The world of eCommerce is always evolving, and the end of the calendar year is a good time to look back and see the areas where things evolved, changed, and shifted in eCommerce trends.
This is who we are at Genius eCommerce, keeping up on the trends as they happen and informing you on ways you can make your eCommerce experience better. As the year of 2018 starts to near its end, today I will take you back to five of the top trends that happened in eCommerce this year.
Customer Experience – In previous years, customer experience has been about giving the customer something that draws them in. This is typically known as the “Wow Factor.” This was usually done with a great presentation, high-quality service or great prices. In 2018, localizing and personalizing the experience is even more important though, and that’s the eCommerce trend that dominated the year. Personalized merchandising was a big advancement, making product recommendations based on customer searches, previous purchases or items they have placed within their shopping cart. Localization was also important, the recognition of where a customer is shopping from and targeting to the customer’s location. These experience enhancements have helped some eCommerce websites reach a completely new level.
Customer Engagement – For many eCommerce companies, a customer relationship management platform, also known as a CRM, is used to monitor communication. Why is this important? If you aren’t actively trying to engage your customers regularly, you run the risk of losing them. However, it isn’t just how often you engage with the customer, it’s what you say and how you communicate. It can be over a shipping issue or another customer service inquiry. It can just be prompting them to check out new inventory. It can be following up on a purchase to make sure it arrived and that the customer has no questions about the product. These small steps of engagement and communication go a long way.
New Content and SEO – Content has always been important, but eCommerce companies are putting less emphasis on how paid campaigns are performing and more on organic traffic because that is what drives conversions. That means there is a greater importance to rank for keywords that draw organic traffic. Content has to be geared toward SEO and work hand in hand with search engines so that you can maximize your organic reach.
Mobile Optimization – There are many layers to being a mobile-optimized website. Yes, it does mean that your website should be responsive to mobile devices, but it also means that you should be optimized for mobile search, be able to accept digital payments and make it easy for customers to navigate and purchase through your eCommerce website on a mobile device. More people are browsing through stores and making their purchases online. If you don’t have your website mobile optimized and fully capable, you will fall behind.
Social Media Campaigns and Advertising – Running campaigns and advertising on social media has always been popular, but with social networks continuing to grow over the years, it’s even more important now. Social media offers businesses a space to re-target customers, especially if they spend a lot of time browsing through social media. It allows you to put other forms of media and marketing forward, such as posting a new video or having customers leave reviews, and it gives you a forum, a place where common customers can be in a community.
Trends will continue to evolve in 2019 and there are many new and exciting things that are sure to come in the new year. However, before you focus on the new year, make sure you are all caught up and up to date with the most popular trends of this year.
At Genius eCommerce, we are all about eCommerce trends and keeping you up to date. It’s who we are and what we do. If you liked what you read today, keep reading the Genius eCommerce blog for more updates and trends.
