What 2018 have in store for ecommerce?

Mind boggling growth in e commerce industry is in full swing and there is no chance that it’s going to descend. It has become extremely necessary to reach customers online so that it does not hamper the potential revenue.

Getting results in eCommerce is the biggest challenge so far. Although, keeping up with the trends is the best way to subside that challenge.

Here are some of the trends which you should consider if you want to increase your ecommerce reach:

Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR): AR and VR is a thrilling innovation that offers businesses the opportunity to showcase their product in an attractive way and enable the customers to experience a brand or product in an amazing and realistic manner. The innovation is changing the way customers want to shop online and is going to gain some serious power in 2018. The customers will get to see how the product will actually look at a particular place and also allow them to visually test the product before making a purchase.

Automation and Chatbots for Online Ordering: Chat bots are offering a user experience like never before. Businesses are moving towards incorporating chat-bot mechanism to have better sales, user experience, and engagement. Statistics also suggest that more than 45% of end users prefer chatbot as a medium to interact for any kind of customer assistance. This is because chatbots are the easiest way for a customer to get the intended support. In a few years, chatbots are bound to become a mainstream way of ordering in ecommerce.

Voice Search: Popularity and desirability of voice search mechanism are gaining significant growth these days. People are not only embracing home applications such as Amazon’s Echo and Google’s Homes but also utilizing them for making a total online purchase. Since voice searches are becoming prominent, the technology is giving a tough competition to keyboards. Understanding how the customer reacts on social media can help businesses to understand the importance of voice searches.

Machine Learning and AI: Bespoke and customer-oriented service is what businesses target to offer its customer, and a good AI and machine learning tend to help them in achieving the same. Machine learning and AI helps in evaluating customer preferences to the core. There are personal benefits from using machine learning and algorithms to uncover which content ecommerce platforms should deliver to which audience. In the future, content will be separated by machine learning and AI, so buyers are fed only the content (or products), they’re most interested in.

Same-Day or Next-Day Delivery: Research suggests that approximately 88% of customers happily pay for the same day or faster delivery. Customers today are looking for the websites which offer the fastest delivery options. Big giants such as Amazon is providing same-day delivery to its prime customers. Google also with Google shopping express, soon will start same day delivery. If businesses today are not willing to adopt this ecommerce trend then there is a chance that they might lose their customers who are even ready to pay for same day or next day delivery service or might turn to their competitors.