24 Biggest eCommerce Trends to Follow in 2024

And 2024 is going to bring about more changes to the eCommerce industry. Therefore, if you still need to figure out the future of eCommerce, these most recent developments will show you that it’s not just expanding quickly but also here to stay. To guarantee the consistent expansion of your web store, you should incorporate eCommerce advancements into your enterprise. 

The eCommerce website had relatively limited capabilities when it first started. However, this is no longer the case. Customization, better integration, and more accessible return policies are just a few innovations that have revolutionized the eCommerce industry. As technology develops and advances, eCommerce keeps changing quickly, giving rise to novel and inventive approaches to conducting business. eCommerce trends for 2024 are going to be noticeably different from what we’ve seen in years prior.

What’s the solution?

Online retailers must stay abreast of current commercial and marketing trends to secure the most significant potential market share. However, it can be challenging to keep on top of and understand these emerging eCommerce trends and get helpful guidance and information on how to capitalize on them.

Experts estimated global retail eCommerce sales were worth 5.2 trillion dollars in 2021. Over the ensuing years, experts expect this amount to increase by 56%, reaching over 8.1 trillion dollars before 2026. With a few taps on your smartphone, you can shop online more efficiently than ever. E-commerce is not only well-liked by the public, but it also fits in with the most prominent social media trends for 2023.

By 2026, analysts project that US eCommerce sales will account for 31% of retail sales, up from the current 23%. Although physical businesses will always exist, today’s consumers will find more products for their favorite brands online. Consumers are worried about prices and brands that reflect their beliefs, and that’s only the beginning. They are also concerned about choice and ease.

Customer behavior

Because customer behavior is ever-changing, marketers with strong social media presences and e-commerce executives must stay abreast of the latest developments in the industry. Product releases are no longer limited to physical locations. The digital version is equally, if not more, significant.

Online retailers may make sure they use every tactic required to grab customers’ attention and boost conversions by keeping up with the latest e-commerce trends. There has been a resurgence of enthusiasm in the first half of 2023 around the possibility of technology to propel advancement. This renaissance is due primarily to generative AI. Still, we will discuss numerous other technological advancements that we will discuss below that also aid in solving difficult global problems and promote sustainable, equitable growth.

To better evaluate the momentum of each e-commerce trend in 2024, we will employ quantitative metrics of interest, investment, and innovation. Since these trends are long-term and interrelated, we also consider the fundamental technologies, uncertainties, and issues surrounding each trend.

Future of eCommerce

The future of eCommerce depends and relies upon the latest eCommerce trends in 2024:

Direct Messaging Customer Service

In the last three months, 19% of customers, a 45% increase from 2022, have contacted customer service via direct messages. What does this signify for proprietors of online stores? One of the first things you’ll need is a multiplatform customer care strategy that is more varied. Neglecting or postponing replies on social media platforms like Instagram or Twitter may cause sales to drop or decrease consumer satisfaction. Social media is an essential part of an eCommerce strategy.

Consider spending money on CRM (customer relationship management) software that can handle multi-channel interactions if you manage a more significant business. Additionally, confirm that your customer support staff has received professional training in responding to messages on social media.

Sustainable Shopping

A new eCommerce trend is that more than ever, customers want to support businesses that share their beliefs. For example, 46% of customers are more inclined to purchase a business that regularly makes charitable donations. Corporate responsibility influences consumers’ purchasing decisions, and in 2024, more eCommerce businesses will begin to prioritize sustainable sourcing, packaging, and manufacturing.

Social Media Commerce

Are you planning to purchase anything from Instagram or TikTok? Among social media users, nearly half (47%) would. Furthermore, 42% of people trust social media sites with the details of their credit cards. Social media is becoming a marketplace where you can offer goods to customers directly, not merely a tool for promotion.

Consider Instagram Stores as an example. You can create a storefront, add goods, and run advertisements from the Instagram app to increase visibility. Social media are ushering in a new era of digital business. Those who use social media as a means of selling directly have access to a massive and constantly expanding client base.

VR and AR

You can install 3D objects in your home using augmented reality software, one of the newest shopping trends. Since the products are accurate to scale, you can see how they will fit and seem in your space. In 2024, augmented reality and virtual reality will still be gaining ground. Businesses will eventually have to provide AR and VR solutions as standard.

In the end, these extra advantages make the upfront cost of new technology worthwhile. Customers will support businesses that allow them to visually inspect things before purchasing as e-commerce expands.

