eCommerce is one of the rapidly growing industries in the economy today. Statistics show that in North America, eCommerce rose 15% to more than $500 billion during just the last year.  

If you are in e-commerce or aspire to pursue this industry, I have good news for you – the industry is growing steadily!

In such a fast growing industry, it is safe to expect that the growth numbers will continue to increase. Experts estimate that by 2021, retail eCommerce will reach $4.88 trillion. That being said, however, it is essential to keep pace with the latest trends, particularly those which includes technological advances that impact consumer behavior, as further growth is likely to lead to more competition in the eCommerce market. 

Follow these tips, trends, and tricks if you want to stay ahead of the competition. 

Cater to omnichannel consumers:

Today, the world is more interconnected than ever before. And In such an interconnected world, people buy from more than a single platform. Statistics on consumers show that 78% buy on Amazon, 45% buy from a branded online store, and 34% buy on eBay. Social media marketing has also been trending over the past few years, and now 11% of shoppers buy on Facebook. These statistics show how profitable and essential it is to cater to the requirements of consumers by marketing services and products across multiple platforms, both offline and online. 

Now, it is far easier to turn your idea into an eCommerce store. For instance, you can create a customized and professional online store using Wix.com. It provides in-built drag and drop format, and you can choose your favorite template to create an attractive online store easily. Plus, you can also optimize it for mobile phones, which are also an essential part of this growth in online marketing. You don’t have to worry about managing your orders, because Wix.com does it all. What’s more, it can even manage payments, inventory, and taxes while growing and promoting your business! 

Be sure to market your online store on all the online formats such as eBay and Amazon, as well as build social media branding. No matter what platform you use to sell your product, always offer personalized and genuine customer service, as it will promote long-term brand loyalty. 

Hire website design Orange County and embrace AI-powered chatbots:

If you want to stay ahead of the competition, always embrace the power of Al-Powered chatbots! 

For all eCommerce merchants and business owners, it is quite hard to keep up with all online requests and feedback. In such a scenario, chatbots that are supported by AI are a great solution! AI-powered chatbots can answer countless questions simultaneously, are constant across all time zones, respond instantly to queries, and have no need for human supervisors. 

The only drawback of chatbots is they are limited to the data they are programmed with and the code that created them. They cannot think outside of the box, answer incomplete questions, or recognize misspelled words. 

Thanks to newer technology, however, AI-powered chatbots are more sophisticated and smarter! They are now multilingual, and understand the intent of sentences, and not just keywords. Therefore, they can help you sustain customer satisfaction and achieve long term loyalty, which ultimately affects your long-term eCommerce growth. 

Today the marketplace is just a click away and customers expect an accurate and prompt answers, and therefore if you provide sustained customer service, chatbots will go a long way in winning customer loyalty and retaining them in the long run.

Incorporate video content and marketing:

Video marketing and video content are now trendy in the industry, as most buyers spend more time watching videos on desktops and mobile phones than televisions, making it an incredibly important element in eCommerce. After all, a video is a fun and compelling way to engage your target audience actively, as well as being a tremendously important way to share your brand story. 

Therefore it is essential to incorporate video content into your eCommerce website. If you are based in Orange County, reach out to the nearest website design Orange County service provider to build an eCommerce store for you. As mentioned Wix.com has many great solutions for incorporating video content, such as full-width video strips, single-player video, or video background. Make sure you enhance your product pages and home page with how-to-videos and promotional videos, as well as embed your videos into your social media pages, which will help you bring in more traffic. 

Prepare for voice search:

While text-based online searching is going to stay around, voice search is fast increasing in popularity. More than 20% of Google searches today are done by voice instead of typed text, and research indicates that by 2020, more than 50% of searches will be done using voice instead of text. 

The growth of voice search is a tremendous opportunity for eCommerce merchants, particularly for product descriptions and SEO keywords that appear on your eCommerce stores. It is very critical to focus on polishing up the product descriptions on your store, as the more concise and appealing they are, the better they will sound when read aloud by Siri, Alexa, or any other virtual assistant. 

Simplify your online payment method:

Today’s busy customers are looking for quick and easy solutions. Just because the online customer reaches the checkout doesn’t mean they made the purchase. Shoppers are always looking for a smooth and simple shopping experience, and 26% of shoppers leave e-commerce stores because of a lengthy checkout process or purchase procedure. 

Obtain a competitive edge and improve your conversion by incorporating a simple payment method. No matter how much the industry grows, the basic formula remains the same – providing a positive consumer shopping experience builds long-term brand loyalty.  Reach out to website design Orange County to scale your business to the next level!