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Making your ecommerce unique can be a challenge to transcend in the market, especially in an unexpected crisis like the 2020 pandemic. Forward-thinking companies strive to redefine trends into competitive advantages by making them their own. Today we want to share 8 top trends that can leverage your revenue-generating activities all year long!
Merge into an omnichannel solution
“Online sales still make up a greater portion of retail sales than they did prior to the pandemic. But they have steadily declined from their peak in the spring of 2020,” says Nathaniel Meyersohn of CNN Business.
Why is this important? With the transition from online to in-person shopping preference, people have become more tech-savvy in their shopping journey and haven’t completely abandoned online research to enrich their decision-making phase. They may also rely on data on your digital platforms for available inventory or if fulfillment is the best option.
Biggest challenges e-commerce business face to become an omnichannel solution?
In other words, Ecommerce volume growth continues to experience deceleration but ecommerce trends and expectations are here to stay. 73% of e-commerce consumers report using various channels during their customer journey. Now the question is, is your digital and in-person a unified front or does your customer have a different experience in each?
Loyal customers will de advocates on social media and engage but easily compare prices and product availability, or even evaluate your accuracy by comparing online data and offline experience!
How can your business nail omnichannel presence?
- Offer flexible fulfillment and return options
- Enrich in-store experience with access to customer account details
- Synchronize in-store inventory and real-time online availability
- Invest in VR and other immersive technologies to recreate a real in-person experience
Customer Retention starts with User Experience
Size, Tracking, Refunds? Customer service contributes to initial sales, but in the long run, will impact customer retention. By investing in user experience and analyzing how frictionless any concerns or questions your clients or potential customers may have you are on your way to upkeeping your brand!
Whether it’s choosing a size, tracking a shipment, or requesting a refund, customers want help – fast through their preferred channel, whether that’s a phone, social media, or live chat.
Did you know? 87% of consumers spend less or completely leave brands if customer service isn’t great!
24/7 customer service can be costly therefore chatbot technology powered by automation and AI is advancing fast and providing an essential role to make the shopping experience with more personalized service and product recommendations.
E-commerce allows your business to be open 24/7, so ensure your customer service is also!
Return: Redefine and adapt strategically to help inflation-scared consumers
Inflation will continue to influence consumer budget and spending in 2023 but how can your business mitigate its effect?
With mindful consumers and high financial anxiety roaming the market, your business can show empathy and provide a new approach and offers! Flexible returns and budget-friendly options can give your customers flexibility and assurance when shopping. Yes, returns may be costly, but in moments like these shoppers will make a return, easy or not. A complicated process or inflexible policy will only close the door to future purchases, instead of diminishing return volume.
Let’s look at the facts: 67% of shoppers check the return policy before buying online – meaning a bad policy can deter a customer from your brand. Now consider, 92% of consumers will purchase from a brand again if the return process was easy which sheds light on the importance of revising your return logistics and options you offer to your customers, especially first-buyers.
Recommerce: Redefine and adapt strategically to help inflation-scared consumers
Green commerce is becoming a priority and gaining popularity amid new budgets imposed by inflation, consumers are willing to pay more if they are choosing a sustainable brand or product.
Can your business implement the following?:
- Environmental-friendly materials and packaging
- More shipping options by consolidating orders
- Facilitating shopping recycled items or pre-owned directly from your site
Currently, 65% of all shoppers use some resale or recommerce service which creates the need to optimize reverse logistics to make it happen!
Big brands like Patagonia, Levi’s, and REI are focusing on sustainability and recommerce efforts. Consumers want purpose-driven purchases.
Subscriptions: Diversify revenue streams
All businesses face the challenge of winning new customers can be expensive and require a lot of time – the goal of any business is to create customer relationships that will last. A great approach for this year is to analyze if you can diversify revenue streams by implementing and offering your consumers subscription models, in addition to your current shopping experience.
Why? Almost 35% of weekly online shoppers use subscriptions. If your clients are already buying their favorite products regularly, subscription commerce eliminates manual ordering and delivery! Grow your figures as you streamline revenue and orders! Your customers expect simplicity and convenience when shopping, automate this process starting with your logistics and integrate this model into your digital platforms!
BOPIS Fulfillment is shaping ecommerce rapidly, how?
Buy-online-pickup-in-store (BOPIS) allows shoppers to enjoy convenience with online purchases and scheduled pick-up of their items at their preferred location. In principle decentralizing fulfillment hubs operations and moving into store locations has allowed:
- Faster shipping, such as next-day delivery
- Profitability: optimized use of space by rent out and doubling functions
Best Buy is a successful example of making the most of its physical storefront strategically conditioned into decentralized fulfillment centers to take advantage of space and workforce. Customer satisfaction skyrocketed impacting sales, with a 242% growth in 2020.
Although flexible fulfillment is far from new, the need to innovate and optimize will impact and help to increase loyalty, and thereby sales. Have in mind that in your consumers’ journey and searching for ways to continue buying the products they love even when budgets are tight will help your business thrive this year, not only survive! BOPIS’s flexibility in fulfillment is key for 2023.
Deliver as promised, always accurate and competitive
Brand perception and reliability mean keeping promises. Although carrier capacity is usually handed off, on-time delivery is a priority so your business needs to do everything possible to mitigate shipping delays on your end. This means that fulfillment operations have to be spot on to comply with the order shipping date with customer expectancy.
As instant gratification reigns, the gold standard for delivery is next-day and same-day deliveries, is your business working towards them?
Furthermore, 93% of customers say order transparency is very important to their overall customer experience. Customers want to be part of the process, every step of the way, so speed, communication, and personalization are all key factors in meeting expectations!
Readiness, expect the unexpected
Pandemic expectations are here to stay, like fast and free shipping, but so are supply chain disruptions! Resilient strategies make resilient brands, a great way to turn over the worst-case scenario is to begin to redefine now strategic logistic networks that leverage your bottom line and future! Facts show that disrupted supply chains can cause a 62% financial loss. Single-sourcing is a thing of the past and evaluating how much inventory to keep on hand can be costly initially but will definitely be worth the while! Supply chain digitalization will help unlock data to create strategies with all factors in perspective before chaos happens or avoid it completely.
Value-focused efforts to face Global Recession
Unlike a pandemic, your business has time to prepare for a recession, inflation and more supply chain disruptions by reshaping ecommerce trends into your own differentiators for profitable results!
Value, experience, and accuracy will shape your brand’s growth but you don’t have to do it alone! Working together behind the scenes of your business, the beauty of logistics, your workbench already has all these but it’s time to optimize to the next level!
