It seems like just the other day that we were all marveling at the technological advances of the last decade. But now, as we creep closer to 2022, it’s time to start thinking about what new technologies will dominate the e-commerce space in the coming years.

More and more, people are doing their shopping online. In fact, according to Insider Intelligence, global B2C eCommerce sales will reach $6 trillion by 2024. To stay ahead of the curve, businesses need to catch up with the cutting-edge eCommerce technology trends. Here are six trends to watch for in 2022.

What is eCommerce?

Ecommerce, or electronic commerce, is the buying and selling of goods and services over the internet.

Online stores allow consumers to electronically exchange goods and services with (almost) no barriers of time or distance.

eCommerce has expanded rapidly over the past decade as more people than ever use technology to access products and services from around the world.

What are the benefits of eCommerce?

E-commerce has been growing at a significant pace. Such online platforms have been a game-changer for many businesses, offering benefits over brick-and-mortar stores and making it easier than ever for companies to sell products online. Electronic commerce offers many benefits for both consumers and retailers:

• Convenience – Forget about battling traffic or looking for parking spaces at crowded malls. Ecommerce provides a convenient shopping experience, as consumers can purchase products at any time from anywhere.
• Price comparisons – With the advent of online price comparison tools, consumers can easily compare prices online to find the best deals. Ecommerce platforms have made it easier than ever for shoppers to compare prices.
• Reduced costs – Online retail allows businesses to reduce costs by eliminating the need for a brick-and-mortar store. Additionally, online stores typically have lower overhead costs than traditional stores, which can lead to increased savings for consumers.
• Global reach –  Ecommerce platforms offer a global reach for businesses, as products can be marketed and sold to consumers all over the world.
• Seamless buying experience –  Ecommerce platforms provide a seamless buying experience, as consumers can purchase products with just a few clicks of a mouse.
• Improved customer service – E-commerce platforms offer improved customer service as businesses have access to more customer data that can be used to improve the customer experience and respond to customers faster and easier than through traditional channels.

eCommerce trends  in 2022

The eCommerce industry is growing at a rapid rate, with an increasing number of businesses turning to online platforms. With this growth, so does competition and the need for businesses to adopt cutting-edge e-commerce technologies. Let’s explore the upcoming trends in 2022.

Augmented reality

One of the biggest trends in E-commerce is augmented reality. Augmented reality (AR) refers to the use of technology to overlay digital images or information on top of real-world objects, like a picture of an item you want to buy or directions for assembling furniture.

One example would be an app that lets you see how a sofa will fit into your living room. You take a picture of the space and then use the app to virtually place different sofas in it, which helps you make your decision without having to actually go out and buy one first.

Same can be applied to clothing and accessories. A sunglass retail business can use AR to overlay sunglasses on a customer’s face in real-time. This can help customers see what the sunglasses look like on them before they make a purchase.

AR is predicted to grow in popularity in the coming years. The number of mobile AR users is expected to reach over 1.73 billion by 2024. So businesses that don’t adopt it may find themselves at a disadvantage.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming more prevalent in E-commerce. Brands are using AI to personalize customer experiences, improve product recommendations and increase conversion rates.

For example, many online stores already use machine learning algorithms to recommend items based on previous purchases or search history.

Chatbots are another example of how AI is being used in E-commerce. These bots can answer questions about products and services, help customers navigate through pages on your website and even provide recommendations for other items based on what they’ve seen from similar users.

Brands can also use AI for marketing purposes by analyzing the data they have on their customers and creating personalized offers based on this information.

Mobile apps

This brings us to our next trend – mobile apps. Many online stores only offer a website, which can be a good option in certain cases. However, with the increasing number of people using mobile devices to shop, it’s important for businesses to have a mobile app that allows customers to buy products on the go.

Websites can be difficult to navigate on a mobile device. In contrast, mobile apps are designed with mobile users in mind and are typically easier to use. They also allow businesses to send push notifications to customers, which can be used to promote sales or new products.

Likewise, innovative technologies like AR can only be used through mobile apps. So if you’re not yet offering a mobile app, you should consider doing so in the near future.

Mobile wallets

Another trend to watch is mobile wallets. A mobile wallet is a type of app that stores your credit and debit card information so you can make purchases without having to enter your card details every time.

