Karolina Woźniak Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
The e-commerce industry is growing rapidly for several years. New retailers are constantly appearing on the market with top-quality products and services to offer. This results in high customer expectations. It is important for your store to meet their expectations and stand out from the rising competition. To do this, you should pay attention to every detail, even the smallest, which will give you an advantage over other companies and guarantee your professional development. Adjusting to the high expectations of customers and constantly changing consumer needs is, therefore, recommended for the development of one’s business. Find out what the current e-commerce trends are and how to influence the sales of your store!
The relevance of e-commerce trends
The value of the e-commerce industry in 2021 was about $4.2 trillion. According to economists’ predictions – in 2025 it will already be $6.4 trillion. This means that the global e-business market has grown by several tens of percent in just four years. A large part of this is a result of sales trends. Internet users are increasingly willing to buy products via popular e-commerce sites, such as Allegro, eBay or Amazon. Polish e-commerce, in turn, ranks as one of the most dynamically growing markets. According to the “Report on the State of e-commerce in Poland” conducted by Gemius in 2021, up to 86% of Poles have made purchases online, and 91% of them searched for products online.
What are e-commerce trends?
E-commerce trends are defined as important strategies, practices or developments in the industry that affect customers and their purchasing decisions in the e-business sector. Consequently, they impact the shape of the entire sector. Their fundamentals cover the activities of many areas, which include, for example:
- Logistics issues;
- Internet marketing;
- Sales and payment methods;
- Sales data analysis;
- Use of new technologies;
- Design of online stores;
- Changes in consumer preferences.
What are the latest e-commerce trends?
Currently, we have several e-commerce trends that you should pay attention to and try to implement in your online store operations. In 2023, you should be putting your focus on issues such as:
- Chatbots;
- Social commerce;
- Mobile sales;
- Influencer marketing;
- Personalization of offerings;
- Artificial intelligence;
- Subscription commerce;
- Advanced automation;
- Overall user experience (UX);
- Optimization for mobile devices.
Subscription commerce
Subscription commerce (otherwise known as the subscription commerce model) is a business model that involves customers systematically paying for access to selected services or products. Their subscription(s) guarantee that they will periodically receive new items or goods, such as magazines, cosmetics or food products. Subscription commerce is offered by companies engaged in various activities, including, online stores.
Top benefits for subscribers:
- Convenience and ease of shopping;
- Saving time and money;
- Ability to receive products or services at regular intervals.
What steps should you take to take advantage of the subscription commerce trend in your store?
It is worth taking several steps to make subscription commerce work well in your online store:
- Market research – such actions will allow you to understand whether this type of sales form will be suitable for your business, as well as whether the assortment you have will be suitable for subscription sales.
- Prepare an attractive offer – it must interest your audience. It is worth offering a discount, an add-on to an order or free shipping.
- Make sure you have the right tools – make sure you have programs that will make managing your subscriptions simple and convenient.
- Monitor your sales results – by regularly tracking your results and analysing your performance, you can adjust your offer to your customers’ expectations on an ongoing basis.
- Remember to communicate as much as possible – keep your audience informed about any promotions, available subscription packages or delivery dates.
Tools worth using to allow customers benefit from the subscription commerce model:
If you want to implement a subscription model to your online store – you need to use some useful tools for this purpose:
- The right e-commerce platform – you should choose one that will allow you to easily manage your subscriptions, and has tools that will make it easier to operate your e-store, set up delivery cycles, track statistics and customer data, e.g. Droplo, WooCommerce, BigCommerce.
- Select a payment system – it must guarantee an easy way to handle regular payments from customers, e.g. PayU, PayPal or Przelewy24.
- Automation tools – it is important that they are intuitive, easy to use and allow integration with various payment systems, such as Chargify or ReCharge. Subscription management software will send reminders before the due date, and will automatically collect payments.
- Mobile app – this is a major convenience, as many customers are smartphone users.
- Marketing – try to conduct active marketing activities, such as email campaigns, loyalty programs or social media ads that will encourage customers to buy subscriptions.
- Customer service – you can’t forget about customer service duties that will help resolve any potential problems with your subscription service.
- CRM systems – with them you can collect data on customers, which will allow you to personalize your subscription offer for the preferences of the selected person.
The greatest benefits of using the subscription commerce trend
- Building long – term, strong relationships with customers;
- Improved logistics – better inventory management;
- Thanks to this sales model, it is easier to introduce additional services to your offer;
- You gain a stable source of income, which guarantees, also the possibility of better planning of activities and investments;
- Thanks to subscriptions, you have more, better quality data about your customers, which allows you to create personalized sales offers.
Summary
Keeping up with changing e-commerce trends is crucial for companies that want to stand out from the competition and meet customer needs. However, the development of e-business is influenced by a wide range of aspects, such as logistics, marketing, sales and payment methods, data analysis, and consumer preferences. It’s worth taking care of all these factors if you want your online store to stay on top of trends in 2023. To highlight your business, you can use at least the subscription commerce model. It provides companies with certainty of a stable cash flow, while providing customers with comfort and time savings.
Droplo is an innovative platform for companies that allows you to optimize and automate online sales from one place. The proposed solutions meet the needs of both suppliers and sellers. Easy cooperation, security, availability and synchronization of databases allow you to scale businesses for both parties.
You gain all this by joining the group of Droplo customers.