Six essential trends for e-commerce in 2017
2017 will be an exciting year for e-commerce, just like 2016 has been. What’s coming up isn’t only international globalization and explosion. At the technological level, a real revolution is coming our way: dash buttons, chat bots, innovative payment methods, etc. We’ll summarize what will have the most impact!
Omnichannel
A concept linked to communication and technology that basically means being everywhere your consumer is and transmitting your message in a way that suits the site and the channel. It’s a bit complicated, especially in large companies, since consumers and technology advance much faster than a company can adapt. It’s a challenge that’s present and that inevitably forces us to unite the online and offline worlds. The barriers between the two worlds will become more and more vague, in the sense that we will find offline attention in the online world and the online experience will be translated offline.
Chatbots
They started in Facebook and are multiplying. These bots answer customer messages from apps or chat systems automatically, which means that in this day and age we can order a Domino’s pizza from their bot from the comfort of our couch or that Sephora’s bot is able to send us information pertinent to our tastes in real time.
How-tos + Shopping with YouTube Ads
If unboxing was popular in your day, what’s now trending on YouTube are “how to” videos; How to do this and how to do that. These videos are a golden opportunity for e-commerce because you can make product demonstration videos: How to assemble this piece of furniture, how to install the seat you just bought for the bike, etc. You can use YouTube Shopping to advertise in these videos and then be able to see the product pages as an advertisement in the videos.
New payment methods
If we have a good number of payment options, hold on to them because more will come and they don’t have to be in the online world. Bracelets arrive so you can pay in online and offline stores (Paypal bracelets), Twyp, “umbrella” payment methods like Adyen or Stripe that facilitate easy integration with our online stores or the service that Sequra offers (pay for the product when you’ve tried it at home).
Offline customer service
As I commented in the omnichannel section, the line between on and off will become increasingly more vague. In that sense, software like Oct8ne can help us provide the offline experience to our online commerce, offering attention in more than just a chat by demonstrating photos, videos, or audios. The customers demand deeper customer service online. They demand to be treated as if they were in a physical store, and Oct8ne can help us with that.
Logistics in afternoon, evening, and weekend hours
Finally, we’ve come to the moment for logistics and bringing the orders to the consumer. In that sense, and many others, Amazon has been revolutionary with deliveries in 1 hour.
The competition started a while ago with deliveries in 24 hours, which has been reduced to 2 hours or an hour. Today, Amazon is able to deliver an order of fresh fruits or vegetables in 1 hour. But the real madness will be when drones come into play and deliver in less than a half hour. On the dot.
Something else to keep in mind logistically are after hours or weekend deliveries. The customer is home even less; if you have a job, you might work late. As such, it’s necessary to lengthen the delivery hours during the week or over the weekend. In this sense, once again, Amazon has upped the ante, forcing everyone else to do the same: the post office.
