E-commerce trends 2023

The year 2020 has shown more than ever how important it is to keep up with developments in the e-commerce sector. In both B2B and B2C, people want to experience the same feeling online that they get when they buy from a physical shop.

We present the trends that will influence the e-commerce landscape in 2023:

• Omnichannel
• Social Commerce
• Re-Commerce
• Mobile commerce
• Headless commerce
• Payment options
• Customer retention
• User Generated Content (UGC)

By keeping an eye on these e-commerce trends for 2023, you can find new ideas and solutions to increase your online sales, let's see each trend in detail. 
 

1) OMNICHANNEL

Nowadays a single brand has many potential consumer touch points: shop interactions, website visits, mobile purchases, social media purchases and phone calls. A customer might encounter you on all these channels before making a purchase, so the experience must be consistent across all channels. Omnichannelality is about adapting to the nuances of each individual point of sale.

Indeed, customers and consumers increasingly use multiple channels to search for popular and trendy products. For example, it is very common for them to take the following steps: they look in the shop for a product they are interested in, they search for it online but do not buy immediately, they start looking at the company's social channels and perhaps subscribe to the newsletter, only then do they eventually make the purchase online.

This type of buyer expects to easily switch between platforms and devices when making a purchase, so it is important to provide a consistent user experience across all channels where your brand is present.

 

2) SOCIAL COMMERCE

Social commerce describes a purchasing process that includes the direct promotion and sale of products through social media platforms, taking advantage of the fact that people are spending more and more time on their phones and social media. In this way, customers can interact directly with the company through comments, likes and private messages.

The most important feature of social commerce is that it allows one to buy products seen on social media without leaving the app. Let's take Instagram as an example. If you saw a product you liked on a post, you can buy it without leaving Instagram.

In detail:

• Facebook is pushing retailers to use its integrated shop window.
• Instagram launched the shopping tab as a way for its users to explore new products. 
• TikTok allows retailers to integrate inventory and overlay products on livestreams. 
• Pinterest uses specific pins to promote items for sale. 

As you can see, social commerce has a significant influence on the marketing of online retailers because the shopping experience must be seamlessly integrated into the entertainment experience. 

 

3) RECOMMERCE

In times of recession, in addition to the factor of customer loyalty, price-conscious shopping trends become more important. Among these is the so-called 're-commerce', i.e. the sale of second-hand articles.

This trend is by no means new, just think of eBay, a platform founded in 1995, but what has also changed is the increasing focus on sustainability, especially felt by the younger generation and capable of creating trust and brand loyalty.
There is also another central point here, namely the possibility for companies to improve revenue by reselling used products, ultimately contributing to a better use of stock. 

 

4) MOBILE COMMERCE

Just as the e-commerce industry has exploded in recent years, the rise of mobile e-commerce has been phenomenal, with 55% of Italians in Italy alone choosing mobile to shop online in 2022.

As people spend more and more time on their mobile phones, the focus on mobile shopping will become even stronger. To prepare your company, you should align your e-commerce business with this trend, ensuring that your online shop and touchpoints are mobile-friendly, so that your customers can shop comfortably and checkout easily.

Mobile shopping is the new norm. We all have our phones with us and people are increasingly used to shopping from their phones. By 2025, the number of monthly active smartphone users in Italy will reach 41.88 million. This would be an increase of about twenty million new users compared to 2018.

There are several things you can do to prepare for and take advantage of this trend:

• User Experience and Web Design: make sure every interaction with your brand is easy and pleasant on mobile. 
• Checkout process: make it easy to fill the cart and pay with a single click. 
• Push notifications: if you also have an app, don't forget push notifications. It's an easy way to keep customers engaged and remind them of your brand. For example, send them a special offer or remind them of an abandoned cart. 

 

5) HEADLESS COMMERCE

It has already been talked about for some time as the new evolution of the ecommerce sector due to its numerous advantages. What we are talking about? Headless commerce.

Headless is an e-commerce architecture in which the front-end of the shop is separated from its back-end. This means that developers can design and develop the front-end of their webshop completely independently of the back-end. This allows them to design the user interface according to the needs and wishes of their customers, without having to worry about integration with the backend. Optimising the frontend for different devices and platforms is also much easier with Headless Commerce.

Benefits include:

• Flexibility
  Faster loading times
  Scalability
  Greater security
  Lower costs

If you would like to learn more about this topic, we have discussed it for Shopify in 'Hydrogen and Oxygen: Shopify's headless commerce'.

 

6) PAYMENT OPTIONS

As we have already explained in our article on the best payment options for e-commerce, e-commerce companies often lose many potential sales due to payment processing problems. Shopping cart abandonment rates are high when an online seller makes it too difficult to pay for an order. Therefore, simplifying the e-commerce checkout process is a necessary trend.

Therefore, offering several convenient payment options is a big trend at the moment. The most popular payment options in 2023 are:

• Mobile wallet such as GooglePay or ApplePay
• Payment directly in the social media app such as Klarna or Scalapay
• Buy now, pay later (Bnpl) solutions

In general, it is good practice to ensure that you have at least two additional payment options in addition to the standard credit card.

 

7) CUSTOMER RETENTION

Authenticity and trust are becoming increasingly important in customer relationships for brands and manufacturers. A key aspect of 2023 will be building relationships with new and existing customers. A customer-centred approach builds customer loyalty and is a strategy for long-term success. 

Is a customer looking to reduce spending more likely to cut ties with a brand with which they have not built any relationship or with a brand that has continued to give them value, perhaps through pleasant shopping experiences, personalisation, great customer service and the right attention even on the various social channels?

Surely it is the brand that has not built a relationship that will lose the customer. 

 

8) UGC

In combination with the growing importance of social commerce, user-generated content (UGC) plays a very important role. Consumers are devouring user-generated content: 41% of US consumers spend more time watching user-generated video content online than watching TV shows and movies. 

UGC has become a real pastime. As a marketer, you have to be where your audience is. Knowing that your audience is already looking at Reels, Shorts and Tiktok, think about how to integrate your brand into them.

You could:

• increase your brand presence on these channels and create engaging content that resembles UGC.
• collaborate with influencers so that they integrate your brand into their content.
• encourage existing customers to post about your brand by offering incentives and making them feel good by reposting and sharing their content.

 

What do you think about trends 2023? If you are new to e-commerce and feel overwhelmed or if you want to grow your online shop, we can find a suitable solution for every need and will be happy to show you all the possibilities. Contact us for a free consultation.