What do you think Zara, Depop, and Lush have in common?
Don’t stress yourself too much. It is simple. All three and a plethora of other such brands are working on the mobile strategy that has won the heart of their target market.
In a recent report by eMarketer named The Future of Retail 2020 states that the growth of e-commerce is expected to rise to $666 billion in the U.S. market in 2020 and could reach up to $845 billion by 2022.
Why should retailers care about this expeditious rise in m-commerce? According to principal analyst of eMarketer, mobile commerce is expected to drive more than half of the e-commerce sales in 2022. And, this rise will come organically to retailers if they will accept the transformation to mobilization.
Today, consumers are embracing the mobile device for purchasing products more readily than in previous years. And, some of the influencing factors behind the rise in mobile commerce are ease of use, unlimited data plans, more data storage and secure payment options. As a result, consumers are adding mobile apps to their devices and converting more often from a mobile application than a browser.
There are many benefits offered by mobile commerce and some of these include:
- Improved customer experience
- Reduced cost of operations
- Better target and engagement
- Personalized content delivery
With phenomenal growth trajectory and exciting benefits, mCommerce is sure to rule the industry. But, what will be the trends that will rule the eCommerce arena?
Let’s have a look.
Mobile apps will be the first choice for shopping
As mentioned above, the share of mobile commerce in the eCommerce industry is bound to increase with each passing year.
In a recent survey, it was found that 66% of sales during Black Friday/Cyber Monday were experienced from mobile applications. With the dramatic increase in the usage of mobile applications, the shopping share of mobile is sure to rise. Not only B2C, but B2B mobile e-commerce is also achieving a great boost and is expected to grow to 1.1 trillion in 2020.
Faster checkout
Mobile applications with easy checkout options are sure to receive more conversions than the applications which offer limited payment options. Single-click checkout and digital wallets available to make payments make the buying process easy and hence brings you more leads.
For example, have a look at this page from Best Buy.
Best Buy not only accepts payment from 6 different types of cards but also gives the option to customers of paying through Paypal.
Here it is also important to make sure that you adopt a new trend and integrate mobile wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay, making the checkout process as simple as you can.
Smart Site Research
The easier it will be for customers to find products, the greater are the chances of them making a purchase. Having dynamic product pages, autocomplete features for search option and simplifying navigation are some of the ways to offer exceptional customer experience.
If a user will find the product without many struggles, the chances will be more of him/her of making a purchase hence improving conversions and bottom line.
Here is an example, how you can make it easy for your customers to find the right product by utilizing the smart search.
The Rise of Social Commerce
Social selling provides you an opportunity to sell products directly from Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. With the advent of Instagram Shopping Posts in 2018, the whole opportunity for social commerce becomes more lucrative.
Here are a few key stats which clearly indicate that social commerce will continue to grow:
- 1 in 4 business owners are using Facebook for selling the products
- 87% of e-commerce shoppers believe that social media help them in making the right shopping decision.
- 45% of merchants utilize social media channels to generate sales.
- 30% of consumers prefer purchasing directly through social media channels.
As social media progresses, social commerce will also evolve, giving more choices to consumers and ways to buy directly through social channels. While major platforms like Facebook and Instagram have optimized their social commerce offerings, new entrants such as Tik Tok have also started to test and experiment.
Use of AR, VR, and AI
Millennials and Gen-Z desire improved shopping experience and they often use technology to expand the way they interface with the world. Millennials are looking for brands that offer customization, interactivity, and enhanced customer experience. E-commerce sites combined with Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence make brands to offer improved user experience.
Popular brands for furniture like Ikea and Wayfair enable customers to check the detailed 3D model and it can also be placed in the real world using AR. Not only this, companies like Warby Parker are also using AR to show how different glass will look on your face and WatchBox doing the same for showing how different wristwatches will look on your wrist. This virtual try-on feature is putting a great impact on both the marketing and sales of products.
Chatbots for instant responses
According to the recent stats, live chat users spend an average of 10-30% more and the buyer conversion rate is 5 to 10 times higher following a chat session.
In the coming years, the way customers purchase through mobile is going to change a lot. Chatbots or automated personal assistants are bridging the gap of personalization that customers face in online shopping.
90% of the user time on the mobile platform is spent on messaging platforms. Consumers these days are knee-deep into chat culture and highly prefer using chat platforms for their day to day needs.
Online Commerce Chatbots act like a conversational assistant, who can personalize the recommendations based on the customer’s intent. With smarter and better chatbots, online stores are sure to experience a rise in sales.
Voice Search
Voice shopping is expected to jump from the present $22 billion market share to $40 billion by 2022. And, according to the recent research by Let’s Nurture, it is expected that consumers who use voice technology to make the online purchase will jump to 50% of the population by the year 2022.
With voice technology, branding won’t be entirely visual anymore. Brands, now, will be both seen and heard. And, as voice commerce has become the widely adopted route to go, more individuals will be making voice-activated purchases.
It is important to note here that; voice search creates an increased potential for loyalty among buyers for certain types of products rather than any specific brand.
This may lead to a brandless future where individuals would purchase a product based on the convenience of what is being offered rather than simply going for their favourite brand.
Mobile Image Recognition Technology
The image recognition market is expected to grow to $38.92 billion by 2021. Advancements in machine learning and the availability of high bandwidth data services are the main reason behind the growth of this technology.
Mobile image recognition technology is sure to change the face of mobile commerce in the coming decade. There will be no more than a year or two when people will be able to search for products on the mobile application via image recognition technology. The technology will take mobile users to the shopping page of the perspective product by just clicking a picture.
Summing up
Global e-commerce is expected to capture 49% of total online sales by the end year of 2020. And, this nearly half of total online sales becoming mobile dependent make clear why businesses can no longer ignore the importance of mobile applications for their e-commerce offering.
Since the future of e-commerce is on mobile, it has become crucial to design applications that are optimized with all the above-mentioned trends. E-retail sites designed with mobile in mind make m-commerce shopping fast and easy for customers as well as prove highly lucrative for business.
