New Year and new predictions for e-Commerce trends in 2018 appear everywhere.

    I read some portals, magazines, and posts during December and January.

    This is the outcome of my findings.

    1. It’s business – and it’s definitely personal from Ebay Network Blog
    2. Make mobile your go-to – 60% of product search are on mobile devices
    3. Viva video! product, offer, promotion
    4. Voice search is no longer just talk – and it’s crucial to your SEO
    5. The shopping experience gets an augmented reality upgrade from Adweek
    6. USA market – #Diversity in product offering and workplace
    7. The luxury market is more attractive for millennials – econsultancy.com
    8. Investment in smarter exit-intent – I would add to overall marketing automation
    9. Better distribution and shipping – including Amazon Flex (like Uber)
    10. Bigger warehouses are needed  for eCommerce businesses per Urbanland

    I choose 3 points to concentrate on them.

    1. Viva video! in e-commerce trends

    2. It’s a business – be personal

    Recently I had a conversation with my potential client that wanted to implement  “Amazon-like” experience on its websites, mobile apps, and online shops.

    It was a huge global player.

    This client did a testing of such feature on their one website and results were great.

    They wanted to implement and integrate it with their ads, affiliate programs, and overall programmatic tools.

    It is amazing how eCommerce tools spread to media buying and ads management.

    The tricky thing is not implementation itself, but the operations processes and analytics.

    The Artificial intelligence AI help them to build an algorithm, but a real buyer is a person, sometimes unpredictable. They try to collect as much as possible data about their prospect and clients. Ok – but how to use these data…

    3. Smartphones will soon dominate online conversions.

    • By the end of 2018, about 36 percent of people worldwide will own a smartphone.
    • According to a report by Ofcom (the U.K.’s Office of Communications), 16 percent of adults worldwide use only a smartphone to access the internet. This includes many millennials who have never owned their own computer. This number is expected to increase as more social and productivity apps are released. In the past two years, even employers have gone to app-based scheduling and communication systems.
    • The increased popularity of Apple Pay, Google Wallet, and PayPal for mobile makes for quick and seamless m-commerce transactions. The speed and security of using a thumbprint or other ID method trumps entering credit card numbers.
    • Improved retailer apps will attract more mobile users that actually purchase.
    • An increase in mobile-only or app-only deals provided by larger retailers will convert more shoppers to use smartphones to purchase – please look at Wish App
    • More businesses and public areas are offering free Wi-Fi. This, in conjunction with unlimited cellular data plans and expanded service areas, means more people will be able to connect, from anywhere.

    Be Mobile for SEO

    Google started this process 3 years ago by changing its SEO rules.  Now it is a must-to-have mobile or responsive design in your online shop. To remain in the game per e-commerce trends, an online store must be mobile-friendly in both design and features.

    • Go responsive. A responsive site loads differently on a smartphone than on a desktop computer. Most templates are responsive now. You can adjust font size, a content presentation, hiding/ enabling some frames or create a different offer for mobile users. It is quite easy to do on Magento.
    • Make navigation, search, and checkout as quick and painless as possible. Mobile shoppers are often pressed for time. When they’re ready to buy, make sure the site responds fast and leaves them with no questions about what to do next.
    • Implement popular mobile payment methods. They’re faster and provide more security.
    • Allow for autofill. The faster that shoppers can create accounts and check out, the higher the conversion rate.

    Summarizing:

    Video will be the eCommerce king in 2018

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