Online Retail Sector – Top Retail Trends For 2019

Thanks to the development of modern technology and the widespread and easy access to the internet, the retail industry has seen a sharp rise over the past few years. The introduction of smartphones, evolution of social media platforms and e-commerce platforms such as Magento and other alternatives to Magento enterprise have changed the world of retailers.

The e-commerce industry is rapidly developing and increasing as new trends are seen each year. Retailers have to be prepared to adapt to these trends and changes in order to stay ahead of the competition. Before the start of every New Year, marketers predict the trends that will take over the market in the following year.

For example, some marketers predicted that in 2018 there would be a rise in e-Commerce sales due to m-Commerce and an increase in the use of voice search. This proved to be truthful according to the online retail statistics from the United States.

With 2018 coming to an end, let’s see what the predictions are for 2019 regarding the online real sector.

Multi-Channel Selling

Omnichannel is the new hot thing in the market. It enables multi-channel marketing and multichannel selling. According to statistics, 87% of consumers in the US shop offline, whereas 78% of the consumers make purchases on Amazon, 45% in a branded store online, 65% in a brick-and-mortar store, 34% on eBay, and 11% on Facebook.

According to 2018, Omnichannel Buying Report consumers spend 69% of their flexible income on shopping in-store. Also, 56% of the Millennial Generation makes purchases from brick-and-mortar stores.

These figures show the importance of omni-channel selling. Building a firm presence on multiple different channels such as the website, social media, brick-and-mortar stores, and other online stores is a great way for a merchant to grow his online business. eBay, Amazon, Google Shopping, and Jet are some of the most popular channels where a merchant can grow his business and increase his sales and revenue. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest are a great way to target a larger audience and increase potential traffic.

One of the most common reasons why e-commerce merchant hesitates in adopting multi-channel selling is that they find it difficult to manage all the channels and keep up. But thanks to a platform like Magento and other alternatives to Magento enterprise such as Shopify and BigCommerce this task can be made easy.

 Shopify is an effective and efficient enterprise solution for merchants who wish to expand their business to multiple channels.

Smarter Payment Processing

After going through multiple steps including searching, considering, finalizing the customer makes the decision to purchase your product. The only stage remaining is the payment process. It is the last step in the process of purchasing and is highly important. According to the Baymard Institute, almost 70% of shoppers abandon their carts.

This means that after spending time on searching and going through multiple products and adding them to the cart for purchasing, many consumers do not complete the purchasing process. According to the same source, 28% of customers abandon the cart because of a long or complex checkout system. If the experience of checking out isn’t fast and smooth, you will end up losing multiple customers which will affect your sales and position in the market.

In 2019, adopting smarter payment procedures will be a must for retailers, including easy payment options. According to a report, 13% of shoppers will desert their purchases due to the unavailability of a local payment option.

Custom Packaging

Packaging is the first impression a customer has of the product and the brand. According to a study, 68% of customers felt that a brand became more classy and upmarket due to its packaging and 61% of the customers said that the packaging made them more inclined towards the product.

For customers, the packaging is an important fragment of the product. Due to these reasons, there has been a sharp increase in customized packaging and is expected to increase further in 2019.

So in order to stay ahead of the competition, an e-commerce enterpriser should focus on building customized packaging in order to impress customers and make their brand more prominent and popular.

Customized experience

According to studies, 45% of customers prefer to buy from shops that have personalized recommendations and 56% of the customers are likely to return to the shop for more purchases due to customized experience.

It’s not enough to build a presence on multiple channels. Enterprisers have to recognize each customer as a different person and respond to their needs and wants. Or else you might end up frustrating the customer by providing irreverent wish lists and recommendations. Customized experience is the key to success in today’s time.

According to statistics, 80% of customers are more inclined to make purchases from a company that offers a personalized experience, and 90% find personalization pleasing.