Live Stream Shopping

Have you ever wished to sell your goods on HSN or QCV? You can now carry out a comparable action on social media. Amazon debuted Amazon Live, a livestreaming retail platform, in 2019. After two years, TikTok started testing a live shopping feature in the US.

Shopify and YouTube swiftly followed suit, growing their collaboration on live commerce. These expenditures point to an immersive and participatory future for online shopping beyond perusing product descriptions and browsing via still photos.

Instant Product Deliveries

In the last four years, Amazon has created about 45 shipping sites; over the next few years, it plans to expand this number to 150. This strategy makes sense when you consider that 40% of American consumers anticipate their online orders to arrive between two and three days. However, large retail chains are just some that require speedy deliveries.

You will, therefore, see speedier delivery times for your consumers if you process orders on Sundays. Customers anticipate quick delivery times; they don’t merely want them. They occasionally even pay extra for same-day or next-day delivery. If you don’t, customers may choose to do business with competitors who offer these choices.

Automation for Online Purchasing

With 1.3 billion users on Facebook Messenger, using chatbots for sales, customer support, and marketing makes sense. Also, you can expand upon this using eCommerce. Domino’s offers full-menu ordering using its Messenger bot, Dom. The ramifications are profound: Domino’s will outperform all competitors when customers prioritize speed and simplicity.

Additionally, chatbot ordering gives Domino’s a chance to reach out to its customers in a new way and establish itself as a helpful, progressive business. While the market is still uncrowded, developing a chatbot similar to Dom for your company would be highly beneficial. This feature may stop being as unique in a few years and instead become the standard method of arranging.

eCommerce trends

The most beneficial and commendable eCommerce technology trends are listed below:

Conversational Commerce

This section refers to using chatbots, messaging apps, voice assistants, and other communication channels to let businesses and customers communicate and transact. Customers may converse with companies in real time and naturally, adding an interactive and customized element to the purchasing experience.

In addition to high-quality goods, consumers seek interactions and engaging experiences that motivate their sense of worth and engagement. Because of this, conversational marketing is becoming more and more popular in the online shopping experience. With the aid of a chatbot or live agent, users may use conversational marketing to purchase products or acquire information about services.

Generative AI

With its growing popularity, generative AI is one of the trends shaping the way businesses operate entirely and conduct their sales. This particular technique has the potential to significantly impact all sectors and build on other AI concepts, such as growing machine learning and applied AI.

From specialized use cases like producing realistic photos to broad applications like assisting people in finding better results, generative AI can provide up to $4.4 trillion in economic value. Companies should focus on the industrialization of machine learning and the potential of the underlying AI technologies since these developments could also yield substantial benefits. With unstructured data sources, generative AI may expedite, enhance, and automate the process of producing new content. You can present this material as text or a video.

Composable Commerce

Instead of depending on a single, monolithic eCommerce platform, composable commerce focuses on building and combining best-of-breed commerce solutions from several providers. It enables companies to create a personalized commerce stack by selecting and combining different elements, such as payment gateways, content management systems, inventory control software, and shopping carts.

Businesses that use a composable strategy benefit from flexibility and agility since it is simple to upgrade or replace individual components without causing any disruptions to the entire commerce ecosystem. Businesses can use the newest technology and streamline their processes by integrating it seamlessly with third-party services. These include eCommerce personalization engines, analytics platforms, and marketing automation tools. These tools all contribute to the likely eCommerce trends in 2024.

Businesses may design distinctive consumer experiences, customize their commerce platform to meet particular needs, and quickly adjust to shifting market conditions with the help of composable commerce.

Digital Wallets

In eCommerce, digital wallets have become popular as a practical and safe payment option. They enable clients to safely save their payment credentials in digital format, including bank account or credit card information.

Then, customers may quickly and easily make payments using their digital wallets during online transactions. With digital wallets, there’s no need to type in payment information for each purchase, which saves time and eases the checkout process.

Services like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Amazon Pay are well-known digital wallets. One-click payments, seamless mobile device integration, and reward program integration are just a few of the extra features these wallets frequently provide.

Digital wallets improve the user experience by offering a safe and easy payment method. Additionally, they allow companies to upsell and cross-sell by incorporating targeted incentives and loyalty programs across the wallet interface.

Visual Search

Although Google’s reverse image search function has been available to tech-savvy consumers for years, the technology has advanced and now provides an entirely new eCommerce purchasing experience.

