Success in the e-commerce business goes beyond having a quality website and products. It involves staying updated on the latest trends that align with your audience and goals. This blog is your guide to enhancing business strategies, focusing on the importance of a well understood loyalty program.
Before we dive in, let's take a moment to understand the e-commerce industry. Recognizing the ever-changing landscape helps us make informed decisions about implementing trends that align with our goals!
E-Commerce Throughout Years
Some of you may be surprised, but e-commerce first started with TV. The host would showcase 2-3 items from the same company and explain how they worked. They will get deep into why we need them and drop a phone number in case we want to purchase it. Even dedicated shopping channels would often create sub-channels from well-known ones or establish entirely new ones from scratch.
Then, inevitable evolution happened, and e-commerce sailed to websites instead of sticking with TV. The rising star had the highest turn-out rate during the 2019-2021 Covid years, as it was a solution to a big problem. Facing rising customer demand, heightened e-commerce competition, and increasing customer expectations, e-commerce owners had to explore alternative solutions to achieve profitability and ascend to the top. You might wonder what these solutions are. The answer is simple: staying current! While it may seem straightforward, keeping up with the latest trends has become more challenging in this era, as they evolve rapidly and staying informed requires constant effort.
Following trends and understanding customer behaviour is the most effective way to develop appropriate solutions! Businesses should strive to understand their customers better and develop innovative solutions aligned with the current wave of excitement. Let's explore the key elements for a successful online presence in these 9 trends!
9 E-Commerce Trends to Hop on in 2024
Recognizing what instils a sense of uniqueness in customers compels them to choose your brand. Continuously addressing the question, "Why you?" is key to sustaining their interest and driving their purchasing decisions. This ongoing emphasis on differentiation strengthens the bond between your business and its customers. Let’s look into the trends that will help you answer that question!
1) An E-Commerce Must: Omnichannel Experience
Every year, there is a fixed bullet point for every trend or industry that needs to be on the list; for e-commerce, it is this one. As we have stepped into 2024, consumers are navigating through various channels and touchpoints for their purchases, be it online platforms, third party marketplaces, social media apps, or traditional brick-and-mortar stores. Retailers leveraging three or more channels witness a remarkable 251% increase in customer engagement compared to their single-channel counterparts.
Multi-Channel and Omnichannel Differences
Omnichannel and multichannel strategies in e-commerce have distinct differences. In a multichannel approach, a brand engages with customers across various platforms like apps, websites, emails, physical stores, and social media channels. On the other hand, Omnichannel optimizes this strategy by recognizing that customers may transition between channels during their online purchasing journey.
The benefits of omnichannel e-commerce include providing a consistent brand message, understanding the complete customer journey through data integration, and personalizing the customer experience, leading to a 30% higher lifetime value for omnichannel customers. However, challenges like managing brick-and-mortar store stock alongside online stock and addressing infrastructure limitations need careful consideration. Partnering with the right logistics and e-commerce entities is crucial for successful omnichannel implementation.
2) E-Commerce and Customer Service Do’s
Providing the correct answers and service to the right customer can be challenging in online e-commerce. Some customers just want to fight, whereas others are looking for the right company to be loyal to. Having a chatbot is the smart thing to do these days. Whether on your business phone or website, chatbots can allow your employees to weed out the customers who need urgent care. They are there 100% of the time, and will deal with minor problems like that!
Suppose a customer has difficulty with the shipment or the product delivered; you leave them on read or let them know you won't be open for another 8 hours. In that case, it only makes your target audience anxious, letting them tarnish your brand or drop you altogether while they are at it. These delays lead to trust issues. A chatbot can be beneficial to allow customers to see they have been heard and that they will be dealt with shortly. You can let them write a mail through chat messages (making it more formal) or direct them to the solution (if it can be solved) through text selection.
3) Read the Room: Generational Differences
The 2024 trend that sticks out the most is playing the field with generations! The boomer generation wants to be loyal to the best customer service; they tend to get nostalgic and prefer more user-friendly websites and mobile applications if someone could help them even better!
