Top 05 Online Shopping Trends – Retailers Up Your Game

With the humongous shift in retail competition amongst e-commerce sites have increased. Thus, one can say marketing plays a huge role, and when delivered successfully via the above-mentioned lines, it can be deemed a successful campaign. Cost of entry and cost to scale have reduced hugely in the recent years, enabling more and more people to enter the online retail field. Competition is fierce, and choices are wide, and retailers need to see the immense importance of proper marketing.

While e-commerce still remains the stable purchase trend, one cannot deny a rise in m-commerce, which are mobile purchases. M-commerce is believed to reach an estimated 45% of all e-commerce purchases within the USA alone, by the year 2020. Consumers engage with brands, from a varying range of channels offering access from a variety of destinations. The main aim is to shorten the path from discovery to finalising the purchase; thus brands are advised to look at new and innovative ways of engaging with consumers. The fastest way foreseeing to 'quick' engagement is to reduce the number of 'clicks' from discovery to purchase. At the moment a shopper is faced with a number of layers and 'clicks' when making a purchase.

An average person is believed to spend up to 2 hours a day on a digital platform, the figure skyrockets to 9 hours in the case of teenagers. Research reveals that most of this time is spent on gaining inspiration for purchases and travel destinations from experienced individuals. Hence, consumers are more sophisticated and capable of spotting 'fake' or altered photos of products. Staged photo shoots of products and actual shots of products used by authentic consumers are easily weeded out. Hence, content uploaded by real consumers are better received than trumped up ads; online sales in Sri Lanka too see a trend where consumers look for actual reviews of products prior to purchase. As such, modern brands must look at desirable ways of marketing products in a more realistic environment.

There are so much media, promoting brands today, that consumers have grown weary of the steady influx, of products they are bombarded with on a daily basis. The use of varied channels to do this has contributed to the weary status of this mindset. A break-through concept seems to be the short videos which deliver brands in a quick and less fancy method. Social applications and mobile media seem to be a successful medium up to now. Little tags that pop up on social media, seem to attract the attention of consumers, more effectively than a consumer ad; hence, websites like Clicknshop, are able to better promote online sales and special offers in a more effective and clear cut method.

Brands are turning to social influencers as a means of promoting brands. These modes do offer a strong influence in the form of large and avid audiences; as such these influences when used appropriately offer a range of benefits. Brands are given a platform to promote themselves and push their benefits amongst an avid audience, capable of weeding out the fakes and choosing what they deem is the best product.