As time passes by, more and more people are becoming inclined towards online shopping. The growing trend of buying online is likely going to have a profound impact on future retail sales.
In fact, according to a recent survey conducted by the Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce, it was concluded that “the eRetail sales in the US for the third quarter in 2015 was around $87.5 billion, which is 4.2 percent up compared to the second quarter e-commerce sales of 2015.”
Furthermore, observing the changing users’ behavior towards shopping and the continuously increasing e-commerce sales, it’s pretty obvious that having an online storefront is certainly going to prove a profitable deal for you. But, as per a famous saying “there is nothing permanent in this world” and for surviving we need to learn to adapt to changes. The same is true in the case of an e-commerce store.
Remember, you will have to keep your site updated as per the latest e-commerce trends to achieve success in today’s competitive marketplace. Let’s look at the e-commerce trends you must follow in 2016:
1. Having an M-Commerce Store Will Become a Necessity
The entire world seems to be getting shrunk to a small size village, as the majority of customers has shifted and continue to move from their widescreen desktop screens to contracted display screens (i.e. mobile phones). Basically, customers have become a lot more mobile-savvy and prefer shopping on the fly.
Simply put, in the present day and age, mobile phones seem to have become a vital requisite in our day-to-day life. The use of mobile devices is surging, and they no longer only serve as a useful tool used for communicating or texting, but are also increasingly used for making purchases online. And so, any retail business that fails to provide mobile shopping support to consumers will most likely lose potential customers.
To cope up with today’s mobile-driven world, an m-commerce store will become a necessity in 2016. M-commerce is not a different entity from e-commerce, but rather is about performing e-commerce transactions via handheld devices (such as smartphones and tablets). Opting for such a solution will ensure that your store will be suited to the smaller screen displays.
2. Increase in the E-Commerce Adoption of Card-like Layouts
Today, most people are adopting card-like layouts for their e-commerce store, as they help organize different topics in a visually pleasing manner. Moreover, e-commerce website with card-like pattern quickly adapts to responsive designs. Although many individuals and webmasters are already making use of the card-like layouts, this trend is expected to become more prevalent in 2016.
If you plan on designing your e-commerce store with a card-like layout, then you can get inspiration from the Rejuvenation website. It uses a card-like design, containing large-size product images that looks attractive to the eye:
3. More Personalized UX Will Increase Conversions
Customers like to be valued, and there couldn’t be a better way to provide value to your clients than adding a personalized touch to their shopping experience. In fact, it has been observed that most online consumers often get irritated when they visit sites that fail to offer anything specific with their interests. Simply put, most of the online surfers today seek to have a more personalized shopping experience, and so it has become imperative to create an e-commerce store with a more personalized UX.
You can deliver a personalized UX via your e-commerce store, by introducing personalized notifications, and by redesigning content to fit the needs of an individual rather than adapting the design to multiple segments.
What’s more?
Adding split screens that give your e-store visitors the ability to select their own adventure, renders a personal feel to your web store and eventually helps in increasing the conversion rate of your e-store. Remember that personalization doesn’t always require making your products or elements fine-tune on a personal level. Rather, it means helping users access the right information when needed like Amazon e-commerce website:
4. Advanced Shipping Options Will Emerge
In 2016, you can expect that shipping options will evolve to provide a more seamless experience to buyers. This trend started in 2013 when many online storefronts with plenty of shipping options began to offer same-day delivery. And now several recognized names in the e-commerce industry such as Amazon and others are experimenting with advanced shipping options such as drone delivery services – that involves the use of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for transporting food and many other goods. However, it’s quite early to rule out whether the drone deliveries will work or not.
Furthermore, Amazon is even considering on using crowdsourcing deliveries using a program named as “On My Way” to pick up and drop packages for its customers. This new program will target retailers in urban areas for storing packages and paying a small amount to regular people for delivering those packages. Probably, even customers can pick their own ordered products and can even grab other parcels that are needed to be provided to other customers.
5. Flash Sale Websites Will Gain Prominence
Lastly, the popularity of Flash sale sites is expected to grow in the coming year. One great example of such a website is Jack Threads & Woot that give its consumers the ability to purchase high-quality and designer products available for discounts up to 80% for some fixed time interval.
Whether flash sites will be able to maintain their level of popularity or not will be clear over the years.
6. Holiday Sales Will Grow
And at the last, one of the most significant e-commerce trends that just came to practice of late is making sales in the holiday season. As per the key findings of the statista website, “holiday season accounts 20 percent of the annual sales of the retail industry.” This has compelled retail businesses to focus on making sales during holidays.
But, to make the best use of this trend, not just for 2016 but also coming years, it’s important to look at the list of holidays and schedule what offers you’ll be providing to your consumers to encourage them to make purchases from your e-store. Moreover, as holiday list tends to get bigger every year, you must remember all of the holidays worldwide.
Conclusion
Just like web design trends, even e-commerce trends keeps on changing and evolving. So, to survive and make it big in the online marketplace, make sure to develop an e-commerce solution as per the latest trends of 2016.
