Retail + eCommerce
Maintaining a competitive edge with trends that inspire and influence shopper behaviors and satisfaction.
Introduction
The path to purchase isn’t a fluid one. While the number of touchpoints taken can vary before a sale is made, we can all agree that the customer journey deserves our focus and attention. It helps shape and build the relationship between your brand and your customers.
Shoppers are researching products and consuming content across multiple channels and platforms. How customers engage with your brand can influence customer satisfaction. The future of retail and eCommerce looks bright after a devastating two years of COVID-19– and the global market trends support it.
The Trajectory
The industry is bouncing back in a big way despite current inflation and supply chain challenges. Here’s a snapshot of what it entails:
- Consumers are buying. Retail and eCommerce sales worldwide are expected to reach $5.908B USD in 2023.1
- But not before doing the research. 81% of shoppers research products online before they purchase.2
- Smartphones aid (re)searchability. 77% use their mobile device to search for products.3
- Global market share leaderboard. China leads the global retail and eCommerce market share with 45.3%. The UK takes the #2 spot with a 35.9% share, followed by South Korea at 30.1% for eCommerce sales in 2022.4
- Digital shopper leader. China has the most digital consumers at 824.5M, which represents almost 40% of the global market.5
of shoppers research products online before they purchase.
use their mobile device to search for products.
Trends that Inspire and Influence
In 2023, brands and businesses can expect a revival of pre-pandemic shopper experiences and a push for more personalized marketing from their corporate offices.
Click through to see the new trends shaping the landscape:
Gain Your Industry Ground
The retail and eCommerce industry looks bright. How you set up your fiscal year goals is up to you, of course.
Below are some tips that can help:
- Keep touchpoints minimal but messaging consistent across all channels. This will help create synergy and a seamless transition from online to offline journeys.
- Personalize every engagement opportunity. Adding a personal touch can build trust and brand loyalty among consumers.
- Think about optimizing your marketing stack. Consider what experience and content distribution platforms make sense for your customer base, organizational goals and how your brand is perceived.
- Ensure your website and digital store are mobile-friendly. A great mobile user experience builds credibility, accessibility and searchability.
- Track how your competitors are leveraging digital content. It’s easy to see and measure with the right tools in your stack.
- Make sustainability part of your brand story. Talk about your sustainable efforts on your channels. But avoid “greenwashing” which can damage the trust placed in your customers.
- Evaluate your customer support channels. Take a look at your current setup and assess if it’s scalable to support your customer experience growth. Be sure to include voice, chat, social media, video and other forms of communication in your evaluation process.
The AVOXI Platform Solution
Retail and eCommerce trends are evolving. And to keep pace with the high-touch experiences your customers expect, an all-in-one cloud communications solution can help empower quality interactions and attract repeat shoppers across the world in a centralized place. Use our platform to…
Simplify cloud communications.
Shoppers need to be connected quickly to agents who can help with their purchases. Seamlessly transform your customer experience with reliable global virtual numbers, custom IVR navigation and cloud PBX infrastructure with PCI-DSS compliance standards.
Intelligently route calls.
Ensure your shoppers are routed to the right person every time to make the sales and deliver customer delight. Tailored IVR menus, skills-based routing, queue callback and failover routing can help your teams achieve their goals through targeted, continuous support.
Refocus, re-engage and surrender the silos.
Quickly and easily integrate with your CRM, helpdesk or chat tool to hyper-personalize the customer experience using feature-rich communications and automated workflows - all within a single platform.
Set goals and measure success.
Proactively monitor team performance, call performance and trends with advanced analytics that enable you to make smarter decisions to support sales in-store or online, protect your brand’s reputation and ensure a stellar customer experience.
Citations
- Global Retail Report 2022-2023: Overview, Trends, Growth, Analysis, Data Art, https://l.dataart.com/retail-report.
- “81% Of Shoppers Research Their Product Online before Purchasing.” Saleslion, GE Capital Retail Bank’s Second Annual Major Purchase Shopper Study, 29 Apr. 2022, https://saleslion.io/ecommerce-statistics/81-of-shoppers-research-their-product-online-before-purchasing/.
- Andersen, Derek. 38 Statistics Retail Marketers Need to Know in 2023, INVOCA, 16 Sept. 2022, https://www.invoca.com/blog/retail-marketing-statistics. Accessed 7 Nov. 2022. The majority of these searches occur on mobile devices since retail shoppers frequently research competitor products and pricing in-store.
- Lebow, Sara. “The Global Ecommerce Share Breakdown.” The Global Ecommerce Share Breakdown, Insider Intelligence, 5 Aug. 2022, https://www.insiderintelligence.com/content/global-ecommerce-share-breakdown.
- Keenan, Michael. “Global Ecommerce: Stats and Trends to Watch (2022).” Global Ecommerce Explained: Stats and Trends to Watch in 2022, Shopify Plus, 16 Feb. 2022, https://www.shopify.com/enterprise/global-ecommerce-statistics.
- Tsang, William. “Mastercard SpendingPulse: U.S. Retail Sales in June Reflect Rising Prices for Essentials, Continued Leisure Spending.” Mastercard Incorporated - Mastercard SpendingPulse: U.S. Retail Sales in June Reflect Rising Prices for Essentials, Continued Leisure Spending, Mastercard, 7 July 2022, https://investor.mastercard.com/investor-news/investor-news-details/2022/Mastercard-SpendingPulse-U.S.-Retail-Sales-in-June-Reflect-Rising-Prices-for-Essentials-Continued-Leisure-Spending/default.aspx.
- Damen, Alexis. “A Retailer's Guide to Sustainability: How To Make Your Store More Sustainable.” A Retailer's Guide to Sustainability: How to Make Your Store More Sustainable, Shopify, 16 Feb. 2022, https://www.shopify.com/retail/sustainability-retail.