Several major companies, such as Apple, Samsung and Google, offer their own mobile wallets. And more businesses are starting to accept payments through these wallets.

The benefits of using mobile wallets for retailers include increased security, reduced checkout time, reduced cart abandonment and seamless integration between E-commerce platforms.

So, if you want to stay ahead of the curve in E-commerce, make sure you’re using mobile wallets to accept payments from your customers.

Voice search and voice commerce

This is a trend that has seen a big growth in the last couple of years. Voice assistants such as Alexa have become increasingly common in homes, so it’s not surprising that many E-commerce businesses are taking advantage of this technology by integrating their E-commerce platforms with these devices.

E-commerce businesses can use voice assistants to help their customers find products and make purchases by simply speaking into the device. For example, a customer could say “Alexa, order me some toothpaste” or “Alexa, where can I buy toilet paper?” Alexa will then send an order to the E-commerce business or provide a list of relevant results.

So, if you’re not yet using voice search and voice commerce, you should consider doing so in the near future. It’s an exciting technology that’s only going to become more popular in the years to come.

Security

As E-commerce grows, so does the risk of cyberattacks. In order to protect their customers and safeguard their data, businesses need to ensure that their eCommerce platforms are secure.

This means using updated security measures like encryption technologies,  firewalls and anti-virus software. It also means training employees on how to protect against cyberattacks and what to do if they encounter one.

If you’re not taking security seriously, you’re putting your business and customers at risk. So make sure you take the necessary precautions to keep your customers safe.

Omnichannel services

Omnichannel E-commerce is when customers can shop through multiple channels such as a website, mobile app and social media. It allows businesses to meet the needs of their customers by offering different shopping experiences based on how they prefer to shop. For example, some people like using E-commerce apps while others prefer websites or even physical stores.

By offering omnichannel E-commerce, businesses can reach more customers and increase their sales. And as the number of people using multiple channels to shop continues to grow, it’s important for businesses to offer this type of service.

So, if you’re not yet offering omnichannel E-commerce, you should consider doing so in the near future. It’s a trend that’s only going to become more popular in the years to come.

Conclusion

E-commerce is an exciting industry that’s constantly changing. So it’s important for E-commerce businesses to stay on top of these changes and adapt accordingly.

By doing so, you’ll be able to stay ahead of the curve in E-commerce and increase your profits at the same time! Hopefully, this article has given you some ideas on how to do that.

If you want a professional team to help you take your online store to the next level, contact us today! Our developers can help you secure and enhance your eCommerce customer experience with AI, AR, mobile app and web development.

The future of online retail is just beginning to unfold. We’ve seen the introduction and evolution of e-commerce, and now we’re seeing a new wave: Artificial Intelligence. 

The rise of AI has been meteoric in recent years thanks to an explosion in data collection and processing power, as well as improved algorithms for machine learning. 

This trend will only continue as our reliance on technology increases and more businesses turn towards digital solutions such as artificial intelligence (AI) to improve their operations.

However, for this article, let’s discover the magic that takes place when AI and e-commerce meet.

What is e-commerce?

E-commerce is a blanket term that encompasses digital stores. It refers to the process of selling products or services over an electronic network. The most common type of e-commerce is a business that sells goods through a website.

E-commerce is booming. Online retail sales worldwide increased from 1,3 trillion in 2014 to 4,8 trillion in 2021. In fact, more than 79% of Americans have shopped online at some point during their lifetime.

In the beginning, people were skeptical about e-commerce because when you wanted to purchase something online, there was no guarantee that the price would be good or the product wouldn’t arrive broken.

But in recent years, because of new safeguards like an easy return policy and customer service, people have started trusting e-commerce platforms more and more.

Many sellers also offer discounts to incentivize purchases on their sites. Plus, they can reach more customers than it’s ever been possible for brick-and-mortar stores.

This brings us back to another factor that made e-commerce so popular: convenience! 

The convenience of the customer is always the main priority for an e-commerce company. Customers can purchase anything they need at any time, day or night, without spending additional money on gas just to stop by a store.

When looking for a certain item, online shoppers don’t need to leave their home or office – they just open up their laptop or mobile device and place an order.

Additionally, since it only takes seconds to purchase an item online instead of waiting in line at a store just to buy that one thing, e-commerce sites are able to offer sales and promotions more often than traditional brick-and-mortar chains.

