USA eCommerce Development Trends For 2022 And 2023
The use of eCommerce websites has become more prominent over the past few years. There were more than 2.05 billion people across the globe who purchased goods online in 2020 and the figure rose to 2.14 billion in 2021. A constant increase in the number of people making online purchases is expected this year as well. The recent pandemic has also further fueled up the essence of eCommerce platforms and changed consumer behavior as people look for more convenient ways to access products and services.
In such times (as shopping behavior, buyer strength, and the eCommerce landscape keep transforming), it is essential for businesses to prepare a strategy accordingly. And, what better way to do that than a comprehensive study on the biggest eCommerce development trends in the USA in 2022 and 2023! Let’s get started.
Why Consider Latest Trends Before eCommerce Development?
When it comes to the eCommerce industry, going global is a necessity. As the eCommerce industry continues to flourish, constant change has been noticed in consumers’ needs and demands. Moreover, with the fiercely growing competition among online retailers, you need to follow the best practices along with the latest technologies to cope with both rising demands and growing competition.
Considering the latest development trends allows businesses to get acquainted with the current market and industry drifts, grasp their global impact, and modify their growth strategies accordingly.
eCommerce Trends In 2021 That Ruled The Retail Sector
- Mobile Commerce emerged as a key player with more and more people using their smartphones to order things online.
- Enhanced role of social media in targeting maximum audiences
- Chatbots played a crucial role in customer support inquiries
- Subscription-based models became highly popular and effective
- Use of AR/VR technologies enhanced user experience
Major Challenges In eCommerce Development (In The Next 5 Years)
The eCommerce landscape needs to cope with several rising challenges that will affect its growth and dominance in the upcoming years. Online retailers have to seriously introspect the way they have been approaching online customers and make required changes in their marketing strategies accordingly.
- Cyber Data & Security
- Exploding Customers’ Expectations
- Targeting Huge Masses
- Maintaining Customer Loyalty
- Choosing the Right Tech Partner
- Coping Shipping Charges & Making it More Fastidious
- Offering Exceptional Customer experience
eCommerce Trends That Will Rule In 2022 & Beyond
Online retailers are almost on the verge of their creativity to target maximum customers for their eCommerce websites. These latest trends can help them innovate their policies and frameworks to help them adapt to changing consumer behavior to keep their content.
1. Increased Use Of AI To Make Online Shopping Smarter
eCommerce giants like Amazon, eBay, and Walmart have started leveraging the potential of Artificial Intelligence to offer smart shopping experiences for customers. Online retailers have been making huge investments in Artificial Intelligence to enhance their customer service, sales, and marketing. Alexa (Amazon’s intelligent voice assistant), is a staggering example of AI in eCommerce. Other such examples include product personalization and real-time ad targeting. In the coming time, AI is expected to be a more dominant technology in eCommerce development with global retailers looking forward to automating their customer support to offer better and instant responses to customers’ queries.
2. Voice Shopping Will Be an Attraction In eCommerce
You will be surprised to know that voice shopping in the US alone is expected to cross the figure of USD 40 billion by the end of 2022. On a global scale, 1 in every 5 customers (almost 20%) has made an online purchase through a voice-enabled feature.
The significant rise in voice-enabled shopping came into existence ever since Amazon launched its smart speaker, Echo, and backed that up with Alexa. However, voice shopping can be a little tricky as there is no visual available for a customer and they have to rely on product descriptions. But in the coming time, this trend is going to be a dominant aspect for online retailers to offer exceptional flexibility in ordering products on the go.
3. Big Data Analysis: Offer Personalized Experience To Customers
If you really want to make your eCommerce platform BIG, you need to get acquainted with this aspect. Most corporate giants around the globe have started realizing the potential of Big Data Analysis and framing future policies based on it. As the eCommerce industry continues to expand, online retailers tend to bring more personalized services to mark their presence in global competition. The concept will help online retailers to upgrade their product lines, fortify their customer service, and be ready for seasonal influxes, and changing consumer behavior. The data sets and their complexity will continue to increase with the rise in online customers. Hence, cloud-based Big Data Analytics is certainly going to be a comprehensive tool to manage automated processes and lay down robust marketing strategies to outpace the competition.
4. Mobile Commerce: Gateway To Seamless Opportunities
As per Statista, mobile retail eCommerce sales in the US alone are predicted to surpass USD 430 billion by the end of 2022. Apart from this, the share of mobile commerce in global eCommerce has already increased to 73% in 2021.
There are more than 6.64 billion smartphone users across the globe and the figure will certainly keep rising with time. Hence, online retailers can’t ignore this significant aspect when it comes to offering absolute convenience and flexibility in online shopping. Offering a mobile-friendly eCommerce website will add to the advantages and you can target maximum customers to visit your website and make an online purchase either using their desktops/laptops or via smartphones.
5. Video Content: Creating A Better Impact On Your Audiences
Evaluating a product based on available information often seems to be troublesome for most online shoppers. It also affects their purchasing decision if they can’t fully interpret that information. Offering video content on your eCommerce website will certainly add to their convenience. Moreover, videos have a comparatively higher sales rate than images. Therefore, to offer an out-of-the-box shopping experience, introducing video content will capture greater audience attention along with an increased level of engagement. Video content will further add value to your products with enhanced brand awareness.
6. Consumer-based Digital Strategy
Over the past few years, there has been a great shift in consumer preferences and demands. Online retailers need to adapt to these changing consumer behaviors and update their digital marketing strategy accordingly. “Flexible eCommerce” is the term that will rule the future of the eCommerce industry so online retailers need to recognize and adapt to increasingly growing customers’ expectations to maintain customer loyalty.
7. Virtual Reality Will Be The Main Lead
The growing importance of the Internet of Things and the way it has been integrated with Virtual reality is surely going to transform the future of the eCommerce landscape. Creating a perfect online shopping experience requires vividness along with comprehensive product information. Cart abandonment remains a serious concern for global online retailers. Virtual reality comes with the benefit of online shopping just as it would happen in an in-person store.
Additionally, there are almost 171 million VR users around the world and the figures will continue to grow. Integrating VR technology with eCommerce websites will allow customers to walk around virtual stores and view products with an immersive experience that will surely tempt them to make an order.
8. Multi-channel Selling: Capture Maximum Demands
Right now, online shopping is happening across countless platforms. That includes eStore websites, social media, eCommerce marketplaces, etc. This is the perfect time to embrace multi-channel selling as online shoppers keep on exploring and experimenting. However, incorporating multi-channel selling in your eCommerce development plan may prove to be quite daunting at once. But, since this trend is going to be an inevitable part of the eCommerce landscape in the coming time, it is better to prepare in advance. Listing your products on multiple channels will enhance your reach and offer vast varieties of products.
Endnote
The trends mentioned here are thoroughly evaluated and are based on extensive research to help you end the struggle to reach worldwide audiences and keep them engaged with exceptional user experience. Considering the massive changes that the eCommerce industry is expected to undergo, these observations will be updated, so keep checking.
About Author: Nathan Smith is a renowned tech oracle and a senior eCommerce developer at TechnoScore. He brings the latest tech updates to enable his readers to leverage disruptive technologies to their fullest. He has covered a wide range of major tech topics on MEAN Stack development, Cloud-based solutions, and the most effective tech stacks in eCommerce development.