A customer can upload a photograph of an item they’d want to buy, and Google’s Multitask Unified Model algorithm (MUM) will show them many similar products for sale. Google Lens and MUM will work together to provide visual product searches seamlessly.

You should optimize your product descriptions and photos to fulfill MUM requirements if your eCommerce business strategy uses visual search well. They will be able to rank higher in searches and facilitate direct purchases.

A few top eCommerce platforms are starting to provide visual search features that you can incorporate into your mobile app and website. Shopify provides apps such as Visual Search, whereas Magento provides Product Search using Image Extension.

eCommerce trends you need

To grow and enhance your e-commerce business as well as sales, here are the most crucial eCommerce and marketing trends that you need to scale your sales and production:

Long-Lasting Customer Relations

To keep an edge over the competition and minimize advertising expenses, you need to maximize your client’s lifetime value (LTV). You must establish enduring connections to retain customers inside your business network. Your company can increase its revenue by nearly 25% by simply focusing more on client retention and lifetime value in tandem with net new. This way of thinking is one of the top current eCommerce industry trends. 

It would help if you got input on customers’ experiences before taking proactive steps to increase retention. Keep a close eye on analytics data to identify patterns in consumer behavior and determine how responsive your products, advertising, and outreach are to your target audience.

Establishing a reward or loyalty scheme is another excellent strategy for fostering long-lasting connections. These initiatives encourage consumers to purchase more goods or services from your company and show them that you value their business.

Personalization

A significant push toward providing customers with tailored, focused experiences is one of the most recent developments in retail. eCommerce personalization has been adopted widely by many brands focusing on online sales.

It can be more challenging to provide individualized customer experiences if third-party cookies are prohibited. You can, however, take advantage of this trend by switching to first-party data collecting and other methods of gathering information.

Your target market might be more inclined to divulge sensitive information if your brand gathers data for customization. Making your customers’ experience more personalized with their information can increase brand loyalty and attract new customers.

Flexible Payment Methods

Online businesses are increasing the accessibility of their items by providing customers with more flexible payment options, even if credit card payment handling is still essential to e-commerce. For example, a few merchants currently accept cryptocurrencies as payment. Despite the recent volatility, there is still a fervent following of fans eager to purchase cryptocurrency products.

Digital wallets are another versatile payment option that merchants have brought into the mix. About 39% of consumers currently use their smartphones when making purchases. This process is more streamlined when customers can pay using integrated digital wallets because they don’t need to provide payment or shipping details. Instead, customers may choose the correct payment method fast and have items delivered to the address they have on file.

There are other new payment methods available besides digital wallets. These days, most people use the buy now, pay later (BNPL) services like PayPal, Affirm, Klarna, and Afterpay when they shop online. When used in tandem, these platforms help tens of thousands of shops by allowing consumers to break up the expense of expensive products into manageable installments.

Customer Growth

A headless eCommerce model divides an online store’s front and back ends. Your website’s “head” is the part that users interact with. The product catalog and additional menus the user interacts with during shopping are included. The software that runs checkout procedures, ordering, payments, and other functions is known as the back end.

Data sharing and communication between the front-end and back-end solutions are made possible by application programming interfaces, or APIs. However, you can select different systems from different vendors because they decouple with a headless CMS. Alternatively, you can combine and separate systems according to your company’s requirements.

Customer Engagement

Going live and using video to showcase things is more efficient than only using pictures, and it allows marketers to highlight the qualities and capabilities of a product. While live-streamed and video shopping events generally go well, short-form content is incredibly effective.

Live streaming is becoming increasingly popular on many social media platforms. You may engage with your audience through live streaming, respond to their queries, and encourage them to make a purchase. To enhance the effectiveness of your streaming endeavors, think about collaborating with a well-known or reliable influencer. Utilize an influencer’s reach with a similar audience to yours to spread the word about your most recent product.

Top eCommerce trends

Here are a few more innovative eCommerce trends that can help you stay on top of your game as an eCommerce entrepreneur in 2024:

Hybrid Commerce

Phygital, or the fusion of online and offline retail channels, is how eCommerce companies will operate. To create a smooth user experience, this eCommerce model combines many platforms and channels, which promotes omnichannel or hybrid selling.

You can implement click-and-collect as a straightforward method of omnichannel selling. Customers can use this service, also known as buy-online-and-pick-up in-store (BOPIS), to check out online and, in turn, pick up their items at the respective store or pickup location.

