Boost sales with these e-commerce trends in 2024
Introduction
Industry experts are saying sales in retail e-commerce have surpassed $5.5 trillion globally, which will reach up to $8 trillion by 2027. As digital e-commerce is growing rapidly, you need to stay updated with your customer’s varying preferences, only to provide them with the best solution whenever they visit your site.
This blog suggests 10 e-commerce trends to follow in 2024 along with 5 bonus upcoming trends at the end. Companies for web development help you get the features you desire in your website.
Keep an eye out for these E-commerce trends
AI
You have probably heard this a thousand times – “AI is here to stay”. Let’s break down some key benefits of integrating AI tools with your e-commerce website.
· AI chatbots provide customer support 24/7.
· AI-powered image recognition tools enable customers to search for products by uploading images of their desired products.
· AI will analyze customer reviews and suggest scope for improvements.
· AI can assess your location and time of search to personalize product prices.
· AI can recommend alternatives in pursuit of upselling.
Voice search
Stats show figures like an average of 1 billion voice searches every month and at least 50% of adults use voice searches daily. With seamless convenience, voice search will only grow as a trend.
There are many search-as-a-service tools like Algolia, and Swiftype that provide you with AI search systems with APIs. Or you can hire web development companies to integrate AI-powered voice search systems with your website. These systems will use Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing to understand a user’s query and provide them with the best search result that matches their query well.
AR and VR shopping
More than 60% of consumers prefer to buy from those who provide AR solutions.
“When brands offer AR experiences–the ability to put a product in one’s space virtually or do virtual try-on–shoppers are exponentially more likely to engage with the products”.
This increases the chances of buying the products that shoppers find best fit in their households or on themselves.
· Online shoppers can trail clothes, and makeup virtually.
· AR helps in merging virtual images of material within the real image of your house.
Privacy and transparency
Almost 80% of American people think before sharing their personal data with any e-commerce application while making a purchase decision, and the world is just following through. No matter how seamless a buyer’s online journey can be, if they feel unsafe about data breaches, they will more likely not buy from you again. Reliable payment gateways having more than 1 option for payment and convenient checkouts act like smooth virtual exits for online shoppers.
Direct to Consumer (DTC)
The Direct to Consumer model not only helps online sellers save extra costs and expenses but also makes shoppers feel more connected with the ones they buy from. This is a form of transparency that everyone demands nowadays. Shoppers like to communicate directly with the brand and share their likes and dislikes, giving reviews and feeling like a valued customers.
More than 80% of shoppers will shop from DTC brands in the upcoming years.
Trends focussed on Gen z
Social commerce
Social commerce is in surge among the most dominating sales-boosting trends among today’s gen Z. According to credible sources, almost 49% of Indian consumers buy products through social media platforms. Therefore, utilizing social commerce tools such as Instagram shopping and Facebook marketplace can effectively enhance your customer engagement driving sales and capitalizing on the growing trend of social commerce.
Sustainability
Sustainability is also among the most effective trends among Gen Z customers which can help you to boost your sales. According to a survey conducted by Nielsen, 66% of customers are willing to pay more to purchase sustainable products and remain responsible for the environment and society. Therefore, if you can highlight your sustainable practices properly through your conduct and marketing approaches, you will be able to utilize this trend along with enhancing your image in front of Gen Z customers.
Hyper personalization
Hyper personalization is another trend that has become very dominant among Gen Z customers due to its convenience and ease of access. According to a survey conducted by Accenture, 91% of customers are more likely to shop with a brand that remembers them and provides relevant recommendations and discounts. With hyper-personalization, you can expect to witness AI pushing notifications of winter jackets to a customer browsing your website during cold winter.
Mobile first shopping
You will be amazed to learn about the dominance of mobile commerce among today’s Gen Z customers. According to Statista, mobile commerce sales have touched $2.2 trillion worldwide and almost 60% of e-commerce sales consist of mobile commerce sales. Therefore, if you want to ride this trend and boost your sales effectively, then focus on making your mobile commerce portal fast-loading, easy to access, and convenient to checkout with proper transaction security.
Live shopping
Live shopping is an interesting trend that has shown the most amazing as well as overwhelming response in case of boosting sales. Crawford has claimed that a brand named “Quivr” has gained a 150% rise in its sales after 24 hours of the live shopping season. Showcasing your products and their extraordinary features during live video streaming can intrigue interest and trust among gen Z customers and boost your sales effectively. Interacting with your customers during the live streams can increase the sense of community and customer loyalty boosting your sales.
Bonus e-commerce trends
1. Having various payment options reduces the churn rate.
2. Shoppers relate more to User-Generated Content (UGC) hence brands love to promote products by hiring models.
3. Influencer marketing will grow in demand.
4. Subscription-based approaches will benefit specific consumers.
5. Online stores will suggest more complementary products to cross-sell to the right people.
FAQs
1. How do AR and VR help online retail stores?
AR and VR give you virtual exposure to the physical store, which makes customers feel connected from the comfort of their homes. Virtual trial of a dress or decoration of your room with a home appliance boosts sales in online retail space.
2. What are the current e-commerce trends that will boost sales in 2024?
Some of the few growing e-commerce trends in 2024 are AI chatbots, AI-powered image and voice search, multi-channel e-commerce, personalized suggestions and push notifications, and AR and VR shopping experiences to name a few.
3. What are the e-commerce trends that specifically focus on Gen Z?
Gen Z prefers to research the brand before buying from them, hence having a strong social presence and good online reviews remains of paramount importance. However, sustainable and reusable products, mobile-first shopping experiences, and live shopping are some other Gen Z-driven trends.
4. How image and voice search is revolutionizing e-commerce?
Many people try to find products they found either in magazines or saw someone else using without knowing the exact names of the products. This is where image search comes into play. Whereas using voice search on the go provides consumers with the utmost convenience in their buying journey. This trend will only grow trendy in the near future.
Conclusion
Every business is unique and hence psychology and preferences of customers of every business will also be different from each other. Understanding your customers remains crucial in the world of growing trends. Providing your customers only with the features they require the most, will also boost sales of your e-commerce business.