What is AI?

AI is a branch of computer science that studies how to make computers do the things that would require intelligence if done by humans. It’s a hot topic in all fields, from healthcare and education to business and law.

AI has infiltrated every industry and is here to stay.

It’s hard to imagine a future without AI, as it will continue to rapidly grow in importance across all industries. 

There are several reasons for this growth: 

• The availability of big data 
• Advances in machine learning technologies 
• Increased focus on customer experience
• Need for automation

AI stands poised to have a significant impact on how people work and live their lives – even if they don’t know it yet.

AI in E-commerce

This rapidly advancing technology has had some significant impacts on the e-commerce business. 

One of these changes is how AI can be used to improve customer interactions and streamline business processes, which will lead to an optimized customer experience on and off their website.

The benefits of gaining insights from the collection and analysis of customer data can be further enhanced with the help of artificial intelligence to tailor e-commerce services to the tastes and interests of each individual customer.

With the help of artificial intelligence and data collected from both the business and its customers, today’s online retailers make better decisions by using it to more accurately predict future outcomes and adjust operations accordingly.

Let’s find out more about some of the benefits of AI in the eCommerce industry:

1. AI-driven Site Search for eCommerce

Site search is one of the most valuable tools available to online retailers. 

It helps customers find, compare, and purchase products quickly and easily on an e-commerce site—and it’s also a key factor in driving conversion rates for online retailers.

That is why it is important for e-commerce to not only ensure high-quality search, but also to go one step further and provide a great customer experience. How exactly?

The answer lies in artificial intelligence (AI), as it takes the entire search experience to the next level.

Instead of giving shoppers basic and dull search results, with the help of artificial intelligence companies can implement: 

• Self-learning search that develops with the interaction of each customer and returns results for specific and long-tail keywords.
• Visual search that gives buyers the opportunity to find products similar to the ones in the uploaded image.
• Voice search that has speech recognition and will allow your customers to find products without typing the keywords.

 2. AI-driven eCommerce personalization

One of the ways that AI can help today’s online retailers deliver an optimized customer experience and ensure customer loyalty is through its ability to personalize e-commerce services.

Based on users’ interactions with the e-commerce platform, like past purchases or browsing history, AI  can recommend items the user might be interested in. 

For example, if some of your previous searches on Amazon have been for dog collars, your product recommendations the next time you visit the website are more likely to be about pet products.

This is because the retail giant knows that your interest is currently related to pet products and therefore provides relevant suggestions.

This not only improves the entire customer experience but also helps businesses drive sales.

E-commerce companies implement these personalization techniques at various points of contact with customers, not just on websites.

The next time you receive an email newsletter from your favorite retailer, which includes the products you’ve been looking for, don’t worry, it’s just AI-powered automation doing its job.

3. AI-powered chatbots

Chatbots are a type of artificial intelligence that allows customers to interact with businesses through the use of text or voice messages. 

This technology has grown leaps and bounds in recent years thanks to advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning algorithms that have enabled chatbots to understand human speech better than ever before -and respond accordingly with relevant information.

As Chatbots made significant advancements in recent years, they have become increasingly popular for online retailers. 

Chatbots help e-commerce businesses by responding to customer inquiries about products and services, as well as providing feedback on orders. 

Buyers don’t have to wait for a human service agent to tell them the status of their order, product availability, the company’s return policy or recommendations, they simply connect with a chatbot and receive a response in a matter of seconds.

As companies continue to invest in chatbot technology for their e-commerce websites, these virtual assistants will only get better at understanding what a shopper wants from them.

We are already seeing progress with virtual assistants such as Siri or Alexa. In the beginning, people were having fun with them by asking questions about anything from the weather to what to wear on Wednesday night.

However, today, technologies like Alexa can perform more complicated tasks, like ordering straight from amazon and requiring nothing more than a simple voice command.

The future of chatbot technology looks bright because it presents an opportunity for brands looking for more creative ways to interact with customers online while also closing the gap between customers and businesses.

Chatbots can offer a faster and more convenient way to conduct certain transactions and provide the same level of customer service as a human representative or even surpass it by providing benefits like 24/7 availability.

4. AI-powered product pricing

Retailers are always trying to find ways to optimize their business processes and meet the ever-changing needs of their customers. 

