Trends in ecommerce that can change the rules of the game

Request a demo

14/09/2017

Profile picture for user Angela de la Vieja

Angela de la Vieja

Everything indicates that electronic commerce will maintain its growth rate. And predictions such as that of the Forrester Research consultancy assure that we are very close to online sales surpassing the physical ones.

The consequences for the players of electronic commerce are very positive, since the online sale sector grows 23% each year. But the challenges are also important, and competition for consumers will be increasingly tougher. To keep up this competitive pace, ecommerce must look closely at emerging trends and technologies.

There are three trends in particular that have become the key to today's ecommerce success: predictive analytics, chat bots and real-time personalization.

 

1. Analytical: reaction and anticipation to consumers

Customer experience analytics is an analysis approach that allows us to understand if the integral proposal of the ecommerce, as much in offer of products as in experience of purchase, is really satisfactory for the buyers.

Experience is perhaps one of the most important parameters to measure, even more than the conversion rate for some. While the conversion rate reflects only the positive buying experience, the customer experience reflects both positive and negative. Let's not forget that about 70% of shopping carts are abandoned, a good enough reason to analyse the experience globally and look for improvement points.

With the analysis of the customer experience, it is possible to identify the behaviour of users within an ecommerce and collect key data such as:

Do they scroll because they can´t find what they are looking for?

  • Do they focus on a call to action but do not click on it?
  • Do they accidentally click where they did not want to do it?
  • Are they distracted when adding a product to the shopping cart?

The answers to these questions have a great impact on the overall user experience and are the starting point for introducing changes to the ecommerce proposal.

But this is not the only analytical approach, there is also predictive analytics. If the customer experience analytics approach allows reacting to behaviour, the predictive analytics approach anticipates user behaviour.

The data collected can be used in many ways: to define promotions prices, to improve product supply or to optimize inventories, among other alternatives.

In this last point, using predictive analysis can be crucial for stock management, since it is possible to determine when and how the products will be sold, which in turn affects the whole planning of purchases, deliveries and returns. A Sales force report analysing several predictive analytics application cases in the product recommendation shows that orders resulting from such smart recommendations account for about 35% of the total.

 

2. Chat bots: customer service with excitement

Chat bots are not a novelty in the world of e-commerce, but their application does not stop growing. Several estimates, such as those of Adrian Swinscoe indicate that by the end of the year more than 8 trillion messages will have been sent through chat bots.

Chat bots use a combination of rules, learning technology, and artificial intelligence to create systems that process natural language and allow answering customer questions.

But it's not all about being reactive and answering questions. Giants of ecommerce like Macys in the United States and global companies, like Uber, use the chat bots to proactively suggest topics to their clients and even show emotions to their users.

3. Customization: real-time and custom-made

Personalization through the use of technology is another key that is already revolutionizing e-commerce, and will do more as it is implanted and spread massively.

It is known that buyers expect a personalization of their experience with the brand. As loyal consumers, they expect brands to know their preferences and interests. While many companies segment their communications and personalize the messages simply by putting the recipient's name in the email, others are exploring new paths through behavioural targeting technology.

Behavioural targeting is neither more nor less than segmenting users according to their behaviour. Brands identify behavioural patterns based on location, devices from which they access the ecommerce or origin of access, so to offer users the maximum degree of customization: a home page layout, browsing the product catalogue to the measurement, and also contents are customised.

As the well-known conversion expert Peep Laja tells us: "500 different people go to Amazon and each one sees a different version of the homepage." How? Because it’s personalized! And it's no secret why Amazon does this: content customization generates money. "

Related Articles

11/11/2022

Consumer behavior: How can behavior tracking be effective for setting the right pricing strategies?

Behavior tracking is becoming massively popular today. As a result, pricing strategies born from studying consumer behavior are a merchant's dream come true. If done right, it can conquer every market for the business quickly. With abundant data available, the strategic makeover of the pricing models is becoming easy for companies. 
 

What is behavioral tracking, and how is the data beneficial in pricing?

For a quick understanding, behavioral tracking refers to gaining in-depth knowledge and insights into consumers through their web data. Their browsing habits, spontaneous decisions, shopping interests, and preferences come under behavioral tracking. 

How can enterprises use customer behavior data?

Companies can use customer behavior data as a tool to strengthen their hold on the market. A customer’s preferences, values, and tendencies allow businesses to work in sync with them through the collected data. Apart from this, customer behavior can also aid in:

Tailoring customer needs for customer retention

Personalization is becoming the heart of a company’s growth. No matter in which area an enterprise is functioning, tailoring the services, products, and solutions is becoming increasingly crucial. Uniqueness and personalization attract the crowd like no other. 

Increasing the overall value

One of the best ways customer behavior data affects a business is by upgrading the value of customers for the business. The customer’s characteristics allow the company to target the people that match the business prospects well. 

Optimizing every type of content

Everything that is up for digital display requires content. You must have seen companies unveiling their products or services through advertisements and making the initial public appearance. Two essential sales strategies – upselling and cross-selling comes through content optimization.

Pricing Strategy

Last but certainly not least is the influence of customer behavior data on the pricing strategy. The pricing strategy essentially constitutes content derived from data analysis. Companies need to have a dynamic approach to the pricing system to attract the right customers. 

17/02/2015

Saint Valentine’s Day, always a good opportunity

V-Day is looming, a long-awaited date for all and also a good occasion for the eCommerce. According the study conducted by Prosper Insights and Analytics, it is forecasted the average consumer expense that day will be the highest in last years. Furthermore, 25% of them will buy online, which means an increase of 4% regarding 2014 (The US department of Commerce). This is, therefore, a key date where market competitiveness increase and which could be assumed as a big opportunity for our business or, a big fail if we do not adopt the correct strategies.

How to turn this event into an opportunity? To achieve this goal, we need to adapt our prices to this hostile environment, i.e. we need to develop an appropriate Dynamic Pricing strategy that allows us to adapt our prices to the variations produced in supply and demand and to position us ahead of our competitors. In V-Day, the frequency in changes will be higher, carrying it out each hour or even each minute. It is estimated that 65% of leader retailers have the ability to respond quickly at these variations, such Amazon. For this reason, it acquires great importance the correct use of a software specialised in price motorisation of competitors. Do not miss the time and adapt your business to new adversities.

28/12/2022

Which are the best footwear marketplaces to sell on?

Footwear marketplaces are booming. The last decade has seen the launch of new specialized marketplaces with millions of different users. Among them are Spartoo, Sarenza and Farfetch, portals with international reach. Their main value is that they unite hundreds of footwear brands, as well as offering clothes and accessories. Although each has its own characteristics, they are all vertical marketplaces, i.e., they focus on a specific area, and their sales categories are interrelated. For sellers, these portals provide an opportunity to expand sales channels and drive the globalization of their e-commerce business. We explain how to sell on these footwear marketplaces so that you can assess whether they align with your plans for the future and then start defining a possible pricing strategy.