There are many factors that determine whether an online store is a success or not. Some of them include fast page load times and impeccable UX and UI, others are about having well-polished products and modern features that stick with the trends.
In this article, you will learn about the current trends in eCommerce that you may consider adding to your website for business and sales growth purposes.
It is wonderful to be on the same page with your users. This is exactly why alongside sections like “Wear it with” or “Complete your look” that are needed for cross-selling items on product pages, eCommerce websites are aiming at personalization using “You might also like” blocks.
These sections collect items that a user is likely to find to their taste. The selections function on the basis of the browning history of the individual as well as their previous orders. The trend is quite effective for growing sales since customers tend to purchase additional things when items that are in their style or color preference appear before them.
Similarly to personalization functionality, many online retail websites are using features for making some items customizable. By mentioning that, this does not imply just showing items that come in different colors or prints. Provided that the manufacturer or brand could make changes to the item, “constructors” for building a unique order are popular as of recent too. As such, examples of custom item builders often appear on sites that sell jewelry, accessories, furniture, even shoes, and clothes! Tailoring something one-of-a-kind by themselves is not only engaging for users but also a big step towards catering to the needs of clients and offering them more variety and choice.
Gift-giving is a headache for a large percentage of shoppers. This is why the other trending elements of eCommerce websites that should be mentioned are user wish lists, gift hints, and registries.
As a rule, the wish list feature (that’s commonly presented with a heart symbol) gives registered users the opportunity to put aside items that they like and consider buying. This can be done from catalog grids or even directly from the product pages. Keeping that in mind, in the same manner as with abandoned carts, online retailers can then try to convince the user to purchase wish list items by offering some sweetener or discount for these things (for instance, by sending an email with a reduced rate or offer for the selected item).
But the greatest thing about wish lists, registries, and gift hints is that your client can “request” these things to be bought as a present for a holiday or special occasion from their family, friends, co-workers, etc.
A number of renowned websites are already using buttons like “Send a hint” or “Add to registry” on product pages. By clicking on them, the user can email or send a link with this product’s details as a clue of what they’d like to receive. Moreover, various gift finders and even gift wrapping options make the entire process even easier for the person buying the present.
As a result, the givers of the present don’t need to waste time wrestling with the subject of what to get to make the present special, the gift recipient will be happy to obtain the thing that they genuinely like, and the side of online retail is glad to help both of them and to make the sale. It’s a win for everyone!
Undoubtedly, the technology that blends augmented reality with eCommerce is an immense success. People from around the world already love the fun side of using virtual reality on mobile devices with the lightning-fast ascend of face-apps with masks. Likewise, the function that can give a client the opportunity to try the product on with their smartphone is highly in trend.
To be fair, this isn’t going to work with all branches of online sales. Yet with various make-up products, hair dyes, earrings, glasses, etc, it’s very popular.
In order to see how this or that thing looks, the user has to either upload a photo to the site or allow the device’s camera to connect with the website for the system to simulate that the item is on the person in actual time as a mirror.
It’s necessary to point out, though, that no matter what platform your eCommerce store is built on, for implementing such a feature you’ll have to turn to the professionals for help, be it Magento development services or other IT assistance.
The percentage of people having their own social media accounts is rapidly growing every day. Everyone loves staying connected and sharing their latest findings in the online world. This is exactly why having live business accounts on all relevant social media channels has become a “must”.
Apart from growing your accounts and keeping them active, a great trend for eCommerce deals with user-generated content. This implies inviting your customers to link you (using hashtags, for example) on their Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, etc, posts where they are using your product. After you see action on the side of your buyers, you can repost their content on your social media as well as may feature these posts on your website.
The main reason why you should consider doing this is that when showing your prospects how other happy customers like what they’ve bought, you can add extra trust towards your brand. Plus, the more people share content that features your brand, the bigger your brand awareness will grow since every client has a unique list of followers who’ll see you.
Finally, the last point among trends that should be covered regards clever chat assistants. Artificial intelligence has advanced recently, and chatbots continuously improve their skills too. Functioning on the grounds of scripts, they reply to the questions of users in a dialogue format (as humans would).
Among the strongest sides of using this feature in an eCommerce store is that you can cover a huge portion of customer support inquiries automatically, especially in cases when the same questions arise again and again. A chatbot is also there to help at any time, whereas human support goes down to the business hours.
To top that, bots provide instant replies, therefore, this rises client satisfaction and at the same time narrows the chances of losing an interested client who’ll give up waiting for an answer. Of course, such assistants are not omnipotent and cannot know absolutely everything, but the great part about it is that you can expand their knowledge base, adding on more and more cases as the time goes.
Wrapping up everything that was stated above, having an online store be in line with the trends can definitely help to boost the website and gain more customers. For example, by assisting users with wish lists for gift purposes, having a chatbot resolve inquiries, or allowing them to try on your products with mobile devices to see if they match is already a leap towards success. The same goes for showing that you’re “acting in concert” with your buyers via personalization and product customization, as well as connecting with them on various social channels so as to build stronger relationships.
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