Having an expected annual growth rate of 5.7% by 2023. It is impossible to keep the belief that e-commerce is just a distinct online store, it is necessary to realise that digital and face-to-face business are now intricately linked.
The online retail market will continue to be impacted by the development of new technologies, such as the optimising of the store's design for mobile devices and the constant change in customer demands.
That’s why it is crucial to consider the following when you start redesigning your e-commerce website.
PWAs (or Progressive Web Apps), are a combination of a website with the features of an app that are easily found within search engine results. The main characteristic of these is that PWAs are websites that can be installed on the user’s mobile device without to need of an app store, waiting to download or requiring updates, plus the ability to send notifications to the users' notification tray.
PWAs operate by downloading the website to the device, instead of depending on the web server for every page load, layout, device type and connection.
Another big advantage of a PWA is only needing to create a single version of the app rather than separately for each native device.
The web is now becoming the primary method of purchasing goods; whether is for the ease of shopping at any opportunity, saving time or not having to go out of home, convenience is the best benefit of online shopping. It also helps users to locate and compare goods, even from different retailers, to choose the most convenient one.
Based on this, online businesses must make the shopping experience hassle-free for their customers to get the buying experience they’re looking for.
Including technologies on your website that can record user behaviour could help you to improve the time and reduce confusion at the checkout. Can guarantee you a plan to reduce "cart abandonment" and stop losing sales.
Some technologies with fast and easy checkout solutions that can be adopted are:
Having open two-way communication brings many advantages in achieving sales success, mainly because it gives a sense of security to the customer that it will be understood in their needs and problems if they require some personalised help.
The most efficient technologies to achieve this are:
Live Chat: A conversational feature in which the support team can directly communicate with customers through chats. It is easier to resolve specific situations when the client describes in real time the situation in which they are on.
Chatbots: This is a conversation feature with the difference that it provides answers to the customers by conversations taken from multiple channels, matching the brand’s tone of voice. A huge advantage is that chatbots are capable of handling multiple conversations at the same time.
Mobile messaging: While people are getting bombarded by excessive promotional emails, businesses can now talk to customers via mobile messaging apps such as WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger. Providing better-personalised communication with each customer.
E-commerce websites are delivering increasingly personalised results and suggestions to their users. Using algorithms which help to get to know the users’ purchase preferences can help to tempt forgotten purchases. Likewise, the use of artificial intelligence holds the potential of dynamic and adaptable targeting, which helps companies to get the right option, at the right time, to the right customer.
With such technological innovations, AI and machine learning personalisation are driving, not only one-time transactions but also creating the feeling of personal and trust-based relationship between the consumers and retailers, while improving customer lifetime value.
A huge weakness of online shopping is the lack of tactile information. This can be spotted in several situations, like the problem of imagining how a product will look in the office or home, to feel the quality of fabric in clothing or even the accurate experience at a resort.
Product visualisation is already a huge part of the digital retail environment. That’s why new applications like augmented reality and virtual reality are changing the way consumers can imagine products before they purchase.
Augmented reality: the option of superimposing digital images on a user’s view through their device.
Virtual reality: allows clients to virtually experience a product by “entering” an immersive virtual world with a VR handset and compatible 360 videos of the product.
So there you have it! Ensure your e-commerce site is ready and up to date with these trends and if you need any help, or just are interested in discussing some of these services or techniques, get in touch with us today.
