Learn about the most influential ecommerce trends, from AI-powered customer journeys to AR-generated social selling campaigns.
These are the most high-profile ecommerce marketing trends we see headed our way this year. Learn them to stay in tune with customers and ahead of competitors.
Conversational marketing is a strategy where businesses have two-way communication with customers in real time. Those one-to-one interactions can happen with live agents, but a lot of conversational marketing growth will occur with AI-powered chatbots.
For example, one study suggests that by 2028, around $72 billion in retail spending will happen through chatbot interactions. For context, that’s a 470% increase compared to the $12 billion in chatbot sales from 2023.
Two factors are fueling this ecommerce trend: generative AI and consumers’ desire for fast answers.
Generative AI models like ChatGPT use natural language processing to understand conversational queries. That’s helped chatbots become highly successful sales agents that can guide website
For most consumers, the most significant upside of using chatbots is the 24/7 availability of information. Instead of waiting until regular business hours, shoppers can jump in when inspiration strikes and get all the information they need to make an informed purchase. The great news is chatbots are becoming less expensive and easier to launch, so expect to see them gain traction in smaller businesses. You can launch your own chatbot in a jiffy. 💡 Conversational marketing relies on great calls to action. Download this free guide to get inspired by dozens of high-performing CTA phrases.
The virtual reality (VR) craze hit its peak when Facebook rebranded as Meta, a signal that the social media giant was turning its vast resources towards developing online worlds known loosely as the metaverse. Despite some optimistic forecasts, most of us still aren’t guiding our avatars down digital promenades in search of the next digital deal. And with Meta still losing millions on its big VR bet, it’s unlikely to happen any time soon.
However, an interesting movement in ecommerce is taking advantage of augmented reality, VR’s cousin that overlays digital imagery on real-world environments in real time.
Direct messaging, like the DMs on your Instagram or TikTok account, is ideal for brands to interact with customers and fans one-on-one. You can send links, images, and product videos. Plus, it doesn’t cost anything to send a DM. That’s why we’ll see more brands connect with their customers in direct message apps this year.
Because of their private nature, DMs are a great place to have conversations about customer concerns. You can even use them as a lead generation channel as an alternative to collecting email addresses on your website.
A word of warning if you want to try this trend out for yourself. If you start messaging random people, you’ll definitely get blocked and probably reported. Always ask before contacting someone in their DMs. Offer a reason, like giving someone a personal discount code or asking them to share their experience with your products (free user-generated content!).
At first, social media marketing was mainly a brand awareness play. Sellers could share their wares in organic and paid posts and then offer links to their e-commerce shops.
Jumping from one platform to the next adds friction to the sales process. With social shopping, consumers can click on the products they see in a post and complete the purchase without leaving their favorite social media apps.
AR has become very accessible, even offered as free features like stickers and polls on social media platforms. Expect to see online retailers and brands taking advantage of AR in new ways. For example, fashion brands use AR to help mobile shoppers see how they’ll look in this season’s styles.
If QVC and social shopping had a love child, it would be live commerce. During a live commerce event, a host interacts with viewers via video on a social media platform. Those viewers can then purchase the products on offer right from the video.
Live commerce offers the best parts of in-store shopping without fighting traffic or searching for a parking space. Shoppers get instant answers from a knowledgeable brand representative or influencer right from their living room.
The most popular social media apps are participating in this trend. Instagram and TikTok offer live shopping features, and YouTube inked a deal with Shopify to let creators add shoppable links to videos.
Buy almost any consumable from Amazon, and you’ll be asked if you’d like to save a few dollars by subscribing to auto-refill your order. The initial loss in profit to the seller is well worth the higher potential of repeat business. And the buyer sees the savings as a no-brainer since they’ll need more of the product later.
The trend goes beyond monthly dog food or cosmetics deliveries (although those are common). Now, you can get a regular delivery of all sorts of themed products, like miniature items for your doll house or train set.
In general, AI is a big trend for all marketers. There are many ways ecommerce brands and marketers can use artificial intelligence to boost their businesses. One that’s emerging as particularly useful is having AI create complex, personalized customer journeys.
Here’s an example. Say you send marketing texts to your customers, reminding them of sales and new products. If each text of those campaigns were personalized to the individual based on their prior behavior, you’d close a lot more sales. But it’d be nearly impossible to do manually when you’re promoting hundreds of products to thousands of customers.
Personalization has been the playground of ad campaigns for a while. But what if every person who visited your promotional landing page or home page saw a version that best suited their needs? That’s what dynamic landing pages and websites offer.
Here’s a simple example where someone considering your product sees a different home page than someone who bought it.
To read more visit: https://www.wordstream.com/blog/2024-ecommerce-trends
© 2024 Crivva - Business Promotion. All rights reserved.