6 Key E-Commerce Trends to Follow in 2017!

The competition for e-commerce has never been more fierce than it has been in 2016 and 2017 is going to be relentless. The internet has greatly impacted the way we buy things that pretty soon, physical money will be a myth.

Presently, the average consumer spends at least $1,800 a year on the internet, which is very likely going to increase in the future given how quickly people are adapting to mobile browsing and purchasing. There will also be new trends that will set new benchmarks and a new platform for e-commerce as a whole.

Let us delve in deeper at some of the hottest trends that will make their way to us in 2017.

1. More Emphasis Will Be Put On Logistics

While it is essential for smaller online retailers to engage customers and build relationships, larger firms believe that they have to focus largely on supply chain logistics more. If considered, then rookie retailers can offer their products and services through international marketplaces like Google Shopping and Amazon.

2. Business Analysts Will Use Real-Time, Self-Driven Analytics

With the help of real-time, self-driven analytics, companies will be able to get better consumer insights, depth, breadth, and scope than ever before. Kissmetrics is a leading example of success for this trend is a name that is familiar to many.

One of the best abilities of this software is assigning tracking signals to every sales channel as well as possible conversion source, which would then allow the retailers to follow it to its source to a conversion, abandonment or bounce. Retailers how have the ability to analyze every possible conversion point.

3. Demand For Advanced And Seamless Security Will Rise

While digital payments are convenient and time-saving, they also give rise to a major problem like e-commerce fraud. The number of frauds had reportedly increased by 30% last year and even more so during the holiday shopping period.

According to Aité Group, CNP (Card not present) scam is likely going to double to $6.4 billion by 2018.

4. Live-Action Customer Engagement Will Be Prominent

Live-action customer engagement is another hot trendsetter that we are looking forward to seeing in 2017. There are three types of customers according to Gallup; actively disengaged, indifferent and fully engaged.

According to recent polls conducted by the think tank, fully engaged customers drive about 44% more visits to online retailers per year and spend an average of $373 per shopping trip. Disengaged customers, on the other hand, spend $289 per trip. To actively engage customers, retailers have to do the following:

• Answer their questions via video or written post.
• Quote them in your blog to help drive continuous customer visits and encourage interaction.
• Share valuable links as well as content all over all over the social networks.
• Frequently post valuable content to keep customers up to date.

5. Chatbots Will Replace Humans

Facebook, Twitter, Google Allo and WhatApp are all introducing integrated bots that will aid customers in shopping, customer service, and booking. It will be a new wave of customers interacting with robots or machines. Facebook has over 11,000 chatbots as of now, but the data on their use is unknown right now.

One of the earliest retailers to make use of this is clothing retailer Spring, which has created a live messaging and personal shopping service called Spring Bot.

6. Mobile Engagement Will Reach New Heights

It is no surprise that there are more and more users who find comfort in shopping online using their smartphones. Even so, mobile engagement has pretty much missed its mark with consumer demand, until now that is.

According to think tank Gartner, mobile engagement and the mobile behavior of shoppers will shoot up e-commerce-driven mobile revenue by at least 50% in the year 2017.