This year, it is reported that even more brick-and-mortar stores will close their doors, but eCommerce will continue to rise. It is such a large part of the UK retail industry, that Statista have actually reported that by 2021, roughly 93% of internet users are expected to do online shopping – which is the highest online shopping rate in Europe.
Now we may not have access to a crystal ball, but we do have a huge number of customers within the retail industry and, well, Google. So we’ve done a little research and pulled together, what we think are the 6 most interesting eCommerce trends to look out for in 2020, get ready to jump on the bandwagon!
1. More flexible payment options
This trend started in the US a couple of years ago and is now starting to pick up momentum in the UK. Some millennials may have noticed a pay on pay-day option open up on ASOS, through a company called Klarna. In the US alone, retailers offering ‘Afterpay’ have reported an increase in conversion rates between 20 – 30%. We expect to see many more stores adopt similar tactics as the year continues.
2. Rise in personalised content
Despite the introduction of GDPR, it’s safe to say that many of us are still unsubscribing to a number of emails each week. As customers become inundated with communication from various brands, their expectation of the value of the content ultimately increases. It’s no longer enough to simply add the customers first name to the beginning of an SMS. In order for businesses to keep their customers engaged, they are going to have to ensure content is personalised in line with customer expectations, or face the fact that the unsubscribe list is going to grow.
3. The continued rise of SMS
I know, we can’t believe it either! But apparently 2020 is going to be the year of late adoptees. With people spending an average of 3 hours and 15 minutes a day on their phone (Source: Rescue Time), sending an SMS direct to any mobile handset, can be a great way for companies to communicate with their customers. I mean, who knew?!
4. Additional fulfilment options
Abandoned carts continue to be a challenge for businesses within the retail industry. However, customer feedback reveals that some of the more common reasons customers abandoned their cart, are centred around fulfilment – expensive or lengthy shipping, limited delivery options etc. Given how profitable increases in conversions can be to a business, it’s a no brainer that brands will try adding to their fulfilment options, in a bid to decrease cart abandonment in 2020.
5. Evolution of voice search – Alexa!
According to Loup Venture, by 2025 75% of American homes will play host to a voice assistant. Naturally, as more homes adopt the likes of an Alexa, voice search will increase, as will expectations around what you can achieve with voice search. Now this one will take a little longer than 2020 to come to fruition, but we envisage businesses making moves towards voice ordering capabilities and to be frank, we want in.
6. Increase in ethical considerations
Last year brought environmental issues to the forefront of many minds and there are now more people than ever, looking to purchase more ethically. A study from Cone Communications found that a whopping 87% of individuals will purchase a product because a company advocated an issue they cared about vs 76% refusing to purchase from company after discovering it supported an issue against their beliefs. But don’t worry, on this one we can help. For instance, did you know that a single email produces as much as 4 grams of CO2e, which equates to roughly 285 SMS messages. So with SMS, your brand reduce your carbon footprint without compromising on customer communications.
To find out more about how your business could look to reduce their carbon footprint with SMS in 2020, speak to one of our friendly sales team at info@textmarketer.co.uk.
We hope you’ve enjoyed the Text Marketer fortune reading!