Top E-Commerce Trends That Will Continue to Grow In 2018 – Part 2

Welcome back to part 2 of our series! We’ve got more useful information for you yet again on upcoming e-commerce trends that are here to stay. Plan your e-commerce strategy with a focus on these key trends to keep ahead of the e-commerce game in 2018:
Smart Consumers Are Already Doing Smart Searches – Before Anything Else
Shoppers nowadays do not go out shopping without equipping themselves with the required information. Coupled with the rise of the use of mobile phones, they do their research anytime and anywhere, including while they are shopping in the brick and mortar store. This online research holds great impact – whatever information they gather about you will influence their decision if they will buy from you or not. So one important thing to take care of is to ensure you are easily searchable online: Besides optimising your store website, you need to also have a sizeable social media presence and be active enough to gain attention of your audience in those channels. One way to do this is to leverage on your networks and let them spread the word about you.
Consumers Will Communicate More With Chatbots
2018 will see an even more widespread use of chatbots such as Facebook Messenger and Alexa, which are able to undertake various functions that enhance customer experience. Use them to send customers personalized marketing content, such as product recommendations to help them make the best purchase decisions, or answer whatever questions that your customers may have. With chatbots, you can offer around-the-clock customer support that is personalised, branded and engaging, track customer’s behaviour to collect valuable data, and ultimately attain seamless brand continuity.
Without any additional spending, chatbots can be a great way to elevate online shopping experience for your consumers.
Spend on Social Media Marketing Will Increase
With social media being the common space for the business to connect with a wide base of potential and existing customers, it is no wonder 66% of marketers are increasing spend on social media marketing and advertising on social media platforms through the next year to keep their audiences happily engaged, as well as their brand on top of minds.
Going in for a closer look, Instagram is set to become an even more valuable marketing channel than Facebook, with approximately 800 million people using the platform each month. It is more popular especially with younger generation like millennials and seeing better engagement than other social platforms. On the contrary, Twitter continues to remain quiet in its struggle to grow users and this is set to continue in 2018 if the platform does not take any significant action.
Email Marketing a Key Marketing Channel for Many Brands
The coming year will see greater usage of AI and machine learning in email marketing to produce deeply personalised and interactive as well as automated emails. 2018 will also see the rise of plain-text emails as opposed to HTML ones. Trigger emails will also increasingly be used to continuously engage users for an array of events like cart abandonment and price notifications, with trigger-based marketing campaigns so effective as to be able to generate as much as 4 times more revenue, according to Forrester Research.
AI Continues to Expand Its Influence
The use of Artificial Intelligence will get even more proliferant comes 2018. AI is everywhere and making our life extremely easy. On e-commerce platforms, AI plays crucial roles: For instances, AI is already making waves on the front of personalisation where its predictive nature allows us to serve the most relevant and effective advertising to the right visitors and at the right time. It is also able to help in the field of inventory management where real time and future inventory needs can be accurately predicted.
For more exclusive reports, insights, and interviews on the latest updates in e-commerce and logistics, follow us on LinkedIn or join our community as a member.
Also worth your time
Track your parcel here
Event Highlights
North America
Logistics & Supply Chain
Home Delivery World
Aug 31 - Sep 01, 2022 | Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia
Europe
Retail & E-Commerce
Paris Retail Week
Sep 20 - 22, 2022 | Paris Expo Porte de Versailles
Europe
Retail & E-Commerce
Savant eCommerce Copenhagen 2022
Sep 20 - 21, 2022 | Radisson Collection Royal Hotel
North America
Logistics & Supply Chain
Leaders in Logistics: North America 2022
Sep 26 - 27, 2022 | Marriott Crystal Gateway, Arlington VA
Europe
Retail & E-Commerce
eCommerce Expo UK 2022
Sep 28 - 29, 2022 | Excel London
More discoveries
Funding Roundup: Major Wins for CleverTap, Locad, ReturnLogic and Others
Aug 12, 2022
PR Newswire: Purolator Transforms Transportation Sector With Its New Sortation Facility in Toronto
Aug 12, 2022
Alcott Global Podcast: Carbon Neutrality in a Shipping Company
Aug 11, 2022
FreightWaves: FedEx to Apply Peak Season Surcharges As Early As September
Aug 11, 2022
E-Commerce Logistics Race in Latin America: Which Country Performed the Best in H1 2022?
Aug 10, 2022
The Business Times: A.P. Moller - Maersk Purchases Martin Bencher Group for US$61M
Aug 10, 2022
Funding Roundup: Bizongo, Homzmart, Vetted and Others Secured Early-Stage Deals
Aug 05, 2022
How Peak Season 2022 in Europe Might Look Like
Aug 05, 2022
TechCrunch: Shopify Invests $100 Million in a Marketing Automation Startup, Klaviyo
Aug 05, 2022
ITLN: Xpressbees Names Suraj Bangera as Senior Vice President of Cross-Border Business
Aug 04, 2022
Retail Dive: Amazon Launches Same-Day Shipping for Pacsun, GNC, SuperDry, and Diesel Customers
Aug 03, 2022
E-Commerce Logistics Race in Europe: Which Country Performed the Best in Q1 2022?
Aug 02, 2022
Supply Chain Dive: OnTrac and LaserShip Introduce Transcontinental Delivery Service to Prepare for Peak Season
Aug 02, 2022
Alcott Global Podcast: Importance of Supply Chain in Stationery Industry
Aug 01, 2022
Guest Post: 10 Ways Retailers Can Inspire Customers During Peak Season
Aug 01, 2022
Funding Roundup: Early Funding Rounds Secured by Cartona, DealCart and Others
Jul 29, 2022
Vogue: Glossier Launches into Wholesale Partnership with Sephora
Jul 29, 2022
E-Commerce Logistics Race 2022: Canada vs the United States
Jul 28, 2022
Macau Business: DHL Express Names Phil Corcoran as Australia’s Managing Director
Jul 28, 2022
Top E-Commerce Retailers in the United States 2022
Jul 27, 2022
Logistics Manager: InPost Now Has 4000 Parcel Lockers in the UK
Jul 27, 2022
Marketing Interactive: L'Oréal Appoints Kenny Ng as Regional E-Commerce Director
Jul 26, 2022
Guest Post: Why Logistics and Supply Chain Management Is Important
Jul 26, 2022
Guest Post: 7 Customer Retention Metrics That Allow You to Measure Customer Loyalty
Jul 25, 2022
Alcott Global Podcast: Revolutionizing Offshore Logistics
Jul 25, 2022