eCommerce Trends to Drive Your Long-Term Sales Strategy

eCommerce has grown in leaps and bounds over the last decade. However, over the last six months, and with the global impact of COVID-19, it has expanded beyond expectation. In fact, research shows that the pandemic pushed the growth of eCommerce forward by five years. Non-essential physical retailers have also taken a 75% hit on sales with fewer feet through the door. In this article, we’ll explore the top eCommerce trends to drive your long-term sales strategy.

With growth at an all-time high for online shopping, and what is only expected to keep growing over the next few years, now is the right time to get into the industry. If you haven’t already, and if you are considering joining the world of eCommerce, we thought we would step in to help.

Not only do you need to have a solid business strategy and sellable product lined up, but you will need a strategic digital marketing plan in place to drive traffic and sales for your site. How do you go about using current trends to benefit and get those sales streaming in? We broke down the key trends of 2020 and how you can use them to your advantage in eCommerce trends long term.

Websites Optimized to Drive Traffic

The first thing you will need to consider is how traffic is being driven to your site if high conversion rates are your main priority. Naturally, if you are just starting, traffic doesn’t just start coming to your site, so you will need to start coming up with smart ways of getting eyes on your site.

One popular way for new business owners to generate traffic from the outset is by buying over an existing website. In most cases, this means that you will be buying the whole business, but the advantage here is that the website already comes with existing traffic and customers that can just be expanded on. It will also usually mean that you will most likely have a list of email subscribers to start marketing immediately. So, it would help if you were generating high conversion rates and leads immediately from your first campaign.

Luckily, there are a number of platforms that have websites for sale for you to choose from. Here, you can find reliable brokers to help you land a successful business and generate capital from the outset.

If buying a website and taking over a business is not the path for you, you have other options. You can either use a digital platform like WordPress and create a new site from there. Or, you can code a brand new site from scratch. SEO will be your biggest priority in both cases, even more so in the latter. It will take a lot longer for your site to be ranked by Google if you start fresh. If you choose the WordPress option, however, the platform provides you with established guidelines and SEO rankings when you kick-off, so you will start on the right foot in eCommerce trends long term.

Brands Will Need to Be Ever Present and Communicative

One of the key aspects of the customer journey is that every touchpoint that the customer experiences need optimization. Customers want instant gratification. This means that you, as a brand, will need to ensure that you are available basically 24/7.

Consider integrating chatbots and instant chat messaging on all of your platforms. Even if they are initially automatically in, instant responses will indicate to your customer that they are acknowledged. Personalizing these messages is also important and is possible on most platforms once initial contact.

Chatbots are affordable and highly effective methods of customer engagement, especially during off-peak and busy times. Simple questions, concerns, complaints, and troubleshooting can be, keeping your resources free and the customer happy.

Mobile Will Keep Getting Bigger and Bigger: eCommerce Trends Long-Term Sales

Four years ago, Google had just update that site’s ranking to be if mobile-friendly. Back then, it was more a case of finding a product and then moving over to the desktop actually to make the purchase.

Statistics show that 60% of searches take place on a mobile device, and 45% of actual transactions are completed on the same device. And this will only keep growing. With more and more options to pay, more payment, and device security, and with the evolvement of sites to be mobile-friendly, mobile is soon looking to take over the desktop.

Your priority will be ensuring that pages reflect well on mobile, keeping in mind that you will need to adjust them for each due to the different diameters of the devices. Mobile phones are more susceptible to long, vertical scrolling. Your page folds will also be vastly different from that of desktop, and your CTAs can come lower. You will also need to rework your pop-ups or do away with them completely.  Lastly, consider your page speed on mobile. Software and connectivity issues are totally different from desktop, so keep content, images, and features simpler of eCommerce trends long term.

Content Will Keep Evolving

One of the biggest features of your digital marketing strategy is your content. You need to ensure that your content is informative, educational, entertaining, and empowering for your customer. Having regular blog pieces not only encourages existing customers to come back to your site but also heightens your SEO rankings.

With the smart use of keywords and information-driven content, you can extend your brands reach by giving visitors something they want to read and something they can use.

Look at your visual content too. Attractive images are key to hook a customer, but video content is starting to dominate marketing trends. Short, engaging videos with well-placed products and calls to action are currently the most sought after content. Luckily for you, do not need to be resource heavy if you have a few techy tricks and a vivid imagination.

eCommerce Trends Long-Term Wrapping Up

The next few years will most likely evolve the face of eCommerce and business itself entirely. With the constant evolution of technology, you will most likely see concepts like AI. Virtual reality and drone technology play more and more of a role in online business. In fact, if you are not already integrating some of these strategies into your business. You might already be lagging.