Business team working on e-commerce strategy
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Anyone who remembers the early days of online shopping knows it’s come a long way. Thanks to virtual and augmented reality, uncertainties about how a couch will look in your living room are gone. Purchases can arrive on the same day instead of up to a week later. And now, e-commerce has expanded to include not just tangible items, but digital goods and services too.
Having spent my career observing and advising businesses in the digital space, I’ve seen firsthand how crucial adaptability is for success. Of course, technological advances are paving the way for an industry made possible by software code and hardware-backed connectivity. But evolving customer service standards and consumer whims remain at its core. Businesses, entrepreneurs and brands are succeeding online because of a unique ability to match tech’s capabilities with customer-centric strategies. Here’s how the industry is changing—and what companies are doing to leverage those shifts.
Creating Personalized Omnichannel Experiences
If you shopped online in the 1990s, the experience wasn’t as personalized as it is now. Omnichannel wasn’t even a word, and concepts like curbside pickup weren’t on most people’s radar. Most early e-commerce sites operated as a catalog only, and you still had to find a brick-and-mortar location to buy from. The few online companies that took and fulfilled orders had varying degrees of quality; an online purchase required risk, and follow-up communication from brands was minimal to non-existent.
It was a time when icons like Amazon only sold books. Emerging digital-only brands stayed in one lane while brick-and-mortar companies operated in another. But with data analytics technology and logistics infrastructures, the online and in-person shopping experiences have merged into one. Successful brands operate seamlessly in both spaces, creating integrated, highly personalized customer relationships.
For instance, workwear clothing brand Dungarees, with its smaller retail footprint in Missouri, effectively reaches a wider customer base through its online store, selling premium-quality clothing and accessories. The company’s website offers shoppers the ability to sign up for alerts on product deals and create personalized accounts. By centralizing the order, shipping and potential return experience, the brand keeps customer satisfaction levels high for both in-store and online clients.
Moving Toward Mobile
Mobile commerce, or m-commerce, is sometimes seen as a subset of the e-commerce industry. Yet, shopping via smartphone has quickly become consumers’ preferred way to shop online. By 2027, m-commerce is expected to represent 62% of all e-commerce transactions.
For companies, this trend means more than having an app. It means making online storefronts mobile responsive, ensuring sites display correctly on smaller screens—from tablets to smartphones—and are easy to navigate.
When people are on the go, they don’t have the patience to click a bunch of links or fill out lengthy forms. Having one-click purchase options improves the experience. Integration with cameras to support augmented reality features and location services to customize in-store pickup options isn’t negotiable. Access to real-time data, such as stock levels at nearby stores, can also be crucial. A quick order and an on-site pickup during lunch help accommodate busy schedules.
Automating With AI
Artificial intelligence seems to be everywhere now, from PDFs to the Alexa device sitting on the kitchen counter. The technology stands to reshape nearly every industry, including e-commerce. AI has already been pioneered by household brand names like Netflix and Amazon to enhance the customer experience.
Automating personalized recommendations, optimizing supply chains and implementing more secure delivery services are some of these brands’ AI-backed tactics. Companies are also extensively using AI to address customer service needs, such as through chatbots and automated returns. With some brands, for example, you don’t always have to talk to a person to initiate a return. You look at your order history from the app, click on the return option and choose the reason.
Depending on the reason, you might get instant credit and not have to send a damaged or defective item back. For products you need to send back, you get a scannable return label within the app or your email. Then you can drop the item off at a store or schedule a UPS pickup. Automation simplifies the process while removing one of the hesitations consumers have about online shopping.
Partnering With Influencers
Companies can’t solely rely on traditional marketing to reach consumers. People put more trust in social media influencers than in the messages brands create. A report on influencer marketing found 77% of survey participants prefer social media influencers’ content over scripted advertising.
The report also discovered that 85% of social media users trust sponsored content from influencers over celebrities. Instagram and TikTok have become the go-to sources for product research, representing a significant shift in how consumers discover brands. Instead of asking family and friends for recommendations, consumers are turning to social media.
Successful e-commerce companies such as Sephora have created influencer programs to help reach audiences, recognizing that even those with micro-level followings can effectively promote a brand’s products. Bigger names like Coca-Cola and Dunkin’ are also realizing the potential of partnerships with influencers across all follower tiers. Additionally, many brands are turning to an outsourced CMO who can lead their influencer partnerships, as this can offer brands the unbiased perspective and expertise from someone outside of their business.
Regardless of how your brand initiates its influencer partnership, remember that no e-commerce strategy is a one-size-fits-all solution, and there’s a strong possibility that you may need to test many methods to find the right fit. To get customers to trust and engage, brands must understand that advertising has become social and embrace authentic, relationship-based strategies.
E-Commerce’s Evolution
Digital commerce doesn’t look the same as it did when it began. Improvements in logistics, online platforms, personalization and marketing continue to drive the industry forward. Brands that are succeeding are putting customer experiences at the center of dynamic strategies, constantly adapting to the digital landscape. As technology introduces new capabilities, integrates experiences and enhances existing practices, e-commerce will change consumers as much as they continue to shape and redefine the industry itself.
