers’ privacy and make them feel comfortable on your site. This will enable companies to build a good reputation and possibly establish long-term relationships.
Sustainability
In recent years, sustainability has played an important role and has even entered the e-commerce sector. There is more waste generated by packaging to deliver products to customers. Products that are sustainable in production, packaging and delivery are more appealing to consumers. European Ecommerce Report 2021 shows that customers are more likely to buy products made in a sustainable way. Customers are willing to pay more for sustainable products in different countries. While countries in the north and west are more willing to pay more for sustainable products, countries with lower GDP per capita are less likely. However, each country is seeing an increase in the number of customers who support sustainability through e-commerce. Although I can not predict whether sustainability will be the dominant trend in 2022, it is a topic that appeals to a large proportion of consumers.
POAS vs ROAS
Marketers use ROAS (Return on Ad Investment) to determine if an ad is profitable. Advertising is considered profitable if the return on investment exceeds advertising expenses. This is a fantastic measure. It does not include all measurement values required for returns in e-commerce analytics. This means that Google, Facebook and Instagram will not be able to tell if your business has actually made money. They decided to use Revenue rather than Return. ROAS is often used to denote revenue from advertising expenses. Revenue, however, does not provide information on margins, fixed costs or shipping costs. These are all important indicators of a successful e-commerce business. If we want to talk about profitability in advertising, ROAS is what has been considered the best. It is simply because there was no better measure.
POAS is an alternative to ROAS. It was originally intended to be a return on advertising expenses, but it ended up being revenue from advertising expenses. Divide the channel’s gross profit by the amount spent on ads to get your POAS. If it is larger than one, it is profitable. Advertising bidding strategies are often focused on Breakeven ROAS, which is not transparent. Target breakeven ROAS is higher for more expensive products, although margins are usually very low. Sometimes the products with the highest margin, with lower costs, make the biggest profit. POAS is better than ROAS. It will give you insight into key indicators, allowing you to place bids more efficiently.
POAS is an important measure of ad bidding strategy. You can learn more about POAS or implement it in your company by contacting Profit Metric’s website. Here you will find valuable information from real professionals.
Shop live and use Visual Commerce
Both cases concern interactive sales of products online. Sellers offer images that are more realistic than static images on the internet. This gives customers a clear idea of the product’s suitability for their needs.
Live Shopping is possible as part of Social Commerce, which can be done on social media platforms. The livestreaming depends on the customer’s involvement with the seller, or an influencer (as an ambassador for the marketed brand). Customers have the chance to ask questions and the organizer will show the product’s design and functionality. A link to the website is also available as part of the livestream. This method of selling is direct and relatively new. We can expect it to grow significantly during the first half of 2022.
Visual Commerce is now in e-commerce trends, right after live shopping. Although the goal is similar, it can be a little challenging to realize it. Customers can see an interactive 3D visualization of the product in visual commerce. This can help them make better decisions. It will be a big part of the clothing industry because customers can practically try on clothes, caps and other accessories to see if they like them. This can be done via social media (TikTok), or online through an app created and programmed for the brand.