The click-and-collect trend has increased steadily due to the ease of online shopping, the short in-store visits, and the free shipping. By 2025, its estimated value will exceed $154 billion. Well-known stores, including Walmart, Target, and IKEA, provide this service.

Subscription Models

Consumers have become increasingly accustomed to the ease of online buying over the last few years. Because it provides a workable way for customers to meet their recurring expenses, the subscription model has emerged as one of the top trends in the eCommerce sector.

Unsurprisingly, experts expect the subscription market to reach over $2 trillion by 2028, growing at a 71% CAGR. A wide range of products are available as subscriptions, including HelloFresh meal kits, monthly clothes deliveries, and streaming services. Thanks to its customizable programs, HelloFresh has drawn over seven million users globally as of October 2022.

Conversion Rate Optimization

Converting traffic into paying clients is a crucial challenge for any eCommerce website operator. Conversion rate optimization, or CRO, is getting website visitors to purchase products and/or subscribe to your newsletter. CRO platforms typically provide features such as A/B testing, personalization features (i.e. banners, seasonal promotions), and heat mapping for clicks on product landing pages. The entire goal of a CRO platform is to convert more customers using properly placed design features to be eye-catching and, in turn, turn a browser into a buyer.

More marketers will identify the factors that entice and discourage users from acting, ensuring the optimal user experience. Consequently, company owners should plan their eCommerce initiatives and maximize each client interaction point, particularly the landing page.

Seven times as many leads were generated from websites with more than 30 landing pages as those with less than 10. Ensure your material is transparent to reduce distractions and increase conversion rates.

Marketing Automation

Machine learning may assist firms in automating regular marketing chores like outreach, advertisements, and follow-up emails. This process is known as marketing automation. This technology does not utilize generic messaging. It collects and evaluates client data to provide customized messages for each stage of the buyer’s journey. Higher conversion rates and better customer engagement are the outcomes.

By 2027, experts expect marketing automation to reach $9.5 billion, growing at 12.8%. Marketing automation reduces workflows so effectively that it saves over six hours weekly. Forty percent of marketers intend to include automation in their email marketing operations to remain ahead of these emerging trends in eCommerce.

Latest eCommerce

While there are several fads among the top eCommerce trends to follow and gain popularity in 2024, the latest ones are:

Mobile Friendliness

Among the most popular e-commerce trends is mobile shopping, which is at a record high in popularity. Twenty-one percent of mobile device users in 2022 used retail shopping apps many times a day, and thirty-five percent used them numerous times a week.

Make sure your website is mobile-friendly to interact with all these customers. You can make your website more mobile-friendly in a variety of ways. The first thing you should do is make your website easy to use. This step entails selecting the proper screen display settings during the platform’s design process to prevent crucial material from being obscured or resized when users access it via mobile devices. Furthermore, every menu tab and button

Upon achieving optimal mobile-friendliness for your website design, the subsequent move is to incorporate mobile payment functionality into your platform. Providing customers the ability to use their digital wallets to pay for purchases can boost revenue and streamline the checkout process.

Sustainable Products

Buyers increasingly consider factors other than price and product quality when making purchases. Sustainability is one crucial aspect they take into account.

As a result, an increasing number of internet merchants are focusing on packaging and shipping procedures to lower their carbon footprint. Consumers and businesses seek to use fewer packaging materials and, when feasible, eliminate paper use to lessen their environmental effects.

The well-known shoe company TOMS has made sustainability a top priority for many years. The brand donates some of the company’s profits to charitable causes and sustainability efforts. To lessen its influence on the environment, it has recently increased the scope of its sustainability projects. Today, TOMS makes its shoes with sustainably sourced cotton and other environmentally friendly components. It also employs recycled materials in its packaging.

Zero-Party Data

Many consumers want to be able to opt out and are curious about how brands handle their personal information. It is for this reason that they value transparency. Some nations, primarily in Europe, have banned the use of third-party data due to concerns about customer privacy. As a result, the ban compelled businesses to reevaluate their data policies.

A zero-party data approach, which entails gathering data directly from pertinent, willing customers, has been adopted by several companies as a preventative measure. Customers can choose to opt-out, accept all cookies, or decide which cookies to allow and which to reject at the time of collection.

Bottom Line

While several global eCommerce trends will gain momentum in 2024, each possesses excellent value and importance. Please take into account all the considerations and tips regarding each trend to include them in your upcoming marketing strategy for 2024. However, if you require management tools or software to optimize and enhance your e-commerce digital platforms, please get in touch with us at Pimberly.