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eCommerce in 2016

4th January 2016

As we enter the early days of the New Year, many of us will be looking back on our accomplishments and successes of 2015, and planning how we make this year better than the last.  

This is indeed something that we can all benefit from, in particular when looking at your eCommerce business and how you can get the most out of 2016 – especially with online sales continuing to grow! It’s time to get focused and prepare with some eCommerce trends to look out for this year. 

Improved mobile shopping experiences

Mobile commerce is constantly growing and as such will look to dominate the online shopping experience throughout 2016 and beyond, so it’s worth thinking about the customer experience you are creating on mobile platforms. As we have learned over time there have been many challenges in getting consumers to buy through their mobiles and/or tablets due factors such as websites not being responsive or a lengthy and complicated checkout processes. So what can you do to ensure this isn’t you losing potential business? 

Review your mobile websites, mobile customer journeys and focus on simplicity! This in turn should generate more successful sales through the traffic drawn to your site. What's more, once they have reached your mobile site, think about how you can convert your customers into loyal customers. At present, some retailers are offering support services direct from the customer’s palm via live chat.  This adds a personal touch allowing the customer to have an immediate point of contact should they need it from wherever they are. 

Context over personalisation

All be it a major factor and in some cases quite effective; the personalised shopping experience has become somewhat of a nuisance for some of us, finding products popping up weeks after having browsed a site regardless of our level of interest in it.

This is where context comes into play; through remembering customers personal preferences registered via an eCommerce site, systems can effectively target customers with the right content at the right times.  So, in effect creating a hassle free, tailored shopping experience, which is proven to be more likely to generate into a sale. 

Video marketing is growing and growing

For years high quality photography has played a major part in enhancing product descriptions for eCommerce sites. However, businesses are now investing more time and money in creating dynamic, bespoke videos that intend on showcasing their products and grabbing customer’s attention. 

Through video marketing, shoppers can devour more information in a small space of time, from basic product information to demonstrations. 

Video marketing has also shown to support businesses SEO efforts and can also boost your social presence. Videos are becoming the highest consumed form of content therefore, by utilising video marketing; your content will be more shareable. Not only will this content be shared more, it will provide the opportunity to extend a businesses scope in reaching more potential shoppers via social media.

Social media and collaboration is on the rise

Social media in the eCommerce space is not going anywhere; your business needs to be socially savvy to compete in 2016’s marketplace. Customers will seek peer reviews, product reviews and information all through their social channels.

Customers also are becoming more socially collaborative in today’s market and will work together to create products, review products and buy and sell off each other. Your eCommerce experience should start tailoring to social collaboration as this is predicted to rise significantly in 2016.

2016 and beyond

The eCommerce market is continuously growing and developing which is what makes it such an exciting market to be in. As the market becomes more competitive, innovation is key to stay ahead of your competition, not just innovation but also being more transparent and collaborative with your customers.

Keep pushing the boundaries and exploring new channels within eCommerce as we will be sure to see many new trends develop as the year goes on!

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