In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, global trade has suffered great losses. Thanks to the efforts of the central bank and government to help stem the losses, the global economy has managed to avoid the worst-case scenario.
Since most of the world’s population is forced to stay indoors, almost all internet users turned to e-commerce businesses to go about their daily needs.
This led to a significant increase in startups in the e-commerce industry as the industry needs an effective way to cope with the ever-increasing demand. As it happens, this increase in demand has led to new trends emerging every day. Let’s see what the latest trends in e-commerce are.
1. Mobile Payments and Shopping
From the moment smartphones hit worldwide markets, mobile commerce has been constantly on the rise. The majority of the world’s population uses mobile devices while the majority of internet users shop online using their smartphones.
Because of this, most e-commerce businesses work around the clock to optimize their websites and apps to be mobile-friendly.
Since customer-centricity and customer experience are the most important things today, these e-commerce businesses are doing their best to keep their customers happy. That includes facilitating mobile payment options such as e-wallets, as well as shopping options.
2. Headless E-Commerce
Thanks to this trend, e-commerce businesses are able to provide more personalized customer experience to each of their consumers. So far, 2020 saw more and more smaller retailers coming into the headless e-commerce fold.
As the adoption of this trend continues to grow, e-commerce platforms like Magento, which allow for instant search, gather more users with each passing day.
Since platforms like Magento don’t require a pre-designed storefront to operate, retailers have more control over offering their products across a range of channels, including social media, mobile, and desktop.
3. Voice Commerce
Voice assistants like Google’s Assistant, Amazon’s Alexa, and Apple’s Siri are becoming increasingly popular with modern consumers of all ages. By 2020, voice shopping using voice assistants is expected to grow to $40 billion.
By 2023, research shows that there will be more than 8 billion mobile devices with voice assistants all over the world. The level of convenience that voice commerce provides is simply unprecedented.
Consumers don’t need a keyboard or a mouse to make their orders. Voice commerce is hands-free, intuitive, and lasts just a few moments, which is just what multitaskers of today need. Voice technology is a force that is yet to be reckoned with and it’s expected to become a preferred way of making orders online.
4. Chatbots
E-commerce businesses are always looking for new, better ways to communicate with their consumers. Well, chatbots have proved themselves to be one of the most effective ways to reach your target audience in a way they prefer.
That’s why chatbots are the future of e-commerce along with AI, machine learning, and natural language processing, as well as robotic process automation.
Chatbots are probably one of the biggest e-commerce trends of 2020. They are completely customer-centric and allow e-commerce businesses to provide each consumer with exceptional customer experience, every step of the customer journey.
This is one of the main reasons why chatbots are the top choice of every e-commerce company, especially when it comes to customer service and support inquiries.
5. Machine Learning and AI
Both machine learning and AI allow e-commerces to fully understand their customers and their needs, wants, desires, and pain points. ML and AI help e-commerce businesses to become more customer-centric and make the most out of their marketing and sales efforts.
Both technologies are rapidly evolving, increasing reach across all stages of a customer journey. When combined with chatbots, these technologies make for the best tools e-commerce businesses can rely on to provide each customer with exceptional service.
On the other hand, businesses need these technologies to improve their performance, eliminate repetition, automate all processes they can and remove human error from the equation.
Currently, both machine learning and AI are among the biggest trends in e-commerce. The truth is that these technologies have taken both personalized and automated shopping experience to a completely new level.
Conclusion
These five trends are just the tip of the iceberg. The more technology continues to evolve, the more sophisticated e-commerce services become.
It’s more than obvious that one can’t do without the other, especially nowadays when people depend so much on modern technology to go about their daily lives. E-commerce is probably one of the biggest trends of 2020 but the future is wild and unpredictable.