As a new year approaches, new trends emerge in eCommerce. One obvious trend is the increase in mobile searching and shopping–but some other eCommerce trends may come as a surprise. We’ve compiled six stats and trends from some of the leading analysts, publications and sources in eCommerce and digital marketing to keep in mind for your 2016 eCommerce strategy.
Get ready for 2016 with these six eCommerce trends and stats.
1. More Mobile
“Sixty-six percent of all time spent on ecommerce sites is done across mobile devices, and 61 percent of customers leave a site if it isn’t mobile-friendly.”
- Entrepreneur, “The Top 5 Ecommerce Trends You Should Look Out For”
Is your eCommerce website mobile-friendly? Find out through Google’s Mobile-Friendly test. As mobile shopping and searching becomes increasingly popular, modern eCommerce platforms like Nomad erpCommerce make it easy to get responsive. Having a mobile-friendly or responsive website not only enhances user experience, but improves mobile search rankings as well. Read all about it in “3 Ways that Responsive Websites Increase Sales.”
2. Growing Sales
“E-commerce sales are expected to grow to more than $400 billion in the next several years, with Forrester Research estimating $414.0 sales in 2018 and eMarketer estimating $491.5 in 2018.”
- Internet Retailer, “U.S. E-Commerce Sales, 2014-2018”
As eCommerce sales grow, many SMB manufacturers and distributors find that their existing eCommerce shopping cart can’t keep up or scale with their business’s growth. With thousands of products to feature on their sites, growth in eCommerce used to also mean rise in administrative costs. But with modern eCommerce technology like Nomad erpCommerce, which directly integrates with virtually any ERP software, SMB manufacturers like Williams Shooters Supply can grow, scale and take advantage of the rise in eCommerce sales while reducing manual data entry and administrative burden.
3. Rise in B2B Millennial Buyers
“Nearly 50% of all B2B buyers are millennials, up from 27% compared to two years ago.”
- Gartner, “What B2B Can Learn from B2C Digital Commerce”
eCommerce was previously thought to be primarily a B2C play, but as our technology and mobile devices continuously evolve to allow us to search, buy and sell while on-the-go and from any location, at any time of day, new eCommerce technology like Nomad erpCommerce is built to accommodate the needs of both B2C and B2B as buyers–no matter what age–increasingly turn to the internet to research and purchase products and services. Read more about B2B and B2C eCommerce retailers on the Nomad erpCommerce website.
4. Trust in Online Reviews
“88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations…Increasingly, consumers are turning to Google to get recommendations and referrals for local businesses.”
- SearchEngineLand.com, “6 Local SEO Stats Every Online Marketer Needs To Know”
Easy access to the internet from virtually anywhere at any time allows consumers to find a wealth of information, reviews and opinions within moments. So, before buying a product, buyers are doing research, research, research. The greater a retailer’s presence and authority online, the more likely buyers are to find and trust that brand. Sophisticated eCommerce platforms like Nomad erpCommerce are created to help bring buyers to you by offering easy-to-use tools that increase authority and presence such direct upload to Google Shopping’s product category feed and easy-to-use SEO features.
5. Reduction in Customer Support Costs
“52% of B2B executives say they have reduced their customer-support costs by migrating offline customers online.”
- Internet Retailer, “B2B e-commerce sales will top $1.13 trillion by 2020”
One of the most popular benefits that Nomad erpCommerce customers like Accutome report is the reduction in customer support costs, hours and labor. But not only does eCommerce integration with ERP benefit the seller by eliminating the need for manual reentry of product information, pricing, discounts and customer information, but it benefits the buyer by providing the freedom to order products, view up-to-date inventory, access account information and shipping info independently of a sales rep. Less time on the phone and more time online benefits all parties.
6. Less Patience with Page Loads
“40% of people will abandon a web page if it takes more than three seconds to load.”
eCommerce website design isn’t just about pretty and well-organized pages anymore. Website design has an increasing impact on the ability for customers to find a particular brand or product–namely by way of search engine optimization or SEO. Slow page load time is not only an annoyance to the buyer, but can hurt SEO rankings. Modern, efficient eCommerce solutions like Nomad are designed to help retailers take advantage of back-end SEO boosters like faster page load times.
Nomad erpCommerce is designed to directly integrate with ERP software and help your SMB keep pace with eCommerce trends now and in the future.
To learn more about how our manufacturing and distribution customers utilize Nomad’s eCommerce and ERP integration, visit our website.
