5 Trends Currently Shaping Online Selling

Because of the rapid growth in e-commerce in recent years, technology, techniques and strategies have grown in tandem. Presently, consumers can find virtually any product or service they want online and with ease. Thanks to the deepening of the internet and advancing technology that are shaping e-commerce trends. As things stand now, it looks like these trends are going to remain relevant into the foreseeable future. The reason e-commerce businesses cannot afford to overlook or ignore them. In fact, an estimated 80% of small businesses presently have some basic e-commerce capabilities and do tap into these trends. Going forward, e-commerce is likely to become commonplace among small business owners and these trends will hugely shape the process.

For many small businesses that are presently grappling with challenges like inflation and supply chain issues to keep pace and remain competitive, they need to keep a keen eye on e-commerce trends that can help them drive growth into the foreseeable future. Here are 5 of such trends.

1. Simplified Shipping Options

Evolving technology most of which is now simplified is greatly enhancing shipping operations for e-commerce business owners. They now rely on digital platforms that simplify and enhance shipping operations using advanced e-commerce technology. These platforms are great in empowering e-commerce businesses to seamlessly ship bulk purchases taking advantage of discounted rates thereby making huge savings on shipping costs. This trend is bound to continue into the foreseeable future since most businesses are always worrying about operating costs. Some of the platforms are so sophisticated as to have even more than 80 integrations that include leading marketplaces with data and insights that help business owners make smarter and cost-effective shipping decisions that include branded tracking and even return capabilities. This is made possible by a collection of apps, widgets and application programming interfaces that help to make it easy to configure new workflows and seamlessly meet the demands of business growth.

2. Personalized Products

Aside the initial purchase, customized reports and shipping notifications are also trending in online selling. Presently, shippers use alerts to notify customers about the status of the products they purchased. The information they give include products’ delivery status, including any delays and or changes in delivery times and dates. These alerts usually go out via email, text, video message or, in some cases, a customizable dashboard where customers can view incoming shipments. If tied to customer accounts or addresses, they can receive a request for different delivery time or location, pre-sign for packages and even more. These special arrangements provide great opportunities for shoppers who appreciate buying products that are uniquely their own. There are presently online buying platforms that allow for this customization of products to make shopping much easier and convenient for consumers.

3. Micro Purchasing Moments

Many e-commerce business owners have since discovered that impulse buys or convenience shopping are not exclusive preserves for brick-and-mortar stores. Thanks to micro-purchasing trends in online shopping that involves purchases which are typically made by someone looking for a quick solution or information in a hurry and in most cases from a mobile device. It is thus convenient for such shoppers to quickly compare two or more similar products and clicking a “buy now” link to conclude the transaction. This allows e-commerce business sites to establish themselves as a resource, make information easy to digest and substantially simplify the purchasing process for shoppers. Doing this ultimately earns such sites more customers and sales.

4. Video Content

Video content marketing is a social media trend and social media keeps developing. This now makes video content in very high demand on e-commerce sites. Most of these videos are essentially how-to videos that concisely explain to customers how to use products. They additionally offer tips for using the products and in some cases showcase testimonies from customers who have used the products before. These videos also highlight product features, video reviews on social media and “live shopping events” on the social channels of e-commerce retailers. These videos help to drive engagements and offer a quick and appealing way to demonstrate new or popular products to attract shoppers. The ultimate marketing aim of using videos is to provide a more appealing interactive experience for shoppers with a view to enabling a steady stream of conversions.

5. Flexible Payment Options

Cumbersome payment options usually engender high cart abandonment particularly if online purchases are limited almost exclusively to credit card purchases. What is trending is that businesses have found a way around that by granting more flexibility to shoppers when it comes to collecting payment for products purchased. This trend has been growing for several years. As a result, many e-commerce sites now accept a variety of payment options such as credit/debit cards, online checks, digital wallet and mobile payment services, crypto-currency and even installment payments via third-party providers. This trend promises to continue into the foreseeable future.