eCommerce is slowly but successfully replacing ground-based stores, especially in the fashion industry. According to recent data, global ecommerce has an income of more than $480 billion in 2018. Forecasts of experts say that these results will increase almost twice by 2022. There is a huge competition between brands so they all regularly improve the shopping process for their customers. Some ideas are really effective and can increase profits; therefore, other sites adopt them. Below you will find the most popular recent trends in ecommerce for business development.
Mobile Focused Shopping
The answer is not so obvious. In order to understand the question and evaluate the importance of mobile browsing among other online retail trends, there is a need to turn to statistics again. Studies in 2016 showed that only 36% of the 59% of sessions using a mobile browser end up with purchase. In 2017, the situation did not change much and users continued scrolling the catalogs of online stores in a mobile browser and pay for purchases using a PC. This is surprising since no studies are needed to understand that everybody uses smartphones more than desktops. However, buyers still believe that ordering and payment are more convenient, safer and easier with the full version of the site. Well, the customer is always right.
So, mobile or PC browsing? The answer is both! Create optimal conditions for viewing the catalog and creating a purchase for any browser, regardless of screen size. Trendy fashion websites recommend not only making the process from size selection to payment as simple as possible but also smart. What does it mean? Check out the latest technical online retail trends. The most obvious example is memorizing the preferred payment method and customer data. The client will not have to enter next time, which will create more comfortable conditions and the desire to shop again.
Create Brand Awareness
Creating a unique, memorable logo and style is an important part of each brand. Well-known designers have done an excellent job with this issue, and now we all easily recognize them. There are also those who have a distinctive logo and name but create ordinary things; this often happens in the mass market segment.
So how to make it work for an online store? Direct all your imagination to create an unusual website design. This does not concern navigation; the simpler and more intuitive the process of working with the catalog and functions of the store, the better. It’s more about the background, transition effects, and little details. Replace familiar words as a sale and bestseller with unusual phrases, perhaps, with references to pop culture. Use these online fashion trends together as a type of customer entertainment.
Prioritize Specific Product Categories
It’s worth starting with the biggest section, clothing. It occupies a large part of the market and accordingly brings most of the profit, more than a half. The ARPU statistic that predicts worldwide revenue and revenue per user for the coming years up to 2022 shows exceptional growth. According to the plan, earnings will grow from $317 billion to $475 billion. However, the annual growth rate will decrease every year by 1-3%. Online retail trends of this rate also differ depending on the targeted location and this can be seen from the example of the US, European and Chinese markets. The first 2 show about 8% the difference between the growth rate in 2018 and 2022, while China is over 14%.
A similar trend is observed in the footwear segment. Growth is obvious, but its annual percentage decreases from 13% in 2018 to 6.6% in 2022 according to ARPU. Thus, the shoe market makes a profit of $96 billion in 2018 and already $135 billion in 2022. The same situation is in the case of the Accessories and Bags section. World profit in 2018 is $67 billion and $103 billion in 2022. The percentage of annual growth will fall from 15.5% in 2018 to about 8% in 2022.
These retail sales trends help you orientate which section to develop more. Understanding the market and predicting its development directly affect sales success.
Personalization
To make the buyer feels comfortable, the ground-based shops hire consultants to help them choose according to the personal requests. The principle of personal approach is also possible in the case of online stores and modern technologies of goods filtration help sellers in this. Let’s start with the filters in the catalog that separate things by color, size, style, etc., and show the site visitors only the selected sections. This is a simple example that is used by many brands and stores. More complex technology is when choosing a single product, to provide the customer with similar products of a similar category. Also, statistics say that more than 70% of users prefer to receive notifications of promotions and new products. The list of online retail trends is large and updated with new methods regularly.
Giants in the fashion industry spend a lot of money on research in the field of what is interesting to their target category for a better personal approach. Algorithms for calculating the interests of customers are improving every year and have already been implemented in many trendy fashion websites.
Social Media Marketing
Brand development in social networks is a type of advertising. This is quite effective because the target audiences spend hours daily on Instagram, Facebook and others. Advertising helps to promote the store account, and subscribers can instantly receive information about the new product with the help of posts.
With the help of Instagram innovation last year, shopping has become much easier for users since they can instantly order clothes from the picture. The principle of work is that the stores mark the thing on the photo, put a price tag and the person goes to the product on the site by clicking on the mark. It’s easy for buyers and they don’t have time to lose interest.
Visual Merchandising
Looking at 2D images, users find it difficult to imagine things in life. For this reason, stores spend more time recording clothes to also provide a video so the customer can view from all sides. A 360-degree product overview also gives a better idea of the thing. Larger online stores provide users with the opportunity to see clothes on a model during a runway. An interesting approach to the clothes demonstration can get you out among other stores and make shopping more interesting. With the advent of VR technology in the gaming industry, it is possible to expect the adoption of a system in the fashion industry.
Globalization
Recent trends in ecommerce, social networks and the overall availability of the Internet have made trading outside the country possible and necessary. Statistics show that the biggest sales are in China, then the US and the UK. There are also hundreds of thousands of buyers in other countries who might be interested in your products. This solution is one of the most complexes of all online retail trends, as it implies preparation in the form of establishing delivery and payment methods for different countries. In general, audience expansion is worth it.
