Every eCommerce store owner needs to have technology trends at the forefront of their mind to ensure their eCommerce store remains competitive. eCommerce is changing at a fast pace and you need to keep up, otherwise, you’ll get left behind. Adopting new technologies might seem scary because it represents a change for your business.
However, the new technology could be part of your unique selling point that allows you to stand out in a crowded marketplace. You can improve your eCommerce platform by adding apparel management software, optimizing for voice search, releasing a user-friendly app and utilizing personalized product recommendations.
Apparel Management Software
If you own an eCommerce store that sells clothing, then investing in apparel management software is the smart choice to improve your business’s efficiency, organization, and customer service. Here is a summary of the apparel management software advantages:
- Order management: eCommerce stores that manage a high volume of daily transactions need to organize and export order data so it’s accessible and actionable. For example, inventory counts and order status for a transaction should be available to all departments. This includes manufacturing, sales and customer service.
- Multi-dimensional: The software typically offers features in a wide range of areas such as supply chain management, shipping, sales, reporting, production, order processing and much more. The Apparel Management guide from ApparelMagic provides advice on how software like that works, so you can decide if it’s the right fit for your eCommerce store.
- Customer service: Apparel management software tracks customer history to improve communication. For example, marketing messages will offer relevant clothing offers based on buying histories.
The cost of investing in apparel management software for clothing companies greatly outweighs the costs. They will also have a significant advantage over clothing stores that have yet to take the leap.
Voice Search
Voice search is becoming more popular than typing and that changes what content strategy will yield the best results. An emphasis on conversational language is key to increasing the likelihood of appearing in the search engine results pages.
For example, you could switch sub-headings in your article to questions that users would say when searching via voice. It might lead to longer headers but it will also result in better rankings for voice search.
The technology that powers voice search is not yet fully developed and not everyone has a smart speaker in their home or work environment. Based on a 2019 estimate, only 35% of US households have a smart speaker, but that is predicted to increase to 75% by 2025. Therefore, modifying your search strategy might not pay off for a few years, but getting there the first will.
User-Friendly Mobile App
Do you have a mobile app version of your eCommerce store? If not, then you’re missing out on sales and brand building. The majority of traffic is coming from smartphone searches, which indicates that many people are using mobile devices. Capitalize on this fact by providing smartphone users a way to interact with your eCommerce store conveniently. The challenge is to make the app user-friendly so the buying process is smooth.
Here are a few advantages of mobile apps for eCommerce stores:
- Brand recognition: Integrate social media sites into your mobile app to promote sharing your products. For example, when customers leave feedback for your stores, make that comment sharable on platforms like Facebook.
- Increased revenue: Some buyers prefer to shop via smartphone while they are walking their dog or taking a train to work. eCommerce stores that don’t provide an app for this buyer demographic will have no chance of capturing the sale. Also, push notifications enable your eCommerce store to send marketing messages. It’s an open line of communication that invites the buyers back to the app.
- Personalized content: Buyers that take the time to download an app will also complete a profile registration – especially if there is an incentive. Buyer profiles provide additional customer information, which allows for personalized marketing messages.
Building a mobile app that offers all of these advantages is not an expensive process. It’s a cost that’s worth the investment when you compare it to the increased sales. You’ll also need to constantly upgrade the app to improve the user interface and add new functionalities.
Automated and Personalized Product Recommendations
Customers want a fast shopping experience and product recommendations strive towards this goal. Spending hours searching for a product is not ideal for buyers that are leading busy lives with little time to browse. Therefore, providing accurate product recommendations is a big advantage for customers and increases the chances of getting a sale.
Automation is the second part of the equation that allows this strategy to be scalable and consistent across multiple marketing channels. Here is an example of where eCommerce stores can send automated product recommendations:
- Thank-you email: Once customers complete the checkout process a thank-you email can be sent. It’s the perfect place to insert product recommendations that complement the purchase the customer has just made.
- Chatbots: Modern eCommerce websites should have a chatbot that assists customers in browsing their website. As artificial intelligence technologies improve, so will these chatbots and their ability to provide meaningful assistance. They can be programmed to offer product recommendations based on questions asked by the visitor.
- Websites: You can insert product recommendations straight into your webpages. These can be strategically added where visitors are likely to see them. Play around with the positioning of the placement by using A/B split testing. Also, utilize information from heatmaps to figure out the spots where clickthroughs will be the highest.
Automated product recommendations allow eCommerce stores to scale because no manual work is required once the system is in place. An increase in traffic doesn’t decrease the accuracy or speed of the recommendations.
Final thoughts
Technology trends pose a constant challenge to eCommerce stores as they force them to evolve. The stores that embrace the trends instead of staying stagnant will reap the benefits and gain a competitive edge in their marketplace.
To recap, you can automate personalized product recommendations, provide a mobile app version of your eCommerce store, optimize for voice search and invest in apparel management software. It might seem overwhelming but tackle one upgrade at a time. Eventually, you’ll have a competitive eCommerce store that’s up to date with modern technology trends.
