5 Trends Shaping the Future of eCommerce

5 Trends Shaping the Future of eCommerce Table of Content 1. Omnichannel Shopping Experiences 2. Focus on Visual Commerce 3. Prevalence of AI-Powered Integrations 4. Dynamic Pricing Models 5. Variety of Payment Options 6. Conclusion eCommerce is growing every day with more and more businesses letting their customers purchase products and services online. In fact, some new businesses are entirely online based and rely solely on digital orders. While it’s true that more and more businesses are taking advantage of digitalization, there’s a lot more nuance to this shift. Certain trends will be shaping eCommerce in the nearest future, and knowing these, you can adjust your own strategy to benefit from these trends. Omnichannel Shopping Experiences First and foremost, there’s omnichannel shopping and the experiences it can create for your customers. To put it simply, omnichannel shopping is all about connecting your different channels to create shopping experiences that are more positive and easier to navigate and complete. It’s a solution that many businesses are choosing because of how customers now approach shopping. Nowadays, it’s common for consumers to first do research online into the products they are interested in before actually purchasing anything. Likewise, consumers want to find out as much as possible about a particular brand before they decide to go ahead and get involved with the said brand. Once they complete their research, they either shop online or visit a physical store to make their purchase. With such an approach from potential customers, it’s much more difficult for brands to track their customers’ journeys and to identify the touchpoints they go through. There are just so many ways that a consumer could get involved with your brand. This is why omnichannel shopping is gaining so much traction. It’s a way for brands to tie all the strings together and guide their customers along their journey more closely. With omnichannel shopping, you can easily integrate your online and offline channels with one another. You need to be consistent with the information you provide to your customers to create such omnichannel shopping experiences. Moreover, you need to prioritize the digital side of it and guide your customers to choose the digital route too. Pay special attention to customer service and always listen to your audience’s feedback. Focus on Visual Commerce Another trend you will notice getting more attention is visual commerce. In fact, many businesses are now choosing to focus much more on visual commerce than they ever did before even though the technique itself has been around for a while. One of the biggest reasons for this is the increasingly competitive market which makes it harder for brands to stand out. Jennifer Downey, an expert from one of the popular essay writing review sites,, , says, “Consumers are regularly getting an information overload while using social media and browsing the net. In fact, even being offline you are bombarded with ads. Therefore, brands choose the easiest ways to grab their audiences’ attention. Unsurprisingly, visual commerce is being prioritized now.” Visual commerce is about relying on visual content in your marketing. High-quality photography, elaborate illustrations, insightful videos or animations, AR, and VR – all of these are perfect for attracting attention and even keeping customers engaged for long periods of time. In addition to that, visual content can help businesses create better customer experiences, just like omnichannel shopping. Read More: Important Ecommerce Development Checklist You Should Never Forget A smaller trend within the visual commerce one is that of social selling. To put it simply, social selling is about selling products or services on social media. Some platforms already have eCommerce features which makes it easier for brands to utilize this technique. Both Pinterest and Instagram are platforms that rely on visuals – and both are perfect for eCommerce. Prevalence of AI-Powered Integrations As mentioned above, AR and VR are being integrated more often. But beyond visual commerce, there is another trend using them – and that is the prevalence of AI-powered integrations. Artificial Intelligence itself has been changing industries in every way imaginable, so it’s no wonder that it plays such a prominent role in eCommerce. Besides, AI-powered solutions come in different forms and sizes which means there are many options for brands to choose from. By far the most popular form that AI comes in is automation. Automation is used by businesses both internally to manage their companies and externally to improve customer experiences. From email scheduling to automated data analysis, there are numerous ways in which automation is currently being used. One of the most notable examples is customer support. Chatbots are now commonly seen on business sites and even on social media. At the same time, AR and VR are both used for letting online customers better understand how a product works. It’s a way to personalize the shopping experience and to persuade the customer to make a purchase. Because so many people are now using virtual assistants, companies have started optimizing their content for voice searches making it easier for customers to discover their products or services. Dynamic Pricing Models Dynamic pricing is not exactly something new, but it’s a trend that is getting more attention nowadays. Basically, dynamic pricing models allow businesses to adjust their pricing depending on consumer demand as well as a variety of other factors. With the help of AI-powered solutions, dynamic pricing has become more accurate and data-driven allowing businesses to adjust their prices with even more precision. Malcolm Trelawney, an expert from a writers rating site, explains, “Dynamic pricing models are perfect for many prices more accessible to your customers. Obviously, businesses want to profit as much as possible, but it’s important to be nuanced with your pricing. Otherwise, you could easily start losing even the most loyal customers and your brand could lose its competitive edge on the market.” Interestingly, dynamic pricing doesn’t necessarily mean lowering prices as much as possible. On the contrary, when done correctly, you could easily start seeing an increase in your profits both in the short-term and in the long-term. Your customers will also be more thankful to you and you could even see more past customers advocating for your brand and the products or services you offer. Variety of Payment Options Finally, there is way more variety in the payment options available to customers. Even new, small businesses that are still trying to establish themselves on the market want to provide personalized shopping experiences to their customers. That’s why new payment options are being so widely introduced – and to great success! Searching for Custom eCommerce Solutions for your Business? CONNECT US By offering a variety of payment options, you can also expand to new markets and reach customers from different backgrounds and with different preferences. Instead of only offering the credit card or PayPal payment options, consider other methods of payment, including digital wallets, mobile payments, cryptocurrency payments, and others. Cryptocurrencies are particularly popular right now, so you wouldn’t want to miss out on the trend. Conclusion All in all, all these trends will be shaping eCommerce in different ways in the nearest future. You should keep an eye on the latest developments in the industry to use these trends to your own advantage. You should also be smart with how you use these trends. If you blindly follow them, you won’t get the results you expect. Use the information in this article to help you get started and then do your own research into how you can use these eCommerce trends.