A month after all the doom-laden predictions about the biggest trends in eCommerce, and after researching during the first days of 2015, we’re clear on 4 factors that will impact online businesses. This year promises a lot for online business. Are you ready?
Let’s get started!
The offline/online split in the sales process. Omnichannel consumers
The rise of omnichannel marked the end of 2014 and remains a major factor to consider this year. Looking for deals and the best promotions anytime, anywhere and on any channel is becoming a reality for the vast majority of users.
According to several eCommerce studies, 50% of consumers first visit a physical store to see the product before buying online. The reverse process also happens, known as R.O.P.O. (Research Online, Purchase Offline), which tells us we need to build online trust and look after users at every step to prevent offline leakage.
Growing mobile devices. Mobile power
Based on the data above, adapting your online business to mobile devices is something you should have nailed by Q1 2014. If not, you should know that most users browse on mobile before buying on their desktop computer. More data… In the last quarter of 2014, 26% of purchases were made on mobile devices.
The importance is real, and mobile devices are set to keep rising throughout 2015. Are you going to fail this test again?
One of a kind. Stand out
Creating unique content for your eCommerce remains an important factor this new year. Product pages matter: if you add value with extra information, technical descriptions and quality images, you’ll stand out from the rest.
More explainer and how-to videos about your products can add value to your online store. There are many tools to get started, such as Vine, Canva, Pixlr… They’re easy and the results are very satisfying.
Staying one step ahead will always bring in new users and bring back old ones, simply because they want to see what’s new.
Inbound Marketing. The new strategy
For many, Inbound Marketing (combining SEO, content marketing and social media) is the way forward in 2015. Working on all 3 pillars together lets us build a strong commercial strategy with users, rewarding their purchases or sign-ups with video tutorials, e-books or other useful resources.
We can’t forget that the user is a person, so we need to humanize every action to build a strong customer strategy.
As the online sector advances, so does the need to stay up to date and work hard to make our business succeed. Happy 2015!
