Pandemic was the only highlight last year, which has disrupted how people shop. With shopping online becoming the default purchasing behavior, digital sales soared to $183 billion, up a whopping 42 percent from 2019.
As people have come to terms with the realities of our interconnected world, businesses must realize how essential it is to stay relevant and offer robust solutions in these unprecedented times. Many experts, such as UN General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir, at an event, said that the trend towards e-commerce is likely to continue throughout the recovery from COVID-19. But these are the changes that have taken place at a superficial level; we need to discuss how businesses are grappling with these shifts.
Enterprises across the spectrum of industries have come up with innovative solutions to the fundamental changes on how people buy. Business owners have added new web stores, installed new technologies, and tested new strategies. Besides, the latest digital Ecommerce solutions implemented by them on their websites have enhanced customer experience, and buyers are more ready to embrace these creative solutions than they ever were. It is evident how much the online business has evolved. Let us dive in and gain perspective on what lessons eCommerce businesses have learned in the past and new trends that help them thrive.
Here are the lessons learned by the businesses to scale up in the online domain:
Significance of Page Loading Time
Since people have a more indulged experience while shopping online, they have a low tolerance level to wait for slow page responses. As more consumers are leaning towards online shopping, performance is the biggest component that enterprises can’t compromise. If businesses fail to improve their performance, the buyers will leave their site and move to someone else. Besides, the page loading issue can move beyond performance and impact other aspects, such as ranking. If your website has a slower loading page, your website might rank low and these would lead to lesser traffic and fewer sales. Thus, it would help if you expedited your page loading time as this factor can quickly boost your bottom line. If you are looking for an example, Google is the epitome in this sector as it takes less than half-a-second load time for any page.
To attain this target, you must monitor your performance by upgrading infrastructure with digital Ecommerce solutions. This would be vital to support web traffic and increase online sales as you prepare to lead the race for end-users.
The emergence of In-store and Curbside Pick-up
Since the pandemic outbreak, people have been staying away from in-store shopping; as a result, curbside pickup is booming and has turned out to be one of the defining themes of eCommerce in 2020. In fact, grocery stores were the first ones to match the tunes of the emerging trend, and it proved to be an overall successful strategy. It becomes even more popular with a virtual retail business that also had brick-and-mortar locations. Thus, a year later, these services are expanding with each passing day and spreading their horizons in different horizons as well, such as the merchandising sector.
These factors make it apparent that the curbside pickup is here to stay. The statistics provided by Adobe suggest that as of August 2020, 43.7% of the 245 retailers with stores ranked in the Digital Commerce 360 Top 500. In addition, the stores offered in-store pickup and witnessed a sharp increase from 6.9 percent at the end of 2019.
Acceleration in Mobile Shopping
As technology plays a significant role in determining who dominates the online market, the significance of gadgets such as smartphones, can’t go unnoticed. As several cities were under lockdown last year, mobile phones became their only source of entertainment and single point of contact. This revolutionized shopping behavior and enabled entrepreneurs to offer their best customer services that were mobile responsive. Moreover, mobile devices account for 60 percent of visits to eCommerce websites.
Increment in Use of Technology
Advanced solutions drive everything. After seeing the customers’ inclination towards online purchasing, more businesses have their websites that enable consumers to shop anywhere and anytime. Additionally, as technology advances and new solutions are brought in, such as augmented reality and virtual reality, they bring a new life to your website. The AIs and VRs are crucial for offering personalized services to consumers.
Besides customer experience, they are a great tool to gain an edge over others and help in managing a more customized and personalized service. Among consumers online, 36% say they want better personalization from retailers, and the businesses that are successful in meeting these demands will flourish in the eCommerce domain in the days to come.
Flexibility in Payment Methods
Social distancing and washing hands have been crucial in fighting the pandemic, of course, apart from wearing a mask. But this also gave birth to flexibility in methods. The consumers and businesses have welcomed this move alike as it offers them greater choice and more flexibility to avoid delay or disruption in receiving/giving payment. Zero-interest financing, installments, low-interest rates offer ease in the transaction from customers’ point of view. Industry analysts predict the “buy now pay later” market will reach $680 billion by 2025. According to an article published in Business Insider,the global return-to-normal expected still to be a year or more in the future, it is recommendable that businesses should stick with flexible payment initiatives.
Wrapping up-
It is evident that customers have moved on to a new business model, and their expectations are unique and modern. As a business owner, you have to ensure you meet these demands. As customer requirements change and evolve, your resources should be ready to shift gears too. Besides, you can always take help from eCommerce development services by Katalyst Software Services Limited as it offers novel digital solutions to business houses that are want to provide top-notch eCommerce services to their clients.
