Total e-Commerce sales are expected to reach $1.4 trillion by 2015, according to Invesp in a Retail TouchPoints infographic, with sales in the U.S. growing at 10% a year. This outlook can be good news for the two million retailers selling online in the U.S. today, as reported by the U.S. Commerce Department.
But eTailers face a fundamental challenge: How to make their online stores more distinct. They must “differentiate themselves in order to survive, let alone succeed,” according to a white paper, titled: 2013 eCommerce Forecast: Standing Out in the Crowd, released by MarketLive, a provider of e-Commerce technologies and services.
Merchants can create “uniquely irresistible appeal that will engage shoppers, win sales and earn loyalty for 2013 and beyond,” the report stated. To accomplish this goal, merchants should consider three key business themes for presenting relevant combinations of products, offers and services across channels.
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The three industry-shaping themes detailed in the study include:
1. Multi-Screen Shopping
Several developments have influenced the new standard of multi-screen shopping and buying. This study looks at each: The mobile web is trumping mobile apps, tablets are getting specialized offerings, alternative payments ease checkout, and deep content has transformed “showrooming” into transactions.
2. The End Of Traditional Product Pages
A revolution in content and product presentation is underway Advanced site pages now feature mobile and social networking activities, shoppable images and videos, sophisticated online catalogs and social shopping.
3. Personalization
The rewards for personalizing products, content and service can be significant, according to the whitepaper: More than one in three consumers say they buy more from retailers who personalize the shopping experience. In fact, merchants using personalized email alerts, for example, are boosting conversion rates by three to 10 times compared to non-personalized messaging.
Click here to access a complete copy of the MarketLive white paper.
