11 Ecommerce Software Trends for 2024: Future Forecasts & Predictions

The COVID-19 pandemic has made a significant impact on how the world operates, especially in terms of selling and purchasing goods and services. With mobility and physical business operations heavily restricted, businesses were compelled to adapt to the situation by leveraging technology that mobilizes remote operations. But while other industries suffered from the effects and challenges brought about by the coronavirus outbreak, ecommerce experienced monumental growth and transformation, which also boosted the popularity of ecommerce software and other online selling platforms.

Ecommerce is definitely not a stagnant industry pre-COVID 19, but it reached its peak in annual sales growth worldwide in 2020 at 27.6%—a significant jump from 20.2% in 2019. Revenue, however, is not just the aspect of the ecommerce industry that the pandemic has helped grow—it also accelerated both the adoption and development of strategies and technologies that eventually transformed businesses. In this article, we will look into the latest ecommerce software trends, including ecommerce trends post COVID-19.

Consumer behavior has always served as the compass for business trends, and as more consumers flock to online shopping, so do businesses. A study by Alibaba reveals that 93% of businesses in the B2B sector have transitioned part of their business operations online. Furthermore, 43% of these businesses are now utilizing ecommerce to diversify their revenue streams. Small businesses from the B2C sector also found refuge in ecommerce in the middle of the global crisis. By leveraging online platforms, they were able to continue their business operations and mitigate the losses brought on by closing their physical stores temporarily, or worse, permanently.

While brick-and-mortar retail suffered, the ecommerce sector rose exponentially. An ecommerce trends report released by McKinsey & Company reveals that the total ecommerce sales grew five times higher in 2020 compared to the previous year. In the United States alone, ecommerce sales took 20% of the entire retail sales in the same year.

In the midst of inescapable circumstances that pushed businesses into survival mode are trends that significantly contribute to reshaping not just ecommerce but the retail industry as a whole. And in this post, we will look into some of the ecommerce software trends that have emerged and have been predicted to define retail in 2022.

1. Migration to Online D2C

Direct-to-consumer or D2C is not a new business model, but in light of the “new normal,” more wholesalers and manufactures will be focusing more on selling directly to customers through their own online stores. Back in 2019, Nike made the big move to cut ties with Amazon and make its products directly accessible to customers via its own website and mobile application. This decision resulted in a 30% increase in sales at the height of the COVID-19 outbreak—a goal that the company had originally set to achieve in 2023.

Furthermore, a report by eMarketer reveals that D2C businesses will have more than 103 million shoppers in the US by 2022. Part of this growth is the increasing number of tech-savvy consumers, particularly Millennials and Gen Zers, who are getting more drawn to D2C ecommerce because of affordability, more exclusive offers, and better customer experience compared to when they purchase via third-party channels.

2. TikTok Ecommerce Marketing

Originally dubbed as a Snapchat clone, TikTok has displayed tremendous growth by reaching 1 billion users in the span of two years. It started as a short-form video-sharing platform geared toward younger audiences. TikTok’s popularity, however, quickly spread across all ages, and as of 2019, 37% of TikTok users were adults with a disposable income of more than $100,000 a year.

TikTok’s user base, audience reach, engagement rate, and capability to turn almost anything into a viral trend make it a powerful marketing tool for businesses. Over the years, ecommerce marketing on TikTok has evolved from hashtags trending organically, influencer endorsements, to actual ad offerings. In 2020, TikTok also announced the launch of a self-serve advertising platform. This new platform gives businesses and advertisers more creative freedom, budget flexibility, and access to audience targeting tools.

3. Accessibility Features

Making websites accessible to people with disabilities is more than just a rising trend geared toward website optimization, especially in ecommerce. Web accessibility also falls under the compliance standards of the American Disability Act (ADA), which places noncompliant websites at legal risk. In 2020 alone, more than 2,500 web accessibility lawsuits were filed in both state and federal courts in the United States.

A study reveals people with disabilities make up 25% of consumers in the US, which translates to more than $490 billion of spending power (Essential Accessibility, 2021). Despite this, 42% of people with disabilities believe that web accessibility has yet to show significant improvement from the previous year (WebAIM, 2021). The majority of the issues people with disabilities encounter when accessing ecommerce websites involve web images, links, form field markups, and keyboard navigation.

Things, however, are gradually improving as 64% of businesses began their commitment to digital accessibility in 2020 with the help of third-party agencies and compliance management solutions. And aside from moral and legal reasons, business organizations state that competitive advantage is one of the leading motivating factors behind their decision to make their websites accessible (WebAIM, 2021).

4. Livestream Shopping

The digital shopping experience is no longer just about browsing on shopping apps and websites and adding products to your cart. Retailers are now capitalizing on livestream selling, a growing sales channel that combines product promotion and instant purchasing of featured products by the participating live audience. Also dubbed as live commerce, livestream selling is popular among businesses that offer apparel, beauty, food, and electronic products.