For both online retailers and traditional brick-and-mortar stores, this means adding new products to your inventory, adjusting pricing strategy based on demand, and identifying trends that will influence how to market certain items.

These decisions can be difficult for even the most experienced retailer because they involve predicting the future. 

While no one has a crystal ball, AI is able to help eCommerce businesses make better predictions by using collected data about past sales patterns as well as information gleaned from social media conversations about trending topics.

Once all this data has been analyzed, AI can offer retailers to adjust prices to optimize margins and increase sales possibilities. This is also called dynamic pricing.

Dynamic pricing is a retail strategy where the price of an item varies based on customer demand. A retailer might have two different prices for one item, or change the price hourly depending on how many units they currently have in stock. 

With sophisticated technology available like artificial intelligence, dynamic pricing has become even more popular among retailers who want to offer customers lower prices during low periods of demand (think “Black Friday” sales) while still generating revenue

With sophisticated technology like artificial intelligence, dynamic pricing has become even more popular with retailers. It gives the eCommerce store the ability to:

• Offer customers lower prices during periods of low demand (think “Black Friday” sales) while still generating revenue.
• Target consumers with a higher willingness to pay and maximize profits.

5. AI-powered customer churn prevention

For e-commerce, customer churn is the process of customers opting out of an eCommerce platform or service. 

Customer churn can be caused by a customer’s dissatisfaction with the quality of goods, their inability to find what they are looking for on the website, or most importantly because they have found better alternatives elsewhere. 

When it comes to online retail, this means that once you’ve lost a customer to another company’s website or store, there is no guarantee that they will return after finding out about your competitor’s offers and discounts.

Typically businesses focus more on retaining current customers rather than trying to gain new ones; 

This is because if customer churn is left unchecked, over time these losses can lead to significant penalties in revenue and profits. 

One way retailers combat this issue is through AI-powered customer churn prevention.

With the help of powerful tools like predictive analytics, online retailers can identify which customers are likely to churn. 

Here’s how predictive analytics works: it uses business data about past events (i.e., customer behavior) combined with data about current conditions (i.e., website traffic, user activity, etc.) to make predictions about future outcomes (i.e., churn). 

This is done by analyzing customer behavior and activity. If the user has not logged in for a long time or has not placed an order, this may be a prerequisite for a churn.

AI solutions automate this entire process by not only identifying those who are likely to drop out, but also engaging them with promotions like discounts to avoid loss.

Thanks to such automation, e-commerce stores can focus their efforts on retaining these valuable customers and take steps to prevent them from leaving in the first place.

The future of AI-driven eCommerce

One of the promising technology that is likely to merge with eCommerce is Virtual Reality (VR). 

VR is a computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly physical way by a person using special electronic equipment, such as goggles. 

Virtual Reality has been described as like “being there” and gives one the feeling of being in another place inside one’s head.

Virtual reality became popular mainly from video games and entertainment media but it looks very promising for e-commerce and retailers too.

The future of e-commerce is all about immersive experiences. The best way to get customers engaged and excited about a product, the more likely they are to buy it. 

One way that retailers can do this is by using virtual reality (VR) technology for their online stores. VR has the potential to allow consumers to virtually “try on” clothes or shoes before buying them or even take a tour of a store without leaving home.

Mass usage of such technology in e-commerce should be no surprise because online retailers are already using augmented reality.

For example, Amazon introduced AR View in 2017 which allows customers to get a virtual preview of the products they are considering purchasing. For instance, you can use this tool to see if that new phone case will fit your device before buying it or seeing how that couch you´ve been eyeing for so long will fit in your living room.

These AR applications allow users to see what their homes, surroundings, or themselves would look like with various pieces of products such as clothing, furniture, or appliances.

This experience will be further expanded with fully emerging users with the help of virtual reality where shoppers can visit stores without leaving their homes.

Conclusion

The future of online retail will be defined by AI. No matter how you feel about the technology, it’s not something that can be ignored or avoided – so get ready to embrace it. 

You don’t have to become an expert in order for this shift to take place; instead, focus on staying current with new developments and utilizing AI-powered tools where appropriate. As long as you’re willing to put in a little work up front, there are plenty of ways that AI could help your business thrive tomorrow!

Ecommerce or electronic commerce refers to a type of business model that allows companies or individuals to buy and sell products online. 

