Recently, my close friend wrote a article about 6 Ecommerce Trend for 2013: Key Takeaways for online store. I think this post is very interesting I've learned a lot from this. Therefore, I share it for you guys. I hope it will help some of you. Ecommerce in 2013 will definitely exploit itself all advantages to gather people into a “BIG-DATA”, and you online store owners are standing a chance of making a lot of profit from the online population. What can you do to flourish as an online business? Which strategy should you implement this year to make more profit? Let me tell you. In this article, I’m showing you 6 major eCommerce trends for 2013 and key takeaways for online store owners to be the super star this year! Are you ready? Let’s roll on! M- COMMERCE M-commerceor Mobile commerce is still the buzz word for 2013 – the inevitable trend in the era of smartphones and tablets. People will shop on their mobile and touch-based devices more often than ever. 52% of adult cell phone owners use their devices while in a store to get help with purchasing decisions (Source: Pew American & Internet Life Project, 2012). By 2013, even more people will get online on their mobile phones than with PCs. Nearly two out of three shoppers use at least one device to research and purchase while shopping, and 28% use two devices at a time. More than one third of shoppers made at least one purchase with their mobile devices during the past six months. Tablet shoppers have an even higher propensity to make a purchase on the device with one in four having purchased six times or more in the past six months (Source: Local and the e-tailing group, 2012). Coda Research Consultancy predicts that Mobile commerce sales will reach $23.8 billion in 2015. There are a lot more impressive statistics for the future of M-commerce. So what can you do to take the advantages of this trend? Key takeaways: Design a responsive & retina website that fits every device screen. Create a mobile app for your store. LOCALIZATION Make sure that your customers understand you on your online storeIf you’re selling to international customers, you definitely should take this trend into consideration. Here is the interesting fact: 80% of mobile users prefer locally relevant advertising and 75% are more likely to take an action after seeing a location-specific message (Source: Mobile Audience Insights Report from JiWire, 2012). Localization adapts a website to specific languages and regions suitable for users’ geography. Be sure that your clients from Japan understand what you’re doing on your site; or else, they will run for other stores. So a localized Japanese version of the website will increase the chance to convert your visitors into buyers. Key takeaways: Make your website understandable with foreign customers: Language, currency and culture. Localize your marketing communications, customer service interactions and offices. PERSONALIZATION Collect more data of your customers. Understand them. And offer them what they want.Ten years ago, Amazon was the pioneer for Personalization and started to make revolution in the ecommerce world. Later, the non-stop improvement of data at online merchants’ fingertips, ecommerce is getting more and more personal. “Personalization will be the differentiating factor in e-commerce and digital commerce going forward, especially for multichannel retailers and new entrants online.” (David Selinger, CEO and co-founder of RichRelevance) Lately Gilt Groupe has personalized their market place by sending old buyers with a list of their in-wait-list items added on Groupe’s site. They also send email notifications about sales tailored to each of their clients. Personalization is not only based on customers’ past purchase or browsing habits, but it also will develop with the capability to predict appropriate products for customers based on advanced segmentation and users’ profiles. In 2013, personalization is proving itself as a powerful marketing tool to help online store owners build long-term relationship with customers, improve shopping experience and sales conversion rate. So what should online merchants do to catch the trend? Key takeaways: Build a long-term relationship with customers: E.g. – Show “cross-sells” rather than “up-sells” (cross-sells mean similar and equal-price products to customers’ favorites; up-sells are products with higher prices). You care for customers’ needs first, not yours. Personalize the user interface of your ecommerce site: Add personalized modules and functions (case study: Pinterest). INTERACTIVE PRODUCTS DISPLAY Why interactive? The reality of products through pictures is not as good as customers’ expectation. That’s why many people have lost incentives to shop online.So the trend for 2013 ecommerce is interactive products instead of unconvincing images. Plus, customer behavior has changed significantly since the boom of social media. Our clients will go judge products more carefully by asking references from social channels (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest). So be aware of social media sharing! Key takeaways: Make your product demo lively and interactive with customers: Using video clips, flash/ flex, zooming feature… Add more social media sharing icons into your product detail pages and leave room for comments/ review. STRONG COPYWRITING Convince your customers with interesting and helpful information. Don’t force them to buy your products.As you’re selling online, copywriting is the sales person to help you convert visitors into purchasers. Therefore, copywriting will continue rule the show of ecommerce marketing this year, especially after Google released its Penguin update last year. Strong copywriting can transform ecommerce conversion rates up to 30 to 100%. It also has positive effect on the search traffic or SEO. Many online store owners use product description elsewhere on the Internet for their product details. It’s a myth that people will remember them after one or two purchases. Professional ecommerce sites will hire good copywriters to sell their products online. Key takeaways: Create content to build trust and convince customers that you’re right for them. Write more detailed product description with attractive format and product display. Keep a consistent tone of voice through your site. I hope these tips will help your online business thrive this year. If you do, come back and share with me your story. If you have other idea of ecommerce trends in 2013, don’t hesitate share with me in the comment box below! This article belongs to KulerThemes.com You can find it here: http://www.kulerthemes.com/6-ecommerce-trends-for-2013/
Hi Quynh, This was a truly amazing post, I really appreciate you posting this for all to see. The mobile stats are really eye-opening. We went through a similar process with our platform. We developed an amazing site with a nice, smooth design, but we were loosing a lot of visits due to the fact that the site wasn't optimized for other devices, where a lot of our customers were coming from. I would say the two most important factors here (as far as ecommerce is concerned) are the mobile app and the personalization. No shopper likes to get offers and suggestions on things they aren't interested in, and it will cause a high bounce right. We just recently rolled out the flat design of Moodyo and are finishing up the final touches of our mobile, which will be like a personal shopping buddy, to help you out on the go. It will also serve as a source for targeted marketing for stores and brands. We will keep you posted on the changes in stats due to the adjustments we've made so everyone can learn from them.