This year’s ecommerce trends feel a little oxymoronic. Machines and software are helping do more jobs, even communicating directly with shoppers. At the same time, consumers are heading towards online experiences that give them the personalized, human interactions of in-person buying.
As disparate as the rapid adaptation of technology and the longing for person-to-person retail seem, the two goals are actually coming together in unexpected ways.
Let’s unpack the specific trends ecommerce brands and marketers will face, and explore how to make sure you’re taking advantage of them.
Contents
- Conversational marketing becomes table stakes for ecommerce brands
- Ecommerce businesses will find new uses for AR
- More sellers slide into their customers’ DMs
- Gen Z spurs shift to social shopping
- Live commerce bridges the gap between online and in-person shopping
- Subscription services solidify customer loyalty
- AI fuels customized buying journeys
- Dynamic, personalized websites go mainstream
- Ecommerce brands will launch more data-gathering campaigns
9 ecommerce trends to monitor in 2024
These are the most high-profile ecommerce marketing trends we see headed our way this year. Learn them to stay in tune with customers and ahead of competitors.
1. Conversational marketing becomes table stakes for ecommerce brands
Conversational marketing is a strategy where businesses have two-way communication with customers in real time. Those one-to-one interactions can happen with live agents, but a lot of conversational marketing growth will occur with AI-powered chatbots.
For example, one study suggests that by 2028, around $72 billion in retail spending will happen through chatbot interactions. For context, that’s a 470% increase compared to the $12 billion in chatbot sales from 2023.
Two factors are fueling this ecommerce trend: generative AI and consumers’ desire for fast answers.
Generative AI models like ChatGPT use natural language processing to understand conversational queries. That’s helped chatbots become highly successful sales agents that can guide website visitors through their buying journey.
For most consumers, the most significant upside of using chatbots is the 24/7 availability of information. Instead of waiting until regular business hours, shoppers can jump in when inspiration strikes and get all the information they need to make an informed purchase.
The great news is chatbots are becoming less expensive and easier to launch, so expect to see them gain traction in smaller businesses. You can launch your own chatbot in a jiffy.
? Conversational marketing relies on great calls to action. Download this free guide to get inspired by dozens of high-performing CTA phrases.
2. Ecommerce businesses will find new uses for AR
The virtual reality (VR) craze hit its peak when Facebook rebranded as Meta, a signal that the social media giant was turning its vast resources towards developing online worlds known loosely as the metaverse. Despite some optimistic forecasts, most of us still aren’t guiding our avatars down digital promenades in search of the next digital deal. And with Meta still losing millions on its big VR bet, it’s unlikely to happen any time soon.
However, an interesting movement in ecommerce is taking advantage of augmented reality, VR’s cousin that overlays digital imagery on real-world environments in real time.
AR has become very accessible, even offered as free features like stickers and polls on social media platforms. Expect to see online retailers and brands taking advantage of AR in new ways. For example, fashion brands use AR to help mobile shoppers see how they’ll look in this season’s styles.
Users snap a picture in the brand’s app, and AR adds the products. Clothing brands, household goods, and even car dealers are all using AR to help buyers make a purchase decision.
Other retailers are using AR to highlight product details, like price tags or features, in promotional videos.
With AR’s near-zero cost for these use cases and more app developers building creative AR solutions, expect to see it used more often and by a wider variety of ecommerce businesses.
3. More sellers slide into their customers’ DMs
Direct messaging, like the DMs on your Instagram or TikTok account, is ideal for brands to interact with customers and fans one-on-one. You can send links, images, and product videos. Plus, it doesn’t cost anything to send a DM. That’s why we’ll see more brands connect with their customers in direct message apps this year.
Because of their private nature, DMs are a great place to have conversations about customer concerns. You can even use them as a lead generation channel as an alternative to collecting email addresses on your website.
A word of warning if you want to try this trend out for yourself. If you start messaging random people, you’ll definitely get blocked and probably reported. Always ask before contacting someone in their DMs. Offer a reason, like giving someone a personal discount code or asking them to share their experience with your products (free user-generated content!).
4. Gen Z spurs shift to social shopping
At first, social media marketing was mainly a brand awareness play. Sellers could share their wares in organic and paid posts and then offer links to their e-commerce shops.
Jumping from one platform to the next adds friction to the sales process. With social shopping, consumers can click on the products they see in a post and complete the purchase without leaving their favorite social media apps.
Revenue from social commerce could hit the trillion (with a “T”) dollar mark in the next few years. Younger adults lead the charge, with nearly three-quarters of 18 to 34-year-olds saying they’ve made a purchase from social commerce. But the trend is also permeating through all generations—around 25% of consumers over 65 said they’ve bought through that channel as well. With that kind of cross-generational spread, we expect to see a lot a lot more sales through social selling activities.
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5. Live commerce bridges the gap between online and in-person shopping
If QVC and social shopping had a love child, it would be live commerce. During a live commerce event, a host interacts with viewers via video on a social media platform. Those viewers can then purchase the products on offer right from the video.
