Future eCommerce trends to consider: Top 9 that are critical in 2022

The global eCommerce trends have been changing from local sales to borderless commerce with the multi-lingual, multi-currency support provided by businesses. The worldwide rise in eCommerce which is expected to reach 21.8% by 2024 opens up a huge opportunity for eCommerce store owners to explore cross-border commerce, borderless business, and international online retail. 

Market analysts say that the eCommerce industry will be the biggest beneficiaries of the coronavirus pandemic. Penetration rates, which are currently at 15 percent, are expected to increase to 25 percent by 2025 (MarketWatch, 2020). That marks a 67 percent increase in five years.

Benefits of watching eCommerce  trends

For pursuing their presence in the global eCommerce, you need to ponder over questions like choosing the right place for investment, and the strategies to attract non-local buyers. Observing the eCommerce traffic trends and upcoming technologies will help you set the priorities on adopting the strategies. Changing trends influence the way the consumers choose the buyers and make purchases. Therefore, to stay ahead of the competition, you need to make serious efforts to keep up with the latest trends that influence eCommerce traffic growth. 

Being adaptive is of significance if you want to stay ahead in the competition, or else your business will drastically fall behind irrespective of your past success numbers. Analyzing and adopting the trends in eCommerce and mobile eCommerce promptly will also help you come up with effective eCommerce traffic solutions to scale up your business. 

Future Ecommerce Trends to Prepare You for 2022

A plethora of things are expecting a shift in global eCommerce over the coming years. Given below are a few exciting 2022 eCommerce trends for successful eCommerce businesses to follow:

1. Role of emerging markets

According to a study by Economic Times, eCommerce in emerging markets is predicted to expand from 15% of all retail sales in 2017 to 20% in 2022. This means the potential for exploring the growing markets such as India, China, Brazil, Russia, and South Africa are huge. It also implies that there are many possibilities for new eCommerce businesses to pop up within those developing markets and tailor their operations towards local audiences.

2. Payment preferences

The coming year will witness a change in the payment preferences in the eCommerce sector. It is predicted that the cryptocurrency market will touch $60 billion by the end of 2025, which may be a major trendsetter.  Unlike the current scenario where the eCommerce transactions via payment getaways, transactions will happen directly between the buyer and the retailer with bitcoins. This will also bring down eCommerce frauds and intermediary commissions. 

As a business owner, you can add more BTC support and start transactions with bitcoin which will emerge as a cheaper, handy, and secured payment option for online businesses.

3. B2B than B2C

It is predicted that B2B businesses are expected to cross $6.6 trillion by the end of 2021. This growing trend led by SaaS and technology companies makes the workforce operate smoother, and makes the businesses more lucrative. So, if you are into B2B business, prepare yourself to process larger orders and volume-based discounts, and simplify reorder management.

4. Omnichannel strategy

By understanding that customers prefer to view the store content in multiple ways, businesses need to discover new ways to sell their products. 

An omnichannel strategy is a multichannel approach that thrives to ensure a best-in-class customer experience, whether it is on a mobile device, desktop, or in a brick-and-mortar store. Through omnichannel, business owners can drive customers by both an offline and online presence thereby unifying brand experiences. By adopting an omnichannel strategy, you can also enable improved customer experience and better communication with customers across various channels.

5. Green consumerism

A recent study by GlobalWebIndex shows that poor environmental records have an impact on their purchasing decisions by online users. This emphasizes the need for businesses to create more sustainable practices such as sourcing commodities from fair-trade organizations and thus enabling a greener eCommerce setting. So, it might be a good idea to adapt to the changing morale of the consumers who are more sensitive to the environmental impacts of your business.

6. Headless and API-driven eCommerce

Another emerging trend that may drastically affect the future of eCommerce is the adoption of Headless Commerce. Headless Commerce means a solution that separates the eCommerce platform from the frontend layer. This allows limitless innovation possibilities. 

Therefore, if you want to be on the go with the trend, adopt headless as it offers flexibility on the backend, SEO, content marketing, and digital experience capabilities.

7. Gaining importance of Analytics

A report from Deloitte depicts that 49% of respondents agree that analytics helps them make effective decisions while 16% say that it better enables key strategic initiatives. Deep eCommerce analytics has always been a trend as it directly focuses on customer behavior and conversion. Analytics include metrics that help you come up with eCommerce traffic solutions and thereby growth.

Focusing on factors such as click-through rate on specific campaigns and conversion numbers, help you decide the right channel to lead the customers to your store. Therefore, putting analytics in place to drive insightful reports will never go in vain, rather it will equip you to gain a place in the future of eCommerce. These can be audience segmentation or integrating with CRM, CMS – anything that will give you deep insights.

8. AI, AR, and VR

The AR market, according to Statista, is projected to reach $15.497 million by 2022 and cross $18 million by 2023. ECommerce businesses are enthusiastically investing in exploring the Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality to build social media filters, for preview placements, for virtual trial rooms, and for equipping interactive user manuals.

These initiatives for deep-tech adoption help deliver more personalized experiences to consumers by allowing them to explore the product as if in a physical store. If you are into a retail industry such as fashion, cosmetics, or accessories that takes a personalized experience to influence the customer’s purchasing decision, this is your cue to equip yourself with the right technology.

9. Mobile Shopping is Growing

Shoppers, including millennials and Gen Z customers, find mobile devices more convenient owing to their ease of use and popularity. The statistics related to mobile eCommerce trends, according to Payvision, are expected to grow 18.8 percent to $3.16 trillion this year before further rising to $3.79 trillion in 2022. Therefore, improve the mobile shopping experience of your online store to keep up the pace and reap the benefits. Ensure that your store is optimized for mobile devices by tuning up its mobile responsiveness and other factors.

Ecommerce companies should prudently watch the changing eCommerce future trends in the industry to stay ahead of the competition. Be ready to adopt the changing trends so that you can tap into the tremendous opportunities in the eCommerce space in 2022 and ahead.