The
rise of eCommerce has been nothing short of spectacular over the last few
years, and 2013 was no different. Yet 2013
is rapidly drawing to a close and as the world looks forward in anticipation to
2014, those in the online retail market will be keeping a close eye on
eCommerce trends.
So
what does 2014 hold in store for the eCommerce industry? Can online retailers expect
more of the same, or is there perhaps a chance that the eCommerce bubble will
finally burst? Let us find out by examining some of the expected trends for 2014.
The Social Revolution
No,
not Facebook! Not Twitter either, but indeed an amalgamation of all online
social networks. It has increasingly become the norm, and it will continue to
do so come next year, for people to post, tweet, and upload information about where
they went shopping, what they purchased, and what they could not purchase but
really hope to soon. Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, and Youtube are all
expected to have a major say in online retail in 2014.
In
particular, the use of comment commerce - pioneered by eCommerce startup Soldsie - has proven to be wildly
popular. The social commerce platform allows a business
to easily sell on Facebook and/or Instagram; all they need to do is upload images of products for sale - users interested in making a purchase
then need only to comment ‘Sold’ to complete the transaction. After the user leaves
a comment, they will be sent an invoice to the email address that's tied to
their Facebook account, allowing them to complete the sale at their own
convenience and without having to leave Facebook which dramatically increases
conversion rates.
Additionally,
the use of comments can help increase business to consumer engagement as Facebook will show this
activity to the customer’s friends like it would any other comment that user
made. So for example, if a consumer leaves the comment "I can't wait to get my hands on this product... Sold!",
the comment will be seen by their friends, who may in turn be influenced to
make a purchase. If they make a purchase, once again they will leave a similar
comment and that will spread to a new group of friends which can help a
business' store go viral and increase their sales as opposed to just dropping a
link that leads back to their webstore.
Big Year, Big Data
2014
is widely expected to be the year of the big data. Online retailers have been
accumulating big data for a while now, and it is predicted that the time to put
it to good use has finally arrived. Business decisions will be made, or not
made, according to this valuable data.
How
will it help? Big Data is how successful companies are building more detailed
models of consumer behavior. Instead of relying on the traditional
demographic models that marketers used when we were operating in a mass
consumption environment and had nothing better, Big Data capitalizes on
developing market trends to allow businesses to become far more specific when
segmenting their customers.
Big
data can also help attain a better perspective of the overall online
marketplace, helping retailers understand it better. And that understanding offers
the opportunity to engage with customers in new and better ways to ensure that
prospects are converted to customers, and that those customers are wholly
satisfied.
If It’s Not Mobile, It’s Not Worth It
The
very world has gone mobile, and online retailers who do not compete on the
mobile, simply do not compete at all. mCommerce grew significantly in 2013 and it
will not slow down when the year turns into 2014. In fact, according to numbers reported by IBM, mobile shopping accounted for nearly 32% of
eCommerce traffic over the Thanksgiving holiday
weekend, which is up
45% over 2012. Mobile transactions increased by almost 56 percent
year-over-year. It's in
the best interests of businesses to create a seamless online shopping
experience for users browsing via smart phones, tablets and other mobile
devices.
The
options available to consumers have increased manifold, as have their
expectations regarding the products and services on offer. Come 2014, retailers
who haven’t yet jumped onto eCommerce bandwagon will increasingly find it a
necessity to do so, or they risk dooming their business to failure and to
obscurity.
