E-commerce trends for 2019 year

The e-commerce sector is growing at an incredibly rapid pace. When drawing up our strategy for 2019, we should bear in mind changes to Google’s algorithms and the rapid pace of technological development.

Chatbots – boost your online shop’s conversion rate

The popularity of chatbots has begun to rise rapidly. They are now an increasingly important tool for small and medium-sized enterprises, as they offer a more cost-effective solution than a 24-hour helpdesk. Chatbots help to attract and retain customers by providing quick assistance with problem-solving.

The development of artificial intelligence has meant, that in this case it is possible to successfully replace a human. A chatbot is able to serve several customers at the same time. This option is particularly useful during peak season, when e-commerce

What’s more, bots can utilise cross-selling and up-selling. This is all thanks to their ability to ‘learn’ and ‘remember’ the preferences of returning customers. As a shop owner, you can collect useful data about your customers and tailor your personalised sales offers more effectively in future.

Chatbots are getting better and better at understanding the queries we put to them. They are also capable of holding a simple conversation with a customer based on key phrases. Given the pace of change in the e-commerce market, it won’t be long before chatbots can understand even more complex queries. It is receiving an increasing number of queries.

Customer experience

The e-commerce sector in Poland is growing steadily – as are customers’ expectations regarding the quality of service. The customer experience when interacting with a brand is becoming increasingly important. Large companies know how vital an impeccable image is. However, simply running social media accounts well is not enough to earn customers’ recognition.

The customer experience is made up of several factors – including among others the quality of service, price, fairness and reliability as well as the ability to contact a consultant promptly. In this case, it is worth considering introducing a chatbot.

Building a positive customer experience should start right from the start. Optimising an online shop or improving the purchase path in order to minimise the number of abandoned shopping baskets, will have a positive effect.

Mobile First Index

Having a responsive website online is now a requirement. If you want, for your online shop to sell more, you should think about smartphone users.

Google operates on the principle of Mobile First Indexing. For this reason, the mobile version of your online shop determines its ranking in search results.

Regardless of the nature of our business, one of the most important factors for success is ensuring that the shop’s website is optimised for mobile devices. Many of us use our mobile phones more often than a computer. A modern online shop should allow customers to make purchases via their mobile phones.

Payments mobile

Customers are becoming increasingly demanding and want to shop on their own terms. No option to pay quickly for product is one of the most important reasons for abandoning shopping baskets.

Making payments via smartphone is becoming increasingly popular. Customers are taking note of the option to complete transactions using the BLIK system. The number of people who prefer quick mobile payments will grow year on year. It’s worth bearing this in mind when choosing software for your online shop.

The convergence of B2B and B2C

More and more companies are realising that maximising profit is only possible by being open to every customer. It is worth deciding to offer products to both individual and business customers. In this way, a business can sell more and benefit from economies of scale.

This trend is leading to the development of business solutions aimed exclusively at a single type of customer. Building an online shop using Magento makes it possible to blur the lines between B2B and B2C sales.

Social commerce

This is a relatively new trend with great potential for the future. Social media have dominated the mass media. The most well-known social media platforms are developing in such way, such that users spend more and more time there.

Facebook fan pages are offering business owners ever-greater opportunities. Online shops can create product catalogues, whilst Instagram allows them to tag products in photos. The latter option is particularly useful for fashion-related businesses.

The Marketplace platform has proved to be a revolutionary solution, enabling users to buy and sell locally. It is to be expected that, in the near future, Facebook and other social media platforms will introduce further solutions aimed at selling products via social media.

The global success of giants such as Amazon and eBay has led to a rise in the popularity of so-called online marketplaces. Harnessing the potential of marketplaces as an additional sales channel can help your business grow.

If you synchronise all your secondary sales channels with your online shop as the central hub, you’ll attract more potential customers.

Voice search

Voice search is becoming increasingly popular. This is leading to gradual changes in the SEO strategies of online businesses. It’s worth structuring your product descriptions in such a way that they sound natural. Avoiding the passive voice will make your descriptions sound as though they were spoken by a real person.

A good step would be to put together a comprehensive FAQ section with questions phrased in the way a person would actually ask them. All the signs suggest that voice search could bring about significant changes in the online retail market in the coming years. It’s worth being prepared for such changes.

By keeping up to date with the latest trends in e-commerce, you’ll be able to reach an ever-wider audience with your products. Using the services of a professional digital agency will help you grow your online business and find new sales channels.

The 052b team will help you spread your wings. Check out what we’ve managed to achieve for the CBT brand.