Every year, the eCommerce industry expands at a breakneck pace. Its worth and significance are growing all the time. At an alarming rate, new eCommerce trends emerge. We've compiled a list of all the trends you should be aware of in order to compete (or, ideally, outdo!) your competitors in 2022. The global eCommerce industry has already surpassed the $2 trillion mark in 2019. With US$634 billion in sales in 2018, China is clearly the leader in eCommerce, and the report predicts that it will remain so through 2023. A shift in purchasing power from the United States and Europe to China and Southeast Asia has begun, fueled by an increasing number of Asian consumers gaining access to e-commerce as their purchasing power and internet penetration, particularly on mobile devices, grows. But, what are the trends that will emerge in the global eCommerce market in 2022?
Top 11 Ecommerce Trends for 2022
The most significant change affecting the eCommerce growth in the last year is a fundamental shift in consumer purchasing patterns and behaviors, directly resulting from the pandemic. This shift has increased expectations for what people expect from their online experiences. So, what will happen in 2022?
1. Individualization is King
Image is taken from Strikingly user’s website.
Because so many retailers have switched to or expanded their eCommerce trends in response to the pandemic, the market is more competitive and crowded. Consumers will be able to choose who they interact with and who they buy from online in 2022. Furthermore, prolonged lockdowns caused a fundamental shift in the demographics of who shops online. Before the pandemic, an online store was mostly frequented by tech-savvy millennials and Gen-Zs. Now that older people are more comfortable with this model, the eCommerce industry must up its game in terms of personalization. Surprisingly, because so many consumers are accustomed to shopping in this manner, a more significant number of them are willing to share their data. In 2022, forward-thinking eCommerce retailers who analyze their data, hyper-personalize their products, and outreach these efforts will be the winners.
2. The Ascension of Chatbots
Image is taken from Strikingly user’s website
Let's face it: when it comes to online browsing, people have a short attention span and short patience. If a customer needs more information about a product, you have a golden—yet limited—opportunity to answer their questions and improve online sales. Chatbots shine in this scenario. While virtual agents aren't entirely new, advances in artificial intelligence have transformed them into a robust customer relationship management (CRM) tool in recent years.
Strikingly provides live chat, similar to (and probably better than) chatbots. You can respond to customer inquiries in real-time using the live chat feature. This builds trust on their part, and if you have this added to your online retail store, you can gradually build rapport with your customers. Furthermore, it is an excellent way to generate high-quality leads for your eCommerce website. Strikingly was used to create the website above, so make sure you use Strikingly tools to create something similar for your online store.
3. Shopping on the Mobile
Image is taken from Strikingly user’s website.
According to Grow Code, half of all Americans shop online using a mobile device. Furthermore, 55% of Europeans use their mobile phones to make online purchases. Mobile shopping is one of the eCommerce trends for 2021 that is here to stay. Customers can shop from anywhere using their phones, which is important in today's world. If your eCommerce site isn't mobile or web application responsive, you're passing up huge opportunities. The ability to pay with their phones is appealing to mobile shoppers. Fortunately, you won't miss out on the opportunity to launch your mobile shopping business with Strikingly. Strikingly makes retail e-commerce appear to be a walk in the park for various reasons. To begin, we provide a Simple Store section and optimization tools to help you launch your online retail shop. Second, all Strikingly-created sites are pre-configured to respond to mobile screens. This means your online business can be accessed from a variety of devices.
4. Virtual and Augmented Reality
Consider the following recent statistics in eCommerce trends: 71% of consumers say they'd be more likely to shop with eCommerce brands that use virtual reality. As a result, over 120,000 stores will use augmented reality (AR) in 2022 to improve the online shopping experience they provide their eCommerce customers. Augmented and virtual reality solve the most obvious online shopping problems for buyers. How do they know that what they buy will look the same when it arrives at their door as it does in the eCommerce store? Having a non-static, three-dimensional preview of products gives customers more confidence to be pleased when receiving their goods.
5. The Voice is Cool Once More
Virtual assistants, like Amazon's Alexa and Apple's Siri, have been around for some time. However, the convergence of voice-enabled virtual assistants and eCommerce will explode in the coming year. The number of voice shoppers is expected to grow by 55% by 2022, reaching $40 billion. Consider incorporating this channel into your CRM and marketing strategies if you own an eCommerce business. Using a voice-search optimization strategy is one of the major eCommerce trends to ensure that your products and services rank for keywords and phrases relevant to voice-search shopper queries.
6. The Green Brigade
According to the Harvard Business Review, 65 percent of consumers prefer to buy products from companies that demonstrate a genuine commitment to environmentally friendly business practices. While looking at the trends in eCommerce, we anticipate that players who demonstrate a commitment to environmentally sound practices will dominate their market in the coming year.
7. Payment Options that are Flexible
Image is taken from Strikingly user’s website.
Nothing is more frustrating than reaching the checkout cart to pay for your online shopping spree only to discover that the eCommerce site does not accept your preferred payment method. Customers abandoning their shopping carts is the worst-case scenario for retailers. To reduce the likelihood of this happening to you, consider diversifying the ways people can pay for goods in your store, especially if you currently only accept checks or credit/debit cards. This is one of the major eCommerce trends to choose from in 2022.
Strikingly, as seen in the image above, provides a dependable set of payment options. You can access your "Store Settings" through your website editor, then click on "Accept Payments." This enables payment channels like Stripe, PayPal, Square, and even offline payment options.
8. The Evolution of Fulfillment
Standard methods of delivery and fulfillment were fundamentally altered due to the pandemic. This trend shows no signs of abating; many customers have grown to appreciate the added flexibility of having various fulfillment options to choose from. Today, many stores have secure locations in malls or other public places with lockers where online shoppers can pick up their purchased items at their leisure.
9. Customer Privacy Moves to the Forefront
No eCommerce provider can afford to ignore new and strengthened regulations regarding what retailers are and aren't allowed to do with their customer data—and with whom they share it. The penalties for violating these compliance rules can be severe, including hefty fines and reputational damage. So, do your research and comply with the regulations and eCommerce trends that apply to your country and industry.
10. The Resurrection of the "Mom-and-Pop Shop"
Smaller, direct-to-consumer businesses can look forward to a prosperous 2022, thanks to consumers' desire to support those smaller businesses that survived the pandemic or simply a desire to shop closer to home.
These vendors sell everything from ready-to-eat meals to handcrafted items and fresh produce. Many companies deliver to their customers' homes, fostering brand affinity and loyalty.
11. Data Backup and Recovery Prioritization
Data are one of the most valuable commodities produced by an eCommerce store. It would be impossible to compete without these insights; the brand would be unable to predict future needs or project eCommerce trends. Your online store may go down for a variety of reasons. An employee's accidental deletion, a power outage, a malicious attack, or the loss of premises due to a fire or flood could quickly destroy on-premise servers and computers. As a result, it's critical to have a proactive cloud backup strategy to ensure the preservation of your data and digital assets. With all systems and products digitized, any downtime would be a significant loss for any business, especially for an eCommerce store. Loss of business continuity will cost you sales and customers who will gladly take their business elsewhere if they believe your site is untrustworthy or unreliable.
Conclusion
Overall, focusing on the end-user is critical in eCommerce trends. This year, concentrate on going where your target customer is already and providing convenience and support. No matter who your target audience is, they can't buy your product if they don't know about it. However, don't abandon traditional channels to pursue new ones; instead, maintain a balanced omnichannel strategy to keep both existing and potential customers satisfied.
