2018: Predictions of Retail Selling
Retailers are dramatically changing the current state of retail selling. While e-commerce online stores rapidly increasing. More brick-and-mortar stores are closing. People are making their buying decisions on e-commerce stores quickly.
E-commerce is expected to change faster as its current retail trends show that 51% of Americans prefer online shopping. At least 23% year-over-year is growing and expectations of using voice assistants are already being used. 40% of millennials used voice assistants to make purchases online. This will continue to grow as more consumers integrate digital phones and devices into their shopping habits.
With the retail closures, eight e-commerce experts share their thoughts on the future of e-commerce in 2018 and beyond. Here are the trends to be aware of.
From Tomas Slimas – Co-founder and CMO, Oberlo.
It’s never been easier to launch your own online store, find a product to sell, or start an advertising campaign. In the near future, we’ll see even more aspiring entrepreneurs breaking through into the world of e-commerce, who may not have had the means to do so previously.”
From James Gurd – Owner, DigitalJuggler.
In 2018 we’ll see more companies investing in chatbot services to automate part of their customer service process. The market for chatbots and automated customer service is growing; a Business Insider survey reported that 80% businesses expect to have chatbot automation implemented to some extent by 2020. A LivePerson survey of 5,000 consumers showed that 67% had used a chatbot for customer support in the last 12 months.”
From Visakan Veerasamy, Content Strategist, CandyBar.
I think the ‘ nobody is 100% offline anymore’ is the critical part. That and tech is getting more user-friendly & the users are getting more tech-savvy, which means there’s a whole new area between ‘ traditional e-commerce’ and ‘ traditional offline retail’ opening up — it will be an exciting space that rewards bold new entrants.”
From William Harris – E-commerce Expert – Elumynt
In 2018, e-commerce will see much better 1:1 personalization. It’s going beyond just‘recommended products’ based on everyone else’s buying habits, and instead, giving catered recommendations based on your individual preferences.
The times are changing and we’ll see more subscription-based products. Retailers must realize that they have to compete with online subscriptions to survive in the business.
Both brands and customers should be advised to take a different strategy and look at the future of online retail if they want to succeed and compete in the retail sector.
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