The world of online retail is always in a state of flux. New tech innovations spark changes in user behaviour and force ecommerce businesses to react quickly.
Major ecommerce giants are naturally able to react to technological shifts better. They have the resources to introduce game-changing features for their customers.
As someone running a small boutique online store, m-commerce trends don’t really matter a lot. This is because it is expensive and unviable for a small startup to introduce next gen features like AR, VR, algorithmic commerce, and more.
Does this mean you should stop trying? No. Your online store or shopping app cannot survive for long if other major companies keep out-innovating you all the time. Competition in the m-commerce space is at an all time high as no-code app making solutions like AppMySite have made it simple to go from WooCommerce site to mobile app.
Not all trends are unviable. Some can be integrated inexpensively and only require your attention and will. Here are some m-commerce trends bursting at the seams in 2021.
#1 - Massive shift towards mobile apps
The future of mobile shopping does not lie in mobile websites. There are many advantages we can pull up to explain why mobile apps are better than mobile websites. However, the numbers alone are enough to drive home the point.
The cart abandonment rate in mobile websites touches an extraordinary 97%. The following picture illustrates the abandonment rates of desktop, mobile websites, and mobile apps.
Source: Ruby Garage
As you can see, mobile websites have the worst abandonment rate, even when put up against desktop sites.
Mobile apps emerge as the best option if we look at the graphic above. With desktop shopping also falling, m-commerce is becoming bigger and mobile apps are the only dependable channel for completing online sales.
The argument ecommerce entrepreneurs earlier had against launching an app was the associated cost and uncertain timeline. Such an argument was indeed valid until a few years back. Now, it falls flat. You can easily create a shopping app for your website literally in minutes with the help of an online app builder. AppMySite is an example of the same.
Rising abandonment rates on mobile websites and the simplification of app development will cause a major shift towards shopping apps. You can either join the bandwagon or risk losing a great business opportunity.
#2 - Chatbots to drive conversational marketing
The best app ideas are generally driven towards making customers do less. The concept of online shopping is an example of the same trend. Ecommerce platforms enable people to buy products without stepping out of their homes.
The next best idea in ecommerce should also be driven towards simplifying things for customers. Integrating conversational marketing in ecommerce is one such idea.
Discovery on online stores and apps is not very simple. Even if you provide great navigation and a fantastic app experience, your customers may still be unsure about which product they should buy.
This is partly because of the sheer variety available to an average customer now. Even if you restrict the number of products on your store to thwart customer confusion, they can easily jump to another app with more variety.
This is where conversational marketing comes in. Using direct messaging, you can guide your customers through a purchase journey and take out the burden of product discovery altogether.
Catering to each customer through conversations is impossible. Automated chatbots can serve as a great vehicle in bringing conversational marketing to ecommerce.
You can start with generic chatbots first and make note of key metrics like session duration and retention. These KPIs will help you see if introducing chatbots is actually helping your business.
#3 - Guest checkout for first-time customers
No one likes the hassle of going through user-onboarding. On some platforms, it makes sense to make users log-in and sign-up. Social media platforms are a prime example.
However, ecommerce stores do not necessarily need to make customers log-in. There are admittedly benefits to making customers login. Even still, these benefits are not powerful enough to spoil the journey of a customer.
This is especially true when you’re bringing customers to your app for the first time. A normal user has many accounts online, from email to social media and banking. The last thing an average user wants is to create another account on a relatively small-scale online store or app.
It is thus wise to enable guest checkout for first-time customers at the very least. Provide a satisfactory experience to a first-time customer and then proceed with user-onboarding.
This is an example of an ecommerce trend that is not difficult to implement and can vastly improve app experience. You should always be on the lookout for little changes you can make as a small online store to enhance experience. Remember the Pareto principle - 20% actions cause 80% outcomes. Enabling guest checkout is a small step, but it still has the ability to bring a great improvement in app experience.
#4 - The challenge of mobile fraud
Mobile fraud is unfortunately becoming a common reality. A lot of unsuspecting mobile users are becoming victims of online fraud.
This is causing a major problem for budding ecommerce startups. Trust is a rare commodity customers rarely grant. Rising cases of mobile fraud will only make it more difficult for shoppers to trust a new ecommerce company trying to make it.
Fearful customers don’t purchase a lot of products. Your job as an ecommerce company should be to build the trust of your customers.
Trust takes time to build. One way to start is offering cash-on-delivery options during checkout. This reduces the risk of online fraud in the eyes of a vigilant customer who is wary of online fraud. Drip marketing efforts through email, push notifications, and social media remarketing also help raise the level of trust your customers have.
#5 - Arrival of voice shopping
Voice features have been in development for almost a decade now. We all remember the time when voice assistants came along in the early 2010s. While they were functional then, they lacked the speech recognition levels needed to thrive in a wide market.
Years of development have naturally helped companies develop better voice services. This is why many in the tech space are waiting for the integration of voice assistants with ecommerce.
What would the best execution of high-grade voice assistants on online stores look like? This still remains unclear. Simply jamming voice search into online stores is uninspiring and a low-hanging fruit for such a great technology.
From what we can speculate, there would be a massive upgrade in the traditional purchase journey your customers follow. We can also assume voice shopping will make product discovery much more engaging and personalized.
In conclusion
It is crucial for ecommerce companies to act upon prevailing ecommerce trends. That is the one of the few ways they can gain a leg up from the competition and truly scale their business.
Competition is ecommerce and the app world in general has never been greater. Anyone can turn WordPress website to Android app and iOS without coding with tools like AppMySite. Large competition makes it even more important for companies to follow key m-commerce trends.
This piece breaks down five m-commerce trends you should know about in 2021. There are many trends you should expect besides the ones covered here. Nonetheless, the points made here should set you on the right path.