As the e-commerce industry marks another year off the calendar, the trending search for e-commerce trends for 2018 hits a new high. Whether you are a top ecommerce website development company, a would-be entrepreneur trying to understand how to set up an online boutique, a consultant for the online marketplace, or just a customer wanting more, you will be extremely interesting. Take a look at what 2018 has in store for us all.

These are what we believe will be the most important trends for e-commerce in 2018. We have grouped them as (a) customer-centric trends, (b) technology-centric trends, and (c) engagement-centric trends.

Customer Centric Trends: –

1. Customers Will Expect More: To begin with, the customer will expect a neat and error-free website, a smooth shopping experience, and a clear return / refund policy with no unfair fine print.

Next, the customer knows that big data has come a long way. So the customer will expect you to save them time by knowing their buying patterns: suggest the right product, at the right time and at the right price.

2. Shipping and agility will be the key E-commerce companies that can get merchandise out the moment the customer places an order and yet charge zero or negligible shipping fees will win by a higher margin. In this competitive environment, e-commerce companies must be innovative to optimize their last-mile deliveries.

In 2018, we may see many drone delivery services companies like Flytrex go live, as well as major logistics companies like DHL and UPS invest more in drone delivery services to make it accessible to owners. of e-commerce stores.

Tech-centric trends: –

1. Artificial intelligence will grow: With artificial intelligence (AI), we will see more use of natural language processing to ultimately generate much better search results. Next, we will see that artificial intelligence tracks customer shopping (or cart abandonment) behavior at a much deeper level than humans are capable of. With that, AI will lead to a hugely efficient and productive sales process because it will generate real, high-value leads for email marketing.

Later this year, you will see that customer calls will be reduced and they will use this form of contact less and less. Instead, customers will buy products and services, place orders, and request support through Chatbots.

2. Augmented Reality Will Grow Too: Just a couple of summers ago, Pokémon Go demonstrated just how exciting augmented reality (AR) can be.

While AI is geared towards making interactions and processes faster and more efficient, AR is focused on the use and applications of products. If a customer is looking for, say, a vase, AR will place the image of a vase in a digital room so that the customer can see how it looks relative to the other objects in the room. If a customer is looking for sunglasses, they can upload a selfie and the AR will digitally overlay the sunglasses on the selfie to help the customer see how they would look with the sunglasses on.

3. It will be a cross-platform, cross-device world – no matter what other metrics you get correctly, if your store is unresponsive, you have no chance of winning the battle in 2018.

Most customers start their search on one device and shop on another. If they see major disturbances when they switch devices, it will slow them down and possibly push them away. That means you’ll have to keep everything from product descriptions and searches to navigation consistent and consistent, regardless of device and its platform.

Trends focused on engagement: –

1. The importance and versatility of email will continue to grow: With all the content marketing tools, email stands firm. According to CampaignMonitor, in their 2016 report, every dollar spent on email marketing gets a return on investment of $ 44, or a 4400% return!

In 2018, use analytics to create better targeted email marketing campaigns. Depending on whether you were a casual visitor, a customer who made their first purchase, or a loyal customer who returned, your emails will change. Emails will perform a variety of functions, from selling to remarketing to re-engaging, and they’re only getting more powerful.

2. Data analytics will improve marketing at all stages – Sophisticated analytics can now produce data on every action taken, or not taken, by visitors and customers. For example, any leading Magento eCommerce development company can help you configure your site analytics to improve search engine optimization (SEO). The question is how e-commerce companies will use this vast amount of data.

3. Better content, yes, but video? -If there are a dozen online stores that sell similar products at comparable prices, a customer will buy from a store that excels in engagement. And that commitment will come from personalized and ‘stored’ content. Next year you’ll see content that’s superior not just at the point of sale, but pretty much everywhere.

conclusion

E-commerce is growing rapidly, and to stand out from the crowd, you need to pioneer and innovate with the changing trends that are prevalent in the e-commerce industry. Those responsible for developing ecommerce marketing strategies in 2018 should pay close attention to these big trends and formulate an effective strategy to stay ahead of their competitors and convert as many leads as possible.