If you are one of the ecommerce business owners who think that there is no need to provide an exceptional and exclusive shopping experience to your customers; you need to wake up. Customers are the nucleus of ecommerce universe. And right from researching about the brand to ordering it online, they are keen on making the most out of omnichannel experience. It goes without saying that people love to use new gadgets and various shopping options being provided to them by the retailers.
Through this article, we intend to acquaint you with some of the challenges ecommerce store owners must overcome if they want to boost their sales and attain success in today’s highly competitive market. We will also provide you with some ecommerce development solutions and how you can improve the value of your brand.
The Navigators of Online Retail 2017
The year 2017 is all about challenging the old, mundane and stereotype business models. Businesses that have gone beyond conventional models have achieved much more success as compared to others. Number of Millennials is growing in the US and the generation is utilizing mobile and wearable technologies to the fullest. Such technologies have given birth to other customer-friendly channels. Moreover, a new innovation is introduced daily, pushing retail businesses to meet with the expectation of customers who one-of-a-kind need experience while fidgeting around with their devices.
People that indulge into shopping while surfing on their devices are known as connected spenders. A Harvard Business review has revealed that the connected spenders contribute to 19% of global population. And this percentage is likely to grow by 37% by the year 2025. So if you want to be one of the frontrunners in alluring your target audience, you need to render some ultra-modern services and build the reliability for your brand.
Millennials – Spearheading the Consumer Movement
As compared to other connected spenders, Millennials spend much more and are leading the consumer movement. They are quite different compared to the former generation as they expect a customized look and feel to the products, indulge into last minute shopping, want same day delivery and seek instant customer support. And to the core of these buying habits, lies the word “convenience”.
So if you want the high percentage of consumers to buy from you, you need to innovate as much as you can and enhance the buying experience by addressing all the pain points. While choosing e-commerce web solutions for your brand, make sure you speak with the professionals and create a website that offers a good buying experience for your customers.
Rendering mobile oriented experiences
Quite clearly, desktop usage has become a passé and mobiles have taken over. It’s time for retailers to create new opportunities by adapting mobile commerce solutions and win the hearts of their customer base. Vendors can partner with reliable fintechs and provide single-tap payment options to the customers. They can also come up with special discounts and mobile-exclusive offers from time to time so that the number of customers buying through mobile devices phone goes up. For the retailers who are unaware, the mobile payment volume is expected to reach $274 billion by the year 2021.
However, there are certain cyber security concerns when it comes to making mobile payments which need to be dealt with. Ecommerce business owners should integrate only those solutions that are reliable and credible. Some if these mobile wallets are Samsung Pay, Apple Pay and Google Pay. These companies have secured pins and fingerprint verification so that scams can be kept at bay.
Embracing digital currencies
The term ‘Bitcoin’ is a very well known form of digital currency and isn’t new to hear these days. Right now, it might be difficult to decipher how it works but some years down the line, it might become one of the most majorly accepted ways of payment by millennials. Once bitcoin, and the technology it works on (blockchain) is understood, it might get accepted by ecommerce platforms who intend to cater to a particular audience.
Voice Ordering through Virtual Assistants
Imagine not having to even touch or tap a device in order to shop for the required product! When Amazon’s Alexa was introduced in November 2014, it created quite a stir in the market. The voice operated virtual assistants are always ready to serve and can order for what customers want in no time. Looking into this fad, internet retail brands have to be alert and reachable for their customers as and when they want.
Although, marketing professionals know how to attract potential customers, don’t be surprised if retailers partner with Amazon, Google and Apple to create voice oriented and algorithmic marketing campaigns to promote their brand.
How can ecommerce business owners keep up with the trends?
It might get overwhelming and challenging for the ecommerce brands to cope with the ever-changing demands and trends. But the first and the most crucial step that you must take as a retailer is to study the behavior of customers and connected spenders. A detailed study involving buyers’ shopping patterns will provide you with an understanding of what leads them to buy, what results into abandoned ecommerce shopping carts and what factors influence their purchase decisions.
In a nutshell, today’s ecommerce asks you to strike a perfect balance between digital payments, artificial intelligence, mobile application development, cybersecurity and other aspects. If you want to make this a possibility, you should get in touch with a professional and hardworking ecommerce web design & development team. Hiring marketing professionals, who implement technological collaborations, establish valuable customer relationships and drive the change for your brand is also a good idea. What are your thoughts on innovations that influence the field of ecommerce? How open are you to adapt to these changes? Feel free to share with us.
