Forecast for E-Commerce for 2013

2012 was a difficult year for retailers: many stores were forced to close their doors after unsuccessful attempts to increase sales. But in turn, online stores showed good growth. The IMRG Association expects a 12% increase in sales over the Christmas holidays, which will increase the market for UK online stores to a forecast of 2012 of £ 77 billion.

Over the past 12 months, the online business has made a quantum leap from a simple service that provides online transactions to full-fledged virtual stores that successfully create a brand for the product. More and more buyers prefer to shop in online stores from their mobile devices. With such a variety of opportunities that are just one click away from the customer, increasing customer loyalty and instilling users with online shopping habits will become the main areas of work for online businesses in 2013.

In this article I cited 6 key trends that will accompany and support the growth of e-commerce in the coming year:

1. An individual approach to customer loyalty

Some retail principles have not changed for many years. The secret of success, as before, is this: to attract customers in such a way that they want to return to your brand again and again and advertise it to their friends. Social networks allowed the retail business to not only communicate directly with their fans, but also reach out to their friends. However, when it comes to the dependence of ROI on loyalty in 2013, customer loyalty will become just a buzzword, not a real number of fans. Ultimately, it is not the number of these fans, but the quality, i.e. how devoted they are.

2. Social shopping

Consulting with someone before making a purchase has long been normal for us. However, now you can not just take your friend with you for shopping, but the entire social network. Services such as Pinterest and The Fancy are gaining popularity as social media, giving users the ability to sort everything they like into thematic collections and share these collections with friends. This is not only a way of expressing oneself in shopping, but also a way to share your preferences with other buyers. Business should take note of this, which is why we expect to see these collections as the main trend of 2013.

3. Change in payment methods

And without that, the huge selection of payment options for purchases that sellers are currently offering to customers is likely to only grow, exerting an increasing influence on the decision to purchase. Along with the growth of mobile transactions, such methods as NFC and contactless payment can radically change the usual process of payment for purchases. PayPal and iTunes have long since begun to tie payments to mobile devices, and services such as Square are already in the queue, offering sellers the ability to accept payments from credit cards using just a smartphone and a simple plug-in reader device. It is this freedom of accepting payments for purchases online or directly in the store that will be invaluable in the coming year for companies of all sizes.

4. Return to specialty stores

Whether it is face-to-face sales or over the Internet, in recent years there has been a steady tendency for buyers to return to specialized stores, which, unlike mass retail chains, can often offer their customers a more competent service and a personal approach to the needs of each client. These stores include those that deal only with goods of a certain sphere, whether it be fashion, jewelry or photographic equipment.

5. More videos

One of the reasons why the video has not been used universally in Internet commerce for a long time was the low speed of the Internet connection, which is why the process of downloading sites from the video would be too long, which, by the way, remains to this day for many a problem. However, with an increase in the average Internet access speed worldwide, this limitation will cease to be so critical, and online stores will finally be able to freely use richer multimedia content. I expect the appearance of video reviews and videos demonstrating the unpacking of products for sale, which will become more common in 2013.

6. Increased integration with mobile devices

Whether it’s a site optimized for browsers of mobile platforms or mobile applications, most retailers agree on the need to create some kind of solution that supports smartphones or tablets. However, mobile technology can offer much more than that. Next year, we expect closer integration of stores into mobile devices through applications and the use of QR codes, along with the latest payment methods, starting with NFC and ending with the Passbook service.

In any retail business, the customer is critical to success, and mobile and social applications will only help retailers to establish a closer interaction with the consumer. In the coming year, the key to customer loyalty and successful brand building will be the creation of a multi-channel retail environment in the form of a single platform.

As the industry as a whole, we must increase the comfort of shopping, as well as attract new customers using more targeted advertising campaigns and special offers, thereby continuing to build consumer confidence in our brand and mobile devices in their new role as a payment tool. In addition to this, the industry needs to actively use social networks, thereby taking shopping recommendations to a new level and turning social shopping into real entertainment.

Do you agree with the presented trends? Have something to add?