Livestream shopping is one of the ecommerce trends 2022 that has been gaining popularity in the United States. Sellers in the US often host live selling events on social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook Live, and Instagram Live, which are also the platforms preferred by their audiences.

5. Shoppable Video Ads

Not to be confused with live selling, this emerging ecommerce trend is a form of interactive advertisement. Unlike regular video ads, this format of video advertisement includes clickable elements, which can be a product tag overlay or call-to-action. These clickable sections can lead the audience to a landing page where they can learn more about the product featured in the ad. Furthermore, shoppable video ads can integrate add-to-cart features, which allow customers to purchase a product or service right from the video itself.

Interactive video marketing has definitely proven to be one of the future trends in ecommerce, further innovating video marketing and taking engagement rate and ROI to the next level. A comparison between linear and interactive videos shows that the latter format drives significantly higher engagement and conversion rates. Aside from the ability to generate higher engagement as well as conversion rate, interactive videos also provide businesses with more granular data compared to the number of views, shares, and likes that traditional video advertisement offers.

6. Augmented Reality

Augmented reality or AR made its debut in the ecommerce industry several years back. But with the pandemic affecting the way consumers shop around the world, AR has become one of the ecommerce trends COVID-19 has hyped. Retailers that utilize AR technology are able to offer a unique immersive experience, which allows their customers to try out their products virtually. And based on the data reported by Facebook’s AR partner, Vertebrae, retailers that used AR technology in their online stores had a 90% more conversion rate compared to those that did not incorporate AR in the wake of the pandemic.

Moving forward to 2022, AR technology is turning into a staple element of ecommerce as more shoppers lean toward immersive content. In fact, approximately 90% of Americans are already using or considering using AR to further enhance their shopping experience. This is particularly true among 43% of beauty products enthusiasts who expect their favorite beauty brands to use AR.

7. Voice Shopping

Voice shopping has taken the front row seat of ecommerce software trends, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis when 50% of Internet searches were done using voice-enabled devices. In the United States alone, the number of shoppers who use smart speakers have grown from 18.3 million in 2019 to nearly 23.5 million in 2021. Globally, 27% of the population who have access to Internet services use voice search technology, particularly Google Voice.

Dubbed as the future of online retail, voice shopping is reshaping the ecommerce environment and creating new opportunities for businesses to connect and interact with their customers. As for the consumers, voice technology offers convenience as well as digital accessibility to people with visual and other forms of disabilities.

8. Personalization and Data Privacy

Ecommerce personalization plays a crucial role in enhancing customer experience. But for businesses to successfully implement personalization, they must be able to meet each of their customer’s unique needs not only in terms of communication but more so when it comes to their online shopping experience.

Personalization, however, involves a complex process of data collection and analysis. Fortunately, advanced technology in the form of machine learning and artificial intelligence tools saves businesses from the grueling task of manually keeping track of their customer’s activities and assessing their shopping behavior.

In 2022, one of the key areas of focus of ecommerce personalization is the improvement of data privacy, which has been a controversial subject for years now. According to a recent study, while 48% of customers are grateful for the convenience personalized shopping experience offers, knowing that their personal information is secure will be much more appreciated. One way to address this issue is by allowing customers control over the details they want to share. This does not only give their customers the option to consent, it also helps businesses earn the trust and loyalty of their customers.

Most Popular Ecommerce Software

1. Vend is an award-winning retail POS software for iOS and PC with inventory management, ecommerce, and customer loyalty features.
2. NetSuite ERP allows you comprehensive, real-time control over the financial aspects of your organization and can scale with your business’s growth.
3. Shopify Plus is an enterprise-level ecommerce platform for high volume merchants, built on Shopify’s engine that enables over 99.97% uptime.
4. WooCommerce is a flexible ecommerce tool that can turn any Wordpress-powered website into a full-fledged online store.
5. TradeGecko features an inventory management system that eliminates the tedium of inventory management, allowing you to put your efforts into growing your business.

9. Location-based Marketing

As operations start to go back to normal, brick-and-mortar businesses leverage mobile technology to entice potential customers nearby to visit their places of business. Utilizing geotargeting, geofencing, beaconing, and mobile targeting, businesses can zero in on their target audiences within the proximity of their physical stores and send them personalized offers. This does not only help businesses entice potential buyers, but it also puts them ahead of their competition that is not using the same marketing strategy.

10. Omnichannel Chatbots

Customer interaction via customer support platforms is one of the aspects of business operations that have been at the center stage of digitization for years. Surprisingly, only a small percentage of businesses operating online have adopted this technology. In 2020, only 9% of ecommerce companies implemented AI chatbots into their platforms, and 39% had no plans of doing the same thing.