Live commerce offers the best parts of in-store shopping without fighting traffic or searching for a parking space. Shoppers get instant answers from a knowledgeable brand representative or influencer right from their living room.
Source
The most popular social media apps are participating in this trend. Instagram and TikTok offer live shopping features, and YouTube inked a deal with Shopify to let creators add shoppable links to videos.
While the most common format for live shopping involves one or two representatives on screen touting the brand’s latest and greatest, there’s another interesting way to use this tactic. Say you’re launching a new line of cosmetics. You could have a launch party and let viewers buy what they see on their screens.
The live commerce trend is expected to grow significantly in the near term, with some suggesting it could account for 20% of all ecommerce sales. Since conversion rates at live shopping events can reach 30%, ecommerce brands would be wise to take advantage of this trend.
6. Subscription services solidify customer loyalty
Buy almost any consumable from Amazon, and you’ll be asked if you’d like to save a few dollars by subscribing to auto-refill your order. The initial loss in profit to the seller is well worth the higher potential of repeat business. And the buyer sees the savings as a no-brainer since they’ll need more of the product later.
The trend goes beyond monthly dog food or cosmetics deliveries (although those are common). Now, you can get a regular delivery of all sorts of themed products, like miniature items for your doll house or train set.
Savings and customer loyalty are powerful win-wins that are likely to motivate sellers and shoppers to keep the trend going. 77% of consumers say they spend up to $499 annually on subscriptions, and 41% say they’ll add more in the next year.
7. AI fuels customized buying journeys
In general, AI is a big trend for all marketers. There are many ways ecommerce brands and marketers can use artificial intelligence to boost their businesses. One that’s emerging as particularly useful is having AI create complex, personalized customer journeys.
Here’s an example. Say you send marketing texts to your customers, reminding them of sales and new products. If each text of those campaigns were personalized to the individual based on their prior behavior, you’d close a lot more sales. But it’d be nearly impossible to do manually when you’re promoting hundreds of products to thousands of customers.
That’s where marketing experts are applying AI. Using its machine learning capabilities, AI can “remember” how customers reacted to previous messages, which products they bought, and how they interacted with your website. Then, it can create a custom campaign for each text subscriber.
Personalization is a well-documented marketing strategy that often lifts revenue by up to 25%. Brands that use advanced personalization strategies say they see a 200% return on the investment.
In the coming year, we’ll see many more retailers and brands use AI to construct personalized buying journeys through promotional emails, texts, and social media, individually and across multiple channels.
8. Dynamic, personalized websites go mainstream
Personalization has been the playground of ad campaigns for a while. But what if every person who visited your promotional landing page or home page saw a version that best suited their needs? That’s what dynamic landing pages and websites offer.
Here’s a simple example where someone considering your product sees a different home page than someone who bought it.
Dynamic landing pages aren’t new. What’s changed is the scale and scope of personalization available with new AI-powered techniques, making them more attractive to ecommerce shops with many product and sales pages.
Let’s say you have a website with hundreds of sales and conversion pages. AI can analyze huge amounts of data about your products and customer behavior. Then, generative AI can quickly create conversational copy or calls to action for each of those pages that are more relevant to each segment of your target market.
Most marketers that use personalized landing pages report a lift in engagement compared to static versions. Plus, 91% of customers said they felt more connected with websites featuring dynamic pages, especially those that provided personalized offers and product recommendations.
9. Ecommerce brands will launch more data-gathering campaigns
Many of the trends we’ve discussed require extensive data about your customers. Gathering this information has pros and cons. Some shoppers love the personalization it provides, while others are rightfully concerned about their privacy.
In light of these concerns, lawmakers and big platforms are making it harder to collect data without direct user consent. Google has finally ended the use of third-party cookies. Some US states and European governments require websites to give visitors a choice to opt in or opt out of being tracked by cookies.
With much less third-party data, ecommerce marketers will need to become really good at convincing shoppers to give up their information willingly, also known as zero-party data.
In the coming months and years, we’ll see more creative campaigns designed to collect data from willing website visitors and customers ethically. These may be contests, newsletter subscriptions, surveys, or even discounts and free products.
However it’s done, collecting zero-party data is a big ecommerce marketing trend that almost every retailer and brand needs to be aware of.
What is the future of the ecommerce industry?
To say last year was one of change for ecommerce stores and marketers is a drastic understatement. With the rapid development of new AI marketing tools, customers’ shift to new sales channels, and potential regulations that can change how everyone does business online, it’s nearly impossible to guess the future of ecommerce with 100% clarity.
But if you look at the trends ramping up now, you’ll see a few themes that hint at the future. Customers want in-store experiences from online shopping. They’ll choose lower-friction purchase options over clicking through multiple apps and websites. And they’d prefer personalized interactions as long as their privacy remains protected.
While you mull over what’s to come for ecommerce stores, have a look at these other marketing trends for further insights: