The ecommerce business has had another year of exciting development and expansion. We’ve
witnessed mergers, technological advancements, adaptations in the wake of the Covid-19
outbreak, and new consumer-driven trends.
Shopping online is now easier than ever with just a few taps on your smartphone. Online
buying was already on the increase and the epidemic has only accelerated the rise of
ecommerce, which is expected to reach $5.02 billion in revenue by 2022.
Consumers desire choice and convenience, even if physical stores aren’t going away. Because
consumer behavior is continuously changing, it’s critical for businesses to keep up with the
latest ecomm trends. Product introductions are no longer limited to the physical realm; the
digital realm is just as crucial, if not more so.
With so much going on, it’s tough to anticipate what the future holds for this industry, but
Sales Snap has compiled a list of the top ecomm trends for 2022 and how your company
should prepare for them.
Social commerce
Social commerce is a relatively new trend in online buying that has the potential to be a
goldmine for ecommerce companies all over the world. It’s a subset of ecommerce that covers
every step of buying a product using a social media platform as a middleman. Consumer
spending on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and WeChat has become the retail
industry’s fastest-growing segment.
WPP and Snap Inc. launched a new worldwide ecommerce relationship using Augmented
Reality on the Snapchat platform in October 2021. According to a survey commissioned by
Snapchat, 94 percent of those polled said they plan to use augmented reality for purchasing at
the same or higher levels in 2022 than they did this year. According to David Roter, Snap’s
vice president of global agency partnerships, more than 200 million Snapchat users use AR
features on a regular basis.
Over the coming year, we expect to see businesses around the world adopting Social
Commerce, particularly in Europe. New trends and technologies will shape how this sales
platform develops, and in 2022, we plan to provide more research and material.
Ecommerce and in-store experience merge together
While personalization will tailor the product discovery journey, in-store and online
experiences will merge. It’s vital to know that ecommerce will be the engine that propels this
merger in the following year in order to grasp the shape that this trend will take.
While buyers are returning to physical stores, internet purchasing is not slowing down – in
fact, it is increasing. More individuals began their shopping process online in 2021, searching
for the products they desire at the cheapest price and completing the transaction in-store.
Because online purchasing has become established and routine, it will continue to thrive even
after the pandemic has passed.
In 2022, brands will have to figure out how to adjust the mixed online/in-store buying
experience to keep up with ecomm’s growth over the previous two years. This will be
especially essential in retail areas where customers still prefer an offline component to the
experience, such as fashion or beauty, but we don’t expect online performance to suffer as a
result of the reopening of stores.
Next level AI optimization
In 2022, AI-powered personalization will improve to provide more highly personalized
experiences. This includes machine learning models that take into account all client
behaviors, as well as a variety of data sources that may be used to gain a deeper
understanding of customers at scale.
One-size-fits-all AI models are a thing of the past, while algorithms that adapt to the needs of
specific clients without the need to ‘test and learn’ every time represent the future. New AI
models, for example, can be used to power product carousels based on your location, activity,
or even the weather. This will provide a more personalized and genuine experience for the
consumer propelling revenue.
