If the world as we know it is changing fast, then the ecommerce industry is changing at a supersonic speed. As a business person running an online business, you need to keep your ear on the ground and sniff out some of the trends shaping up so that you can be one of the first ecommerce businesses to take full advantage of those trends. We did some digging and now present to you some of the key ecommerce trends which can supercharge your business to the next level.

Subscription-based ecommerce is growing

The turning point for this trend can be traced to the lockdowns due to the Covid-19 pandemic. People were forced to stay at home and it became normal to buy everything online and have it delivered to one’s doorstep.

One problem people faced was that it got rather tedious and boring to keep placing a fresh order for items that they needed on an ongoing basis. For example, many needed to order for groceries on a weekly basis. Savvy online sellers noticed this and started offering a service in which customers could subscribe and have the needed products delivered after a given interval. This is a win for the client who doesn’t have to worry about remembering to reorder needed supplies, and a win for the ecommerce business since it has ongoing income from its client base.

According to research conducted by McKinsey, the top 500 companies in the U.S. that focus on the subscription model grew their revenue from a “paltry” $57 million to a whopping $2.6 billion in 5 years! That same study points out that people opt for subscription-based services for different reasons ranging from replenishing items used daily, trying out new products curated by the business, and getting access to items available exclusively to customers enrolled in the subscription-based program. Can you think of ways to include a subscription-based model in your ecommerce business? It would be a nice way to bump up your MRR (monthly recurring revenue)!

TikTok mania is growing

Another trend that can lift your ecommerce business to a higher level is leveraging TikTok. When doing business, it is normal practice to go where your customers are, and it is now hard to find a person who doesn’t check out TikTok once in a while. As a result, businesses have taken to TikTok and they are registering massive success.

The short video marketing trend is so powerful that several other social media platforms like Instagram have jumped onto the bandwagon. You can also leverage TikTok to lift your ecommerce business to the next level.

Word-of-mouth is more important

As everything moves online, it can be hard for people to decide what to believe when they read about different products. This is because many businesses are employing influencers and other marketing tactics to sway the views of potential customers.

For this reason, people are turning to good old word-of-mouth recommendations from friends and family members when they want to buy something online.

What does this mean for your business? Make sure that you sell your customers the best possible product and give them a customer experience that will leave them wowed. When you do that, those customers will not need any urging to tell those in their circles about your business and its products. And that is how you can use word-of-mouth buzz to grow your ecommerce business to the next level.

SEO is still king

Ecommerce business owners today have an array of choices when it comes to the methods they can use to reach their target customers. For example, paid advertising campaigns like PPC (pay-per-click) are attractive because they don’t cost an arm and a leg yet they deliver results fairly quickly.

However, good old SEO is still important even if its upfront costs may be higher. SEO is still important because it delivers results for a long time (unlike PPC) campaigns whose results fizzle out as soon as the program is halted.

You need to give SEO ample attention or find an agency which you can outsource this function at a reasonable cost so that your business can ride on this trend to the next level.

Sustainability is gaining traction

Today, lots of consumers are scrutinizing the businesses they buy from in order to ascertain what efforts they are investing towards operating in an environmentally sustainable way. The concept of net-zero or carbon-neutral is no longer for niche audiences, and ecommerce businesses that clearly spell out the steps they are taking to be environmentally responsible are attracting more customers.

You can therefore take your ecommerce business to the next level of success by setting up an ESG (environment, sustainability and governance) system and clearly communicate this in all your branding messages in order to appeal to the increasing population of people who want to relate with businesses that operate responsibly.

Ongoing engagement of your customer community

Brand building is the key to transforming your company from just another firm selling products online to a business that commands customer loyalty. One of the ways to keep your brand alive and growing is by building a community of your past, present and future customers.

Depending on which platforms work best for your business (Facebook, Instagram, and so on), ensure that you are constantly engaging with the community that you have created on that platform. This engagement can take the form of getting feedback about desirable features that your customers would like in your products. You can also ask them to share what their experience with your products has been like, and this can be a great source of user-generated content you can use in your branding efforts.

The more engaged you are with the community of brand loyalists, the greater the likelihood that the future of your business will be assured if you continue delivering products and services that address the needs of your customers.

As already mentioned, the ecommerce landscape is constantly evolving. As a business owner in this space, it is incumbent upon you to keep abreast of all the changes so that you can tweak your game plan in order to stay relevant (and profitable). Which of the trends above has your ecommerce business nailed to the T?

To Your Success,

Jairek Robbins