If any space has seen a transformative evolution over the past few years and continues to do so – it is e-commerce. Of course, the pandemic, changing consumer preferences, and rising internet penetration have played a key role in fuelling the incessant disruption faced by e-commerce. Nevertheless, there was an inkling about a few emerging trends in the eCommerce industry, and these continue to push their way through the mainstream arena in 2022.
Being at the forefront of never-ending change, the e-commerce segment is one of the sectors that has seen tremendous growth. India’s eCommerce market was valued at $46.2 billion in 2020 and is expected to touch a mammoth $111.40 billion by 2025.
With new advancements taking over, here are the eCommerce trends that 2022 needs to brace itself for:
The search bar has been given a facelift with the voice-based search feature to make online shopping easy and feasible for millions of consumers. In addition, the advanced voice-based search feature has the option to recognize vernacular languages since the majority of the shoppers cannot speak English. This eCommerce trends makes it easier to search for a product and enhances the entire user experience.
The new-age consumer chooses a platform based on their experience, comfort, and ease of purchase, thus making it imperative for companies to provide a user-friendly shopping experience. In addition, personalization is an eCommerce trend that has been around and continues to play a key role in customer interaction. Since companies have access to consumer demographics, purchase patterns, and browsing history, customized recommendations and products for consumers improve their engagement and enhance the shopping experience.
The Buy Now, Pay Later e-commerce trend has gained traction as it gives the shoppers a chance to pay for products over a while in installments. This is preferred over credit card EMI options as these are interest-free agreements. Adopting BNPL as a strategy will reduce cart abandonment, increase the order value size, enhance overall sales, and make the check-out process faster.
This is one of the most innovative eCommerce trends 2022 will witness & is believed to be revolutionary. Towards the end of 2021, Facebook unlocked its new Horizon Worlds platform. It will soon be up and running for advertising and in-world eCommerce sales. Global brands such as Coca-Cola, Nike, Gucci plan to jump on this bandwagon and sell virtual, branded products to their customers. Other gaming systems are also opening up their platform for e-commerce sales. A few examples were Balenciaga partnering with Epic Games for a clothing line launch and Nike’s recent launch of Nikeland on the gaming platform, Robolox. This new and innovative space offers a great opportunity, especially for Gen-Z.
Technology is a game-changer, especially for e-commerce. A very popular trend driven by Artificial Intelligence and machine learning is the chatbots feature which is ideal for addressing customer queries at any point in the day. This trend will continue to dominate e-commerce in 2022 to address customer grievances without any human interference.
On the other hand, Augmented Reality assists the buyer in making informed decisions. The IKEA place app does just that by allowing customers to view shortlisted furniture pieces in their own homes. Lenskart also provides a Virtual AR experience to help select spectacles or sunglasses that best suit the customer’s face.
This technology-driven environment cannot rely solely on one channel to market products and services, stressing the need for an omnichannel marketing strategy. E-commerce needs have to be fulfilled via multiple channels such as social media, email, text, etc., to increase their reach and enhance customer acquisition, increase retention and improve customer experience.
With changing customer needs, e-commerce businesses have no option but to stay ahead of their game to accommodate their demands. While one focuses on their core businesses, bringing an eCommerce SEO agency such as RepIndia on board is recommended to capitalize on this space. With an SEO services company in India and global brands can keep up with the trends in the e-commerce industry to increase sales and build a loyal customer base.
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