The year 2010 is drawing to a close and ecommerce retailers and wholesalers will be busy with holiday promotions until the end of the year. Ecommerce merchants need to start researching future ecommerce trends to gear up for the drastic changes the internet has to offer for online businesses. Despite the drop in the economy within the past two years, consumers are starting to spend more thanks in part to innovations in search engines. To prepare for 2011, here are a few ecommerce trends to watch out as we enter a new era of web modernization.
1. Mobile Commerce – 2011 just might be the year mobile commerce becomes the mainstream due to the increase in consumers’ preference in smart phones. With the influx of iPhones and Blackberries, as well as tablets like the iPad and Kindle, more and more companies are beginning to offer mobile-friendly versions of their websites, such as smartphone apps, to provide a more custom mobile commerce transaction.
2. Price Loyalty – Consumers now practice price loyalty instead of the more traditional brand loyalty. In a world where shoppers think that price is king and comparison shopping is fast, consumers are now more open to shopping at different retailers because of the various discounts, incentives, and deals they can acquire. The fact that comparison shopping engines (CSEs) have grown tremendously over the past couple of years is testament that users are looking for worthy deals and promotions online before shelling out cash.
3. Social Commerce – Social commerce simply means utilizing social media and social networking sites to generate more sales. More and more ecommerce merchants are starting to realize the potential of social commerce, which is why retailers are beginning to incorporate it in their marketing efforts. Consumers are using social media for research and feedback with the purpose of finding out how a product or service works before they pay for it. This is the main reason why ecommerce merchants are starting to interact with consumers in these social commerce spaces. Because of this, expect to see a rise of social commerce solutions in 2011.
4. Video and Visual Search – In line with product researching prior to purchasing, studies have shown that video and image-rich information are easier to process and absorb so don’t be surprised that ecommerce retailers take advantage of this tactic. Coming from being completely text-based, ecommerce sites have incorporated images and videos to their repertoire of internet marketing strategies. Not only do videos and images help sell more, these added features also make users stay longer on websites and pages.
5. Co-Creation – Online shopping has revealed (and possibly made) consumers to be extremely picky to the extent of being allowed to customize products and services. Know as Co-creation ecommerce, these sites sites allow these consumers to indulge in personal whims and preferences by letting them customize every step in the process. From dresses to men’s suits, everything can be personalized nowadays and this innovation is expected to rise come 2011.
There are certainly more trends to expect in 2011 which will be discussed next time. While ecommerce owners cannot participate nor employ all of these, it is suggested to practice one with another to know which combination works best for your online business.
