We are now into the post-Christmas phase when brands will go back to the drawing board and begin planning new online retail strategies for 2018. Here are some of the ecommerce trends to look out for in 2018….
- Commerce through email – Did you know that email already drives more revenue than all social networks combined? What’s more is that it’s especially efficient at driving visitors to a website. Email (which isn’t going anywhere anytime soon), also allows customers to make secure purchases directly through their inboxes: the appeal of this will continue to grow in 2018.
- Your customers are on the ball – A study carried out by Adweek found that 85% of customers conduct research before they make a purchase online, so when you come to create content for your site, ensure that it educates, engages and entices your customers to buy into your brand and products; your customers are evidently investing the time into cross-comparing brands, so you need to put the leg work in to keep up with this.
- Personalising your brand – Your customer’s ecommerce purchase is a journey which includes getting a sense of your brand and with the major players all paving out strong brand identity, you can’t afford to neglect this area of your business. Bear in mind that users will be likely to visit several sites and make an informed decision afterwards (as noted above, 85% of customers conduct that ever-so-important research), so you have limited time to impress online, whilst your customers flit from site-to-site seeking out the best all-round brand.
- Increase in video content – Statistics show that by 2020 video will make up 80% of all online consumer Internet traffic and as it continues to evolve, the platform will be the next best thing you can get to a face-to-face interaction with your customers. It is estimated that video marketing can boost click-through rates by 200-300% and increase purchase intent by 97%. Slidely and Wistia offer users analytic features where they can identify when viewers watched and stopped watching, helping to inform their marketing strategy. Live video will also continue to thrive in 2018, being an affordable option for businesses and driving 3 times the engagement driven by recorded videos.
- The power of Amazon – The importance of keeping your ecommerce strategy and online branding fresh can be reflected in the following prediction: by 2021, Amazon will account for 50% of all US ecommerce. Amazon will continue to pave the way in how the ecommerce market continues to evolve; Founder of eCommerceFuel Andrew Youderain described their yearly growth as ‘continuing to advance at a an incredible rate and they’re changing the ways in which independent merchants have to sell, think and operate online.’
- Increasing delivery options – The continuing rise in online shoppers means retailers will be competing to provide the most flexible delivery options possible. The ‘click and collect’ option is an attractive incentive for online shoppers and online retailers should be clocking this if they want a chance of keeping up with the bigger players. Business Computing World recently surveyed 100 retailers and found that whilst delivery speed was a big factor, customer expectations are continuing to become more complex and demanding, for example the desire to fit deliveries in around their busy lives. Courier services such as DPD’s ‘one house delivery slot’ are a reflection of this, allowing customers to choose a specific delivery time.
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