Top 40 eCommerce trends for 2022

In 2019, the global e-commerce market has already crossed the US$2 trillion mark. With sales of USD 634 billion in 2018, China is clearly number one in e-commerce, and the report shows that it will remain number one until 2023.

A shift in purchasing power from the US and Europe to China and Southeast Asia has begun, fuelled by the growing number of Asian consumers who have access to e-commerce due to rising purchasing power and internet penetration, especially on mobile devices.

#1. Mobile Shopping & Mobile Payments

Mobile commerce has been constantly on the rise since the advent of smartphones. It's estimated that four out of five Americans shop online and more than 50% of them do it using a mobile device. In Europe, these numbers are even higher - 64% of Europeans shop online and 55% do it on mobile devices and this trend will likely stay hot in 2021 for at least two reasons.

Firstly, an average American uses a smartphone for more than four hours per day and secondly, ecommerce businesses do their best to optimize apps and mobile-friendly websites so that their customers receive the best mobile experience possible.

Both tech giants and newly emerging ecommerce businesses do their best to improve user experience and facilitate mobile payments, including using e-wallets. China is the leader - both WeChat and Alipay have over 1 billion users each.

The size of mobile payment market has been on the rise for a couple of years and is expected to grow even faster

#2. Chatbots: a new way to communicate with your customers

By 2025, the global chatbot market is expected to generate revenues in excess of one thousand million dollars. And ecommerce represents a big slice of this.

Chatbots will continue to be one of the biggest ecommerce trends going into 2021. The global chatbot market has attained a massive 24.3% Compound Annual Growth Rate. 45% of end users consider chatbots their primary choice for customer service inquiries.

Chatbots are one of the biggest trends in ecommerce for 2021. The growth of Global Chatbots market. Source: Credence Research

Take a look at a quick chat that I had with KIK botwhich serves as Sephora's shopping assistant:

Ecommerce chatbot conversation: KIK - Sephora.com shopping assistant.

Here you can find more information why you should apply chatbots in your e-commerce!

#3. Voice Commerce

Voice assistants like Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa, and Google's Assistant are growing more and more popular. It's predicted to be 8 billion devices with voice assistants in them (including smartphones) by 2023. In fact, voice shopping is expected to grow to 40 billion by 2022.

Yet it seems that both big and small ecommerce players still don't understand their potential - only 11% of smart speakers owners in the US use them to buy products.

Nowadays voice assistants are being used in more and more various ways.
Making an order using voice assistants is intuitive, hands-free, it doesn't require a mouse or a keyboard and is perfect for multitaskers. Voice technology still needs more development and support for more languages and accents but once it's improved, ecommerces will strive for implementing voice search and voice assistants to the customer journey they offer.

#4. Headless Ecommerce

Headless commerce systems are designed for compatibility with a range of front-end systems: desktop and mobile sites, third-party platforms like Amazon and Instagram, voice assistants (like Amazon Echo), and so on.

Headless commerce also allows retailers to manage all of their inventory and orders from a single, central platform. This significantly reduces the time it takes to perform multi-channel updates, while simultaneously improving the overall user experience.

Headless trade is important for two main reasons.

First, headless commerce holds the potential to significantly cut down on staff time and resources associated with managing multiple ecommerce channels.

Second, headless commerce allows retailers to quickly and cost-effectively reach new markets and channels.

Essentially, headless commerce allows you to bring core operational systems - supply chain management, customer management, financial management, etc. - under one roof. Furthermore, headless commerce enables you to connect customer touchpoints to this core operational architecture without any code crossover, allowing you to make changes quickly.

#5. AI and Machine Learning

AI, in a nutshell, entails making a technology understand repetitive human habits. We can't stress enough how much worth the ecommerce market can gain from understanding customer needs and serving them.

The potential power of AI and machine learning grows every single day. In ecommerce, the focus will shift away from smart recommendations, as AI increases its reach across all stages of a customer journey.

Danielle Strouther Adzooma.com

Consumers browsing The North Face's online store are able to find the perfect items for themselves thanks to the implementation of AI. (Source)

AI and Machine Learning remain the hottest trends in ecommerce. No wonder - they're giving marketers the powerful weapon - never before have both automated and personalized shopping experience been as possible as now, thanks to machine learning.

Although it's far from being a novelty, machine learning has been growing in popularity in ecommerce relatively recently. Now, it's mostly used in search and product recommendations.

Before modern algorithms emerged, product recommendations were done mostly manually which was not only inefficient but also prone to error. Now, recommendations can be done automatically and they match customer's preferences about brands or color, gender, budget, and many other factors.

In product search, machine learning can allow displaying much more relevant results, also based on a consumer's profile.

#6. Ecommerce Conversion Optimization

Unless you operate in a niche, having an ecommerce business means dealing with a highly competitive market. That's why ecommerce optimization is a key - it allows to stand out from the competitors, build trust, offer better customer experience and finally, to have higher conversions.

The average ecommerce conversion rate is about 2.27% but it can vary a lot depending on the country and even devices people use to do the shopping. That's why instead of comparing your business to average numbers, you should rather track your conversion rates in Google Analytics and experiment to increase them.

In the past, ecommerce directors had to decide between major redesigns, or conversion rate improvement. But ecommerce redesign process is often costly and conversion rate improvement is often not enough.

Ecommerce optimization is the solution here. It's a constant online store development that provides a guaranteed revenue boost. Not sure how it works? Take a look at Amazon.com. You haven't seen them doing a major redesign, however, they are constantly and endlessly improving.

So if you're tired of sluggish IT improvements, but don't want to invest in expensive redesigns, ecommerce optimization is a way for you.

#7. The Rise of Virtual Reality

VR, also known as computer-simulated reality, makes us feel as if we've entered a simulated environment. Virtual reality will create an even more personalised shopping experience for your customers.

Many industries benefit from VR/AR technologies. Retail and ecommerce is one of them.

Considering the fact that Amazon alone features 200 VR headsets, as well as 450 startups, are defined as VR technology companies on AngelList, VR and AR are a real ecommerce opportunity. For example, users can 'visit' virtual showrooms and visualize the products in real life.

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