However Gen Z is more tech-savvy than the previous generations, so there is no issue with going complicated with them. Include eye catching visuals to your business, make your logo stand out, and let the social media person have at it! Gen Z will be loyal to whoever offers more and better products, stories and designs. Additionaly, consider going mobile if you didn't do it!
We saw that 73% of Gen Z do the majority of their shopping on a mobile device, and they don’t use a desktop at all. Additionally, 83% of Gen Z reports that some or all of their shopping originates with social media.Kristi O’Brian to Insider.
Millennials, on the other hand, are driven by experiences. They seek brands that offer more than just products; they crave meaningful interactions and a sense of community. Engaging millennials requires a focus on brand storytelling, authenticity, and social responsibility. Providing immersive and memorable experiences, whether through personalized shopping journeys, exclusive events, or interactive content, resonates strongly with this demographic.
Visual aesthetics and a compelling brand narrative play pivotal roles in capturing the attention and loyalty of millennials, who value companies that align with their values and contribute positively to society. As businesses navigate the diverse preferences of these generations in 2024, tailoring strategies to cater to the nostalgia-seeking boomers, tech-savvy Gen Z, and experience-centric millennials will be the key to thriving in the ever-evolving market. So, do a demographic graph before you start 2024, and look at the generations interested in your products!
4) Go Green: Sustainability with E-Commerce
As most of you know, our planet has finite resources, and we are slowly eating it alive. Sustainability tried to get attention from climate activists fifty years ago, but now, when everything goes south, everybody is all ears. It pays to go green and do good for a change!
How to be a Sustainable E-Commerce?
When one buys a product, there will be physical residue, such as the product itself, the protective barrier, the shipping container, cardboard, etc. The continuous rise in e-commerce sales and consumerism repetitively produces physical waste worldwide. We can’t ban people from buying what they want, and we should not, but we can prevent physical waste or reduce its amount.
In fact, almost half (41%) of consumers from around the world say that they’re highly willing to pay more for products that contain all-natural or organic ingredients.
Promoting recyclable products and designing multi-purpose items empowers customers to extend the lifespan of products beyond their initial use. Renowned beauty brands like Cosmed and Purest lead the way by introducing reusable bottles and incentivizing customers with discounts for returning their bottles. These companies are dedicated to environmentally conscious practices, utilizing bottles made from 30% recycled materials. This commitment contributes to sustainability and encourages a culture of reuse and responsible consumption.
How Does Protecting Our Planet Help your Business and Help us?
According to Food Business News, millennials lead the charge in adopting environmentally conscious habits, with 75% expressing a commitment to change their consumption patterns. Notably, 90% of millennials are willing to pay extra for products with sustainable ingredients, while 53% prioritize environmentally friendly choices over brand loyalty. This generational shift towards sustainability in consumer behaviour underscores the growing importance of eco-friendly practices for businesses.
Compared to where e-commerce was 5 years ago, today's customers are more inclined to buy smarter! They actively research the background of the company they buy from, if the business is ethical in their practices, keeping their promises or involved in the current political debates. Allowing your business to grow in this field will make customers more optimistic towards you.
5) Loyalty Programs within E-Commerce
E-commerce business is tricky since every other company can offer what you have; you need to add value to your business to stick out more! One way to do this is personalization of your tactics. As a business, you can start slow with social media engagements. Oreo recently sent out a dozen of their new caramel product to a girl on Twitter complaining that she never saw one in her local shop and wanted to try it. She was delighted and even reviewed the products, free of charge, which got a million impressions, by the way.
Or you can take it to Instagram and create a challenge regarding your product! While challenges may have unpredictable outcomes, it's a venture worth exploring. Another solution for personalization is loyalty programs! Collaborating with a specialized company in loyalty programs and first-party data makes it a breeze, but undertaking it independently can be challenging. With e-commerce loyalty programs, you can see what the customers prefer with certain products.
Take Trendyol, for instance, the largest e-commerce platform in Turkey, boasting a prominent mobile app and website. What began as an emulation of Amazon has become one of the country's major enterprises. Trendyol enhances the customer experience by curating pairings, crafting collections based on collective customer purchases, and empowering users to create their own collections to benefit fellow shoppers. This thoughtful approach allows customers to explore specific styles tailored to their preferences.
