The 10 Most Important eCommerce Trends in 2018 – How to stay ahead of the game

The personal information you gather about your customer has the potential of converting a curious customer into window shopping on their website into a sale. By studying your customer's interests and buying patterns you can anticipate the needs of your customer's and cater to them accordingly.

The method of creating products based on need was initially developed by publishing corporations but is also applicable to the e-commerce industry as it ensures that you don't create more or less than is actually needed. The retailer can focus on the design aspect rather than having to worry about the production aspect of things.

Mobile shopping has fast become a guilty pleasure for lots of people. Mobile e-commerce has grown at such a rapid rate that Google launched their first Mobile-First Index to show mobile-friendly websites at the top of their search results. Ensuring your website is mobile friendly can drastically increase your revenue and visibility.

SEO or Search Engine Optimisation has been around for a while but since of late, the way SEO works has changed. Google not being the only search engine to consider and considering searchability on App Store Optimisation (ASO) for Android is one good example of how SEO has changed over the years.

The number of voice-controlled devices being purchased has steadily increased over the years and it will keep on increasing in the years to come. More and more people will start using their voice-controlled devices to purchase products and services online rather than browsing a web page. Online stores will have to make their products accessible and attractive for voice-controlled devices as customers will instruct to buy products based on what they hear.

Making sure your site's AI is intelligent has gone from becoming desirable to essential as taking the process of making decisions out of a human's control and automating it contributes to one of the most important deciding factors when it comes to trade in the digital age.

Gone are the days where the only way to sell your products is a physical site as more a more people who have digital markets have embraced multiple channels to sell their products. Multi-channel selling can help extend your market reach and makes your business is more profitable. However, this approach like all methods has its weaknesses that you'll have to consider such as maintaining brand consistency and inventory management.

Digital marketers similar to Clicknshop who are involved in online sales in Sri Lanka will utilize social media to market their products towards their niche audience using social media algorithms offered by popular social media platforms similar to Facebook; a social media platform that has turned in to digital marketplaces that allows people the ability to execute the entire sales without leaving the site from simply being an online brochure to showcase products.

Converting a potential customer into a sale is one of the biggest challenges in online sales. Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) tactics such as going through the site from a client perspective, comparing the process of buying a product against a competitor website and guaranteeing the authenticity of the website through various methods that are used to increase the conversion rate.

Digital currency is becoming increasingly popular as more and more online retailers are either creating their own currency or adopting an existing cryptocurrency similar to Bitcoin; one of the most popular cryptocurrencies that grew by 327% in 2017 alone.