Ecommerce Trends in 2013

Ecommerce is one of the hottest entities on the Internet. In the last few years it has seen phenomenal growth and is currently pegged below the one trillion dollar mark. Industry observers project it to touch the $1.25 trillion mark by the end of 2013 with major growth coming from the developing countries. Now with so much at stake this industry is going through a process of regular evolution with trends changing time and again. Here we shall take a look at some of the upcoming trends in the eCommerce industry in the year 2013

It’s the Touch Age – There has been an explosion of the touch based devices in the market such as the smartphones and the tablets. With Windows 8 bringing touch based interface to laptops and desktops many ecommerce websites are now embracing touch based commerce. This is going to be one of the biggest things in 2013 with more and more online stores offering touch based solutions to the customers. This will ease the process of shopping for products and services online.

Localized Online Stores – Till now we have witnessed growth of mass based online stores which cater to customers over a large geography. 2013 will be a year of localized ecommerce with stores offering the services in a highly localized area. Many brick and mortar stores are walking the ecommerce path and will continue to cater to their traditional customer base using technology.

Niche Stores – Although this isn’t a new trend but this will surely be one of the big things in the coming year. Many customers are wary of visiting general ecommerce stores and having to browse for their product of choice. Niche stores which have a limited product catalog are cashing on these customers. 

Social Media Will Narrate Trends – Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter have become an important part of an individual’s life. Now ecommerce sites will monitor trends on the social media to cater to customers’ needs. For instance the demand for a car accessory might be dictated by the number of likes and shares it receives on Facebook.

Videos For Detail – Many people are apprehensive of shopping online as they are skeptical of the product quality. Images don’t convince all the customers and online stores have realized this. In the near future we shall come across more and more videos demonstrating the products to the customers. Most ecommerce stores are starting with their YouTube channels and this will be a major trend in the coming year.

Easier and Secured Payment – This has been one of the major concerns for ecommerce stores as in how to convert the first time visitors into a sale. In 2013 online payments are going to become easy allowing customers on mobiles and tablets to carry out a transaction easily. At the same time the security features are also being enhanced for these websites.

With all these developments, ecommerce is sure to script new stories of success in 2013. 

Author Bio:

Viren Sharma is an eCommerce trend consultant at Daffodil Software Ltd., a company providing ecommerce development services, including magento web development.