Meanwhile, on the consumer side, the number of customers who feel comfortable interacting with chatbots has grown exponentially with 80% of them claiming that communicating with chatbots has been a positive experience. This improvement in the relationship between human consumers and AI-powered virtual assistants can be attributed not only to the improvements in the technology but also in how businesses utilize them effectively by following consumer trends.

These days, it is common for consumers to use multiple devices and platforms when browsing products and business services online. Because of this, some ecommerce companies are improving their omnichannel communication by deploying chatbots across all channels their customers use. According to a recent study, having omnichannel customer communication can help increase not only the conversion rate but also the retention rate.

11. Ethical and Sustainable Consumption

A growing number of consumers are now more aware of the impact of various business industries on the environment. With various organizations and customers advocating for an environmentally friendly shopping experience, businesses—particularly ecommerce retailers—are reinventing their products and processes to make them more sustainable. Some of the changes businesses have implemented include paperless transactions, offering energy-efficient products, and having sustainable packaging options. And according to a recent survey, 4 out of 10 customers are more likely to purchase from a brand that offers sustainable packaging than from businesses that do not offer them.

12. What are the cybersecurity risks for ecommerce in 2024?

As ecommerce continues to grow, cybersecurity risks evolve, posing significant challenges for online businesses. Safeguarding customer data, maintaining secure transactions, and protecting brand reputation are critical. Here’s a look at the top cybersecurity risks for ecommerce platforms in 2024:

• Phishing and Social Engineering Attacks: Cybercriminals increasingly use phishing tactics to deceive employees and customers, leading to data breaches. Educating staff and customers about recognizing phishing attempts can reduce the risk of unauthorized access to sensitive information.
• Payment Card Industry (PCI) Compliance: With high volumes of financial transactions, ecommerce platforms must ensure PCI compliance to protect cardholder data. Non-compliance can result in fines and loss of customer trust. Implementing encryption and secure payment gateways is essential.
• Ransomware and Malware Attacks: Ransomware continues to target ecommerce platforms, causing financial and reputational damage. Regular software updates, backups, and robust anti-malware systems are vital for minimizing the impact of these attacks.
• Bot Attacks: Bots are increasingly used for malicious purposes, including inventory hoarding, fake account creation, and fraud. Using CAPTCHAs, rate limiting, and bot management tools helps in preventing bot attacks.
• Third-Party Vendor Vulnerabilities: Many ecommerce platforms rely on third-party plugins and tools, which may have vulnerabilities. Regularly auditing and updating third-party applications can help mitigate the risk of exposure.
• Data Privacy Regulations: Adhering to new privacy regulations, such as GDPR and CCPA, is mandatory. Ecommerce businesses must ensure that they handle customer data responsibly, offering transparency and options for data management.

New Trends Are Changing the Ecommerce Landscape

The trends featured in this article give us a glimpse of the direction the ecommerce industry is headed in the next several years. Looking at the facts and figures shared here, it is safe to say that technological evolution in ecommerce has been faster than ever, forcing businesses to catch up in order to survive and thrive in an intensely competitive market.

It is also important to note that the consumers are no longer blindly following every trend. A growing number of customers are learning the importance of shopping responsibly and using their power to make ecommerce more sustainable to reduce the harmful impact on the environment. And while it is true that ecommerce is constantly changing, it is currently being reshaped into an industry that is no longer just centered around technological growth. The spotlight is also now on businesses that have social awareness and promote ethical business practices.

If you already have an online business, understanding these trends can help you identify the areas of your business that need to be improved. And if you are planning to start your online business venture, the latest ecommerce software trends can help you get a good head start, along with learning about the best ecommerce platforms you can use.

References:

1. Hutchinson, A. (2021, Apr. 23). TikTok Outlines Rising Opportunities for eCommerce, and the Unique Potential for Brands in the App. Social Media Today.
2. It’s showtime! How live commerce is transforming the shopping experience. (2021). McKinsey & Company.
3. One Year After Nike Stopped Selling on Amazon. (2020). Marketplace Pulse.
4. Optimizing Your eCommerce Site? Accessibility is a Must-Have! (2021). Essential Accessibility.
5. The future of work after COVID-19. (2021). McKinsey & Company.
6. US D2C Ecommerce Sales, 2017-2021. (2021). eMarketer.
7. Williams, R. (2020, Nov. 10). 40% of marketers now use shoppable video ads, underpinning ‘storeless’ economy. Marketing Dive.

By Louie Andre

B2B & SaaS market analyst and senior writer for FinancesOnline. He is most interested in project management solutions, believing all businesses are a work in progress. From pitch deck to exit strategy, he is no stranger to project business hiccups and essentials. He has been involved in a few internet startups including a digital route planner for a triple A affiliate. His advice to vendors and users alike? "Think of benefits, not features."