People are largely buying online in this pandemic era, whereas visiting a grocery store or traveling around to buy things are considered to be risky. Even the local countryside stores now have online order taking and door delivery services. E-commerce portals and marketplaces are already out there, which are gaining in huge popularity lately. For business marketers, it is essential to leverage these market changes in-e-com sector to ensure better returns. If you already have an e-com portal, it is time to analyze the latest trends in the market and fine-tune your e-com strategy accordingly to ensure success. Some such quick trends to note, which are there to stay, are:
- Chatbots are becoming essential for customer interactions.
- It will be consumer-driven innovations in e-com.
- D2C shift is already on.
- There can be brick-and-mortar e-com stores.
- AI, ML, smart home networks, IoT, etc., are changing the ways for e-com.
- Analytics is constantly evolving, and the biggest application of the same is in e-com now.
- B2B eCommerce is on an all-time hype now.
- There are no middlemen in retaining anymore.
- Mobile payment or M-payments is trending.
- Cross-brand selling helps e-com providers to broaden their reach.
- Video marketing and Influencer marketing reap more results.
As we can see, lately retain industry seems to deteriorate slowly because it is not evolving as per the consumers’ changing demand. If you run a business in retail, then it is time to check out the next steps to embrace diversity and reinvent your customer touchpoints by effectively combining both online and offline strategies. The goal is to enhance customer loyalty and make them return to your e-com or brick and mortar store.
You can see Amazon and www.shoppe.com as some of the classic use cases of adopting next-generation technologies in customer interactions. They use machine learning, artificial intelligence, big data, etc., to ensure better reach and serviceability to customers anytime, thereby catering to their personalized needs anytime, anywhere. For the database-related requirements for e-com applications, RemoteDBA.com can offer reliable support services.
Consumer-centric retail innovation
Business marketers need to know how intelligent customers nowadays understand the products and services of various brands and choose what they want. When you know what your potential customers think about your products and brand, it becomes much easier and quicker to innovate. In light of this requirement, you may expect the customers to get closer to the brands now. To leverage this fundamental market shift, you need to listen to the customer’s voice and offer solutions immediately. Take customer feedback and suggestions through surveys and also try to reward them for sharing innovative ideas.
Chatbots in ecom
Chatbots are now being used in a wide range of settings. For e-com portals and apps, chatbots are inevitable, and it is now changing how consumers are interacting with the brands. Chatbots are simple and most effective tools in removing the friction in the sales journey of an average customer. This is one reason why about 50% of the consumers choose to do a live chat with the brands directly than sending a mail or leaving a ticket. With this, chatbots play a critical role in info sharing and complaint resolution.
If you are not using it already, this is the ideal time to invest in building a chatbot with the help of an agency or the construction of your bespoke chatbot to ensure engagement and offer better customer support.
Shifting to D2C
From the bigger corporates to even the small stores, all are taking the D2C route now, which comes with many significant advantages as below.
- D2C helps to build a closer and deeper relationship with the customers.
- Help leverage the first-to-market benefits and also capitalize on changing market trends.
- To get full control over brand reputation and product management.
As we expect, online sales may account for about 50% or more of the total sales in retail by the year 2023, no wonder why brands are now rushing to shift to the D2C model.
Analytics taking up the center stage
For e-com stores, it is now very crucial to get the data for analytics for making informed decisions in terms of marketing, inventory management, finances, customer insights, among various other elements. Analytics can help businesses with strategic decision-making. As of late, there are more tools and platforms made available for analytics, which is now changing the ways as to how businesses are using data. Big data and Hadoop technologies make it possible to analyze huge volumes of live streaming data and derive actionable insights to respond to live market demands.
When it comes to marketing, you may tend to use Google Analytics, but if you want to go more in depth in terms of business analytics, you may try to explore the premium tools. As the CMS e-com platforms are also continuously evolving, it becomes essential for businesses to adopt such technology to keep pace with the competition.
To conclude, we can say that the trends in modern-day e-commerce are changing day by day, and the business needs to keep track of all such advancements to fine-tune its strategies. Not just for the e-com marketers but for everyone from the business decision-makers to product delivery mechanisms, it is important to incorporate ways to tackle the challenges of data-driven e-com business management.
With plenty of e-com portals and also many successful e-com marketplaces out there, it is not so easy for startups and standalone businesses to succeed in the e-com industry. However, the most reassuring fact is that the technology and tools are open to all, irrespective of the size and spread of the business. Those who leverage it at best now stand all chances to win in a short time. For those new to e-com marketing, it is advisable to get the assistance of a professional and reliable consultant who can walk you through these innovations and offer the best benefits.
