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E-commerce is becoming increasingly relevant to consumers’ daily lives and is an increasingly essential component of companies’ growth strategies. By 2026, Shopify predicts, internet-powered global sales will exceed $8 trillion. That’s more than a 50% increase over the 2021 numbers, and no one knows exactly where the ceiling might be.
The ongoing planning challenge for businesses is that e-commerce is not necessarily the opposite of in-person shopping: many consumers use digital websites and apps to make physical purchases. On the other hand, it is common for shoppers to try on products in a store and then buy the merchandise online. But either way, the relevance and growth of e-commerce is on track to continue indefinitely.
Here are the 2023 trends in this space to consider:
1. Digital marketers will seek out and apply improved attribution models
Attribution has become a huge sticking point for digital marketers. Let’s say your business marketing includes a mix of ads from Facebook, Spotify and Google, along with social media posts and YouTube videos. But when a customer buys something from your eCommerce store, can you be sure where to attribute that sale?
Many e-retailers work with a last-click attribution model that gives all credit to the site where the final click occurred. However, that last site may not have really motivated the sale. It could have been done somewhere earlier in the attribution funnel, like a YouTube how-to video. By assigning more importance to the last-click site, it’s possible to end up spending money on ads where it shouldn’t be, or even worse: taking money away from a site that deserves a higher percentage of your overall spend.
Related: A Beginner’s Guide to Creating a Profitable E-Commerce Business
To help get more accurate conversion reports, many providers now offer alternative options to attribution modeling on their platform. Some platforms can integrate with your website and send real-time attribution tracking to a dashboard. This would allow you to see the ads, email or SMS marketing that visitors have viewed and track website events right up to the point of conversion. This level of detail helps marketers figure out where to spend advertising dollars most efficiently.
Until now, e-commerce sellers have been forced to go through trial-and-error steps to get comfortable with assignments, and these machinations take time to yield enough information to make final decisions. With newer, more comprehensive attribution platforms coming onto the scene, marketers can better focus their attention.
Related: Why attribution is all that should matter in digital marketing
2. Providers will improve content quality
Talks of the recession haven’t yet stopped consumers from spending, but there is growing concern that they will soon stop making unnecessary purchases. According to CFO Dive, the second half of 2023 is expected to bring a drop in consumer spending as people draw on savings reserves.
What does this have to do with e-commerce product content? All. Consumers often research products before making purchases. Exactly how many touchpoints are needed depends on the product, but without a doubt, content influences your behavior.
While you’ll see updates to text content this year, this form isn’t the only one on marketers’ minds. Expect to see a lot of video content embedded in the e-commerce stockkeeping unit pages and descriptions as well. Recent Wyzowl research indicates that 73% of potential buyers want to learn through short videos: consequently, marketers are delivering this in droves.
Not sure how to get started with in-house video production? Add a personalized touch. You may also request and use User Content on social channels. Ideally, any content should answer the central question: “Why should I buy?”
Related: Give video marketing a try and watch your business grow
3. More ecommerce stores will offer subscriptions
One way to keep shoppers buying again and again is through subscriptions. Not every store has this capability, but expect to see more of them, and quickly. Kearney’s research reports that nearly half of all people who shop weekly online are open to subscriptions, and many already have at least one. Simply put, interest is high enough for digital marketers to take the plunge.
The beauty of this model is its consistent revenue. Many consumers take a “set it and forget it” approach to their subscriptions – a great opportunity to enjoy a small passive income that can increase your average customer lifetime value.
To find out if one could work for your business, study frequent customer journeys. Do they tend to buy the same product regularly? If so, that’s a potential place for you to sell them for a subscription, and adding a special discount rate (à la Amazon) might sweeten the deal.