E-commerce businesses often face two big problems: not many people buy more than once, and there's a risk that customers might leave. To keep people coming back, it's important to have a good loyalty program. This means having simple rules, making it easy for people to use on their phones, and making sure it's fun and personal. Loyalty programs help businesses keep customers happy, sell more stuff, and stay ahead of the competition. When businesses create their own loyalty programs, they should think about what rewards to give and how to make it a great experience for customers.
6) Be Trustworthy: E-Commerce and Rise in Scam Products
Trust is crucial in today's e-commerce landscape. As the focus shifts from websites to a more social media-oriented approach, similar to the shift from TV, there's been a rise in scammers. If you've been on TikTok, you might have seen ads promoting waterproof foundation where someone goes into a pool with a full face of makeup, the legging that makes you slim or the acne-proof green stick that claims to magically erase every bump, leaving your face as smooth as a baby's. Yes, those are all scams! People lose trust and want proof as they should. Sometimes, they don’t even receive the item.
Making your brand as trustworthy as possible is a new trend for 2024. For complicated products, a social media campaign where you showcase how they work is good. Even better with honest customer feedback, so consider encouraging customers to buy from you with a discount and going viral if possible.
If you are comfortable, you also have the choice to be transparent with your working process. Showing how the product is made, showing your inventory, how many are waiting to meet their new homes, etc. These practices allow users to get to know your brand and you! People tend to trust businesses if they see what you are doing and who you are!
7) Mobile Visibility over Your Website
According to Forbes, sales through tablet-based mobile commerce (m-commerce) apps are anticipated to reach $54.01 billion by 2026, and a majority of consumers, 91% to be exact, shop online through their smartphones. Mobile apps play a crucial role in the success of e-commerce businesses for several reasons. Firstly, they provide a convenient and accessible platform for users to browse and purchase directly from their smartphones. The user-friendly interfaces of mobile apps enhance the overall shopping experience, making it easy for customers to navigate through products and complete transactions.
Investing in mobile applications for e-commerce businesses is important. Mobile applications allow technology like barcodes to work, which makes things easier for everyone! Also, creating an account and using that account's benefits are easier on mobile applications. Want your customers to utilize different discounts or want to direct them to current discounted products? Easy! Well, not easy for your app developers but easier on the eyes and easy for your customers!
8)Want to Take it To-Go?
Like Quick Service Restaurants (QSRs), which offer customers the option to take their food to-go and enjoy it in the comfort of their homes, e-commerce businesses with physical stores can adopt a similar approach. This allows customers to make online purchases and has the flexibility to choose whether they want the items delivered or picked up in-store, providing a convenient and adaptable shopping experience.
This approach combines the convenience of online shopping with the option for customers to retrieve their purchases at a physical location, catering to various preferences and enhancing overall customer satisfaction. You can also increase trust, doubtful customers can buy from you and check the product before they go home with it! In 2024, ideas are valuable; let the customer have varying options and make them comfortable with their purchase!
9) Matrix Makeover for Your Business: 2024 E-Commerce Technology
Have you seen Sephora’s or Fenty Beauty’s TikTok filters, where you can try on the product you are looking to buy? Or Amazon’s virtual try ons? Yes, technology has come to that point where it is as easy as a cake to try products without ever going to the store!
If these innovations align with your products, consider incorporating these emerging trends into your e-commerce business. Embracing such advancements allows customers to experience your products virtually without the need to visit a physical store. This enhances convenience and keeps your business at the forefront of technology-driven shopping experiences.
Conclusion
In the dynamic landscape of 2024 e-commerce, success hinges on strategic adaptation to emerging trends. The omnichannel experience is pivotal, providing a seamless journey across various platforms, while catering to diverse generational preferences and emphasizing sustainability is essential for sustained growth. E-commerce businesses must focus on personalized tactics, combatting scams, and building trust through transparent practices. Mobile visibility is crucial, and integrating innovative technologies like virtual try-ons enhances the overall shopping experience. Those who strategically embrace these trends will thrive in the evolving e-commerce space and contribute to shaping its future.