1.

Reducing One-time Buyers

With numerous online stores springing up across different industries and product categories, one-time
buyers are a pain for eCommerce store owners. One-time customers are a direct result of low brand
loyalty due to the availability of multiple online stores and numerous touch points.

In his interview with Forbes, Jason Finkelstein (CMO of AdRoll) mentions that 75% of consumers do not
return to purchase from the same online eCommerce store (using data from Shopify customers).

The upcoming eCommerce trend is about reducing one-time transactions. As an eCommerce store
owner, start prioritizing customer touch points that yield the best results for your business and
concentrate your efforts on these touch points. Also, focus on personalized service and excellent
customer experience to improve brand loyalty and keep customers returning to your online store.

2. Unique Product Packaging

In the past, eCommerce store owners easily got away with basic product packaging for their products. In
the present competitive eCommerce age, consumers are beginning to pay attention to product packages
and materials used before reaching final buying decisions. This leads to our second upcoming trend for
2023: unique product packaging.

According to an Ipsos survey, 72% of Americans consider product packaging designs, while 67% consider
packaging materials before buying from eCommerce stores. Also, two-thirds of the respondents point
out that paper and cardboard packaging creates a premium feel. To remain highly competitive in the
eCommerce business, you should pay special attention to product packaging. With great packaging, you
can stand out from competitors while building your brand and increasing customer retention and loyalty.

From the same survey, about eight in ten people consider product packaging in gift selection. Take your
gift offerings a step further and make it possible to purchase your products directly as gifts for friends
and family with the option to leave a personalized note in the order.

3. Mobile Shopping Takeover

Just as the eCommerce industry has exploded in recent years, the rise in mobile eCommerce has also
been phenomenal. Between 2016 and 2021, mobile eCommerce shopping increased from 52.4% to
72.9%.

With people increasingly spending more time on their mobile phones, there’s bound to be even more
increase in the focus on mobile shopping. To prepare your business for what is ahead, align your
eCommerce business with this trend by ensuring that your online store and touch points are mobile-
friendly for convenient customer experience and easy checkouts.

Example: Zara

4. High Customer Acquisition Costs

Since the lift of the lockdown, direct-to-consumer (DTC) businesses are doing all they can to get their
customers back and return to business as usual – this means increased competition for eCommerce
stores that surged during the lockdown.
In this highly competitive landscape, eCommerce business owners should start building solid customer
bases, including prospects who are not customers or not ready to purchase yet. Focus on nurturing
prospects with valuable content through blogs or drip campaigns using eCommerce email marketing.

These types of long-term brand-building marketing activities can be mixed with short-term performance
marketing for the best results from lead generation and customer retention alike.

5. Collecting First Party Data will be Crucial

For a long time, internet users have clamored for data protection laws and privacy. In recent years, many
data protection laws have been implemented, with some businesses paying heavy fines for violating
these laws.

Examples include the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), China’s Personal
Information Protection Law, and California’s Consumer Privacy Act. The implementation of these laws is
affecting some marketing activities negatively, which makes it hard to track data.

What does this mean for you as an eCommerce store owner?

Focus your attention on first-party data as many internet users and, by extension, consumers are
choosing to opt-out of third-party cookies, which provide behavioral and specific data.

To do this, you need to be transparent with data handling and management to gain the trust of your
audience. When trust is established, consumers will provide required data for personalization through
first-party sources like quizzes, polls, and surveys.

This ecommerce trend should be combined with putting more effort into community building to form
direct relationships with customers. For example, you could invest in a dedicated community-building
team for the success of your business’s community.

6. The growth of virtual marketplaces

The Internet and mobile devices are completely changing the way consumers shop.

What your business can do:

Build your online presence—Create a digital ecosystem for your business, including a mobile friendly
website with e-commerce capability, and social media pages.

Learn how to attract customers online—Once your digital ecosystem is set up, launch a few simple
campaigns, using tools such as Facebook ads or Google AdWords to learn how to bring in traffic at a
price you can afford.

Work to improve continuously—Take action, measure the results and make changes to improve. Repeat.

7. The automation of business activities

Robots and artificial intelligence (AI) are increasingly being used to perform a vast range of activities. But
automation is not only about robots—tech systems such as ERP and CRM can boost productivity and
reduce costs by automating functions.
What your business can do:

Map out your business processes—Process mapping can provide insights into what functions should be
automated first. This analysis, in turn, will lead you to the technology solutions that provide the most
value for your business.

Involve your employees—Employees have intimate knowledge of your business processes and are
invaluable resources in selecting and implementing systems. If they’re left out, they may resist using new
technology.

Shop around—Make a careful assessment of what’s available to find the systems best-suited to your
company. Many entrepreneurs are attracted to customized systems, but off-the-shelf products will often
do the job at a lower cost and with fewer headaches down the road.

8. The rise of the data economy

Businesses now have the ability to collect and crunch huge amounts of data to uncover important
business insights, thanks to the Internet and mobile communications.

What your business can do:

Know your customers—Small businesses can understand their customers better and capitalize on sales
opportunities by using such tools as online surveys, data analytics programs and social media listening
software.

Personalize your offerings—Data collected from your website, CRM system and other sources can help
you personalize your products and services according to your customers’ needs and tastes.

Improve your efficiency with dashboards—By measuring your performance in key areas, you can
evaluate how you are doing compared to internal goals or external benchmarks, such as industry
averages. Select key performance indicators and use them to create performance dashboards.