E-commerce trends for 2018
The use of multiple communication channels at the same time, the advent of visualisation, the importance of personalisation, the involvement of artificial intelligence and the increasing demands on transport. These trends are currently dominating the e-commerce field.
The Czech Republic is spoken of as an e-shopping superpower. No wonder, out of European countries we are sovereignly the one with the largest number of e-shops per person. E-commerce affects our everyday life more and more. What trends are dominating e-shopping this year?
Omnichannel
It is becoming common practice for a customer to start searching for goods on a computer but complete the purchase using, for example, a mobile phone. This way of using multiple channels at the same time is called omnichannel. For retailers, this means that they need to prepare all their e-commerce tools for this diverse shopping experience and optimize their store for different types of devices.
Visualization
The pace of user-friendliness in this era is set by visualization. Images, videos, virtual reality or augmented reality are the elements that replace other senses on a potential customer's computer or phone screen.
Personalisation
Today's customer doesn't want to be bothered with something that doesn't interest them. So there is an increasing emphasis on personalizing business messages, ads and overall communications. The goal of marketers in this area is to get the customer the goods they want before they even start looking for them.
Artificial Intelligence
Personalization is somewhat related to the emergence of artificial intelligence in the shopping process. Today's shoppers are engaging both "personal" artificial intelligence (e.g. Apple's Siri) and chatbots in decision-making. So every modern e-shop should have a bot, among other things.
Shipping
The demands on logistics have perhaps never been higher. In an ever-accelerating era, the phrase "The sooner the better" is literally crucifying. Shipping on the day of order, delivery within 24 hours and similar slogans are no longer marketing enticements, but are becoming a standard without which an e-shop has no chance of survival.
We implement e-commerce trends at Railsformers - we have experts in our team who are willing to customize your e-shop to meet the current customer requirements as well. So don't hesitate to contact us, we will be happy to help you too.