It’s a real challenge to find someone who hasn’t interacted with ecommerce stores, as online retail sales in the US alone are expected to increase by 17.9% to $ 933.30 billion.

Such rapid growth over the past decade required e-commerce stores and online retailers to always seek constant innovation and development in their operations. 

There have been many different strategies to achieve innovation; However, today the most important and powerful one is Artificial Intelligence that can serve as a superpower for e-commerce stores and give them a significant competitive advantage. Let’s find out which aspects of e-commerce benefit the most from AI.

Supply chain management

Supply chain management involves the flow of goods and services from companies to customers and is a crucial part of all e-commerce businesses. With the help of proper supply chain management, e-commerce stores can ensure that the right products reach the right consumers at the right time. All this allows companies to reduce costs, improve efficiency and form a better customer relationship

With the help of data and machine learning algorithms, artificial intelligence systems can help e-commerce stores with inventory management to avoid overstocking or understocking. Based on the same technology, companies can ensure that their warehouse space is optimized with the best possible product allocation based on their demand and space capacity..

Delivering goods is another vital part of this process and AI is here to help too. By analyzing data related to weather, congestion and traffic accidents, artificial intelligence algorithms provide the fastest and most efficient road suggestions, saving time, fuel and speeding up the delivery process.

Customer service 

Today, customers choose companies not only based on the products, but also on the after-sales service they offer. Nobody is insured against faulty goods or a problem related to order, however, a positive customer service experience not only neutralizes the inconveniences but also strengthens the customer’s relationship with the brand. That is why all buyers look at the reviews before choosing the brand.

To provide the best possible customer service, companies began to implement artificial solutions in their operations – one of them is chatbots.

AI-powered chatbots help companies automate customer service on a large scale without sacrificing quality of service. Thanks to Natural Language Processing (NLP), chatbots can analyze the customer’s inquiry, understand their message, and provide thoughtful responses and assistance.

The same NLP technology can help with customer feedback analysis. Paying attention to every customer feedback is critical, but a very difficult and demanding activity. However, with the artificial intelligence system, you can automate this process and get an analysis of customer sentiment in seconds.

This way, your staff can forget about the manual work of reading thousands of reviews and instead spend their time solving customer inquiries and problems.

Employee experience 

Happy employees mean happy customers and happy customers mean growing revenue. Companies began to realize that happy employees are more productive and motivated to do their jobs and have an amazing impact on business.

While company events and benefits are a great way to start, your main goal should be to eliminate boring and repetitive tasks. In fact, one of the most desired things by job seekers is meaningful work.

The feeling of contribution to the company by doing a job that can bring a real change makes your staff more appreciated and valued. The automation that came with AI eliminated repetitive manual work from employees and actually augmented them to drive higher productivity.

As we mentioned earlier, with the help of AI automation, employees can spend their time performing tasks that have real value and solve real problems.

Customer experience 

“When the customer comes first, the customer will last.” This is the exact reason that companies pay so much attention to the customer experience. 

Earlier, we mentioned the importance of customer service, which is just one piece of the puzzle that focuses on supporting the customer, however, customer experience is a broader concept and includes everything related to customer perception and sentiment about the business.

For e-commerce businesses, customer experience can mean everything from the ad the potential buyer sees on social media, to the website, product quality, or after-sales service.

So how can AI improve the customer experience for ecommerce companies? Personalized experiences are one of the most important benefits of AI for e-commerce. 

Stores have a wide range of products and it is essential to show the right product to the right customer. This engages the customer more with the brand and increases sales. 

AI can analyze and compare data related to search history, interests and user activity, and predict the most desired products that the customer might find useful. However, this is just one of the ways that AI helps e-commerce improve customer experience and its use cases are steadily increasing.

Conclusion

Since e-commerce stores record a large amount of data, it is a great opportunity for artificial intelligence systems to help such companies forecast future demand, analyze the customer journey on the website, and offer personalized experiences to customers.

With the help of artificial intelligence, e-commerce stores take their services to the next level, improve customer retention and increase their sales. In today’s market, it is important to keep up with the competition and constantly seek innovations, and for this, AI is a perfect tool.

If you want to enhance your projects with AI-powered solutions, schedule a free consultation call with our experts and let’s discover the potential of our partnership.