With the boom in the eCommerce industry, it has become inevitable for businesses to push their limits and stay ahead of the curve if they want to win. Businesses are opting for unique strategies that help them market their products effectively and boost revenue in the process. Therefore, retail businesses are trying to stay competitive in the market by following the latest market trends emerging within the eCommerce industry.

Here in this article, we will be seeing some of such top eCommerce trends that will reign the industry in 2022 and beyond.

1. Making one-time shoppers spend again is a challenge

There had been a strong shift towards the eCommerce market after the onset of the pandemic. During the global lockdown in 2020, the eCommerce industry saw a tremendous rise in its sales. Many eCommerce businesses around the world witnessed huge profits within a very short span of time.

However, this came with an added challenge. This was the rise in the number of one-time buyers. Customers visited eCommerce stores to buy products only to never visit the store again. Businesses faced a hard time attracting those one-time shoppers back. One of the main reasons for it was that customers were attracted by the increasing competition in the market.

This means it will become important for the brand to come up with a clearer and fiercer strategic plan in 2022 that will help them retain customers in a more imperative manner. To build a lasting and stronger relationship with customers, businesses need to deliver more relevant messages. Moreover, as touchpoints increase, businesses need to be careful about them. They need to identify the points which can help them easily connect with customers and boost business ROI.

2. Increasing demand for personalized products

For any business, it is not possible to completely satisfy all customers. Simply offering many categories for your customers to go through and choose from is not going to help you with the issue.

Reaching out to your customers personally, and offering them exclusivity in terms of buying products can help you make a difference. If you are ready to do so, chances are high that around 22% of customers will be ready to share some amount of their data with you.

For example, at Envision Redesign they let customers design and customize furniture as per their needs. In 2022, more businesses will be seen adopting this trend and will be offering the feature of personalization to deliver an enhanced user experience.

3. The increasing role of voice search for shopping

Speaking to a voice-based gadget is making things easier for shoppers across the world. This means whether you are on the go, at the office, or at home – anywhere, you will be able to easily use gadgets having voice search features. Such increasing demand for voice search has let AI-based solutions like Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, and Google’s Assistant come up with effective solutions that can be incorporated into eCommerce businesses.

With the voice assistant speaker market getting stronger with each passing day, 2022 will see a rise in the market value of voice shopping across businesses. For eCommerce businesses, this clearly means implementing optimization strategies focused on voice-search in terms of phrases and keywords that go well with voice-search queries.

4. Omnichannel selling

Having just a single channel to sell your products can help with good profits when done right. However, having just a single channel will limit your chances of connecting with a larger customer base. To resolve that issue, many online businesses are trying to reach a potential customer base by making use of different channels where they are trying to offer the same level of experience throughout.

However, it becomes tough for businesses to manage inventory as the business grows and expands. Again, the hunger of online businesses to look for newer ways to reach out to the target audience base will lead to the formation of newer channels in 2022. Together, all these will help businesses boost revenue.

5. Social commerce will take the centre stage

In the last few years, the role of social media has emerged to be a better platform for businesses to get connected to their audience base rather than just being a place for people to connect with each other. If you take the example of Facebook and Instagram you will see that they now come with buy buttons to let retailers generate revenue from the platforms. Apart from that, now online businesses come with social media links that let customers share their experiences with their friends, thus boosting sales for the store.

Social media has turned today into an effective channel for brands to get maximum exposure in the market. This has helped people to know the brand and its products/services. With social media playing a key role in the life of people, its influence among eCommerce businesses will be felt in the years to come. In short, using social media and building marketing strategies around it will be felt in 2022 and in the years to come.

6. Headless commerce will continue to dominate the market

Lately, headless commerce has gained a lot of traction across the eCommerce sector. Here the backend works without having the need for a frontend. Apart from the headless commerce, something else that is getting popular in the market is headless checkout. Headless checkout separates payment layer from purchase and this helps customers in carrying out faster checkout from anywhere. With headless checkout, businesses will be able to let customers pay for the products or services through QR codes, review sites, emails or even social ads without having to take them to the payment gateways on the website.

The trend will see tremendous growth in 2022 as it helps businesses with reduced cart abandonment, better customer shopping experience, smoother transactions, and enhanced business revenue.

7. Video marketing will boom

Video marketing will be another important eCommerce trend that will be seen in 2022. It works as an effective medium to attract new customers towards the store. Videos are placed on the eCommerce site on product pages, or homepage or shared on social media platforms for customers to view. Videos can be in the form of tutorials, unboxing videos, or even user-generated contents good enough to influence the buying decisions of customers positively.

8. Live shopping

Live shopping actually falls under the umbrella of social commerce and is slowly getting popular among different eCommerce businesses. Here the seller or an influencer engages with customers through live videos to promote the brand and its products. Through the video, the product is introduced to the customer and its design and functionality is explained. In return, customer gets all their queries answered. The video contains a link to the website which the customer can visit to make a purchase if they are interested. Even though this is a new thing in the market, it will gain popularity in 2022.

9. Visual search

Visual search is not a new thing in the market. However, it is expected to expand in 2022. Visual search help customers to look for a product just by uploading the image of the item they wish to buy. This way they can either find the same or similar kind of product with ease. Visual research gets better by integrating Google’s MUM algorithm with Google Lens.

So, to get the best out of this trend, you need to optimize images and product descriptions on your eCommerce store as per the MUM standards. This way businesses will be able to appear on the SERPs along with the links for direct purchase. To make things simpler, eCommerce platforms now come with visual capabilities that can be easily included in the mobile app and website.

10. Augmented reality will take front seat

With pandemic forcing people to stay home, eCommerce businesses have many ways to reach their customers and influence their buying decision positively. Offering unmatched in-store experiences in a way that customers are comfortable buying online has been the main goal during global lockdown. To keep the customers engaged and boost sales, many eCommerce stores opted for AR.

The role of AR has increased over the years when it comes to fashion and furniture industry. In 2022 and beyond, the use of AR will increase across other different industry niches in notable numbers.

Apart from these trends, the extensive use of technologies like AI, VR, 3D mapping, and machine learning will be seen across the eCommerce sector to understand and serve customers well.

Simply investing in an eCommerce store is not enough for your business. It is important to ensure it stays up with the market requirements and customer demands well. Again, if your store fails to boost customers engagement then there is no meaning in having it in the first place. Being a renowned Magento development company, Mage Monkeys has the right team of Magento experts who can help you have an eCommerce store build that stays updated with your business requirements. Right from attracting new customers to engaging them, our team will ensure better sales for your business.

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