New research from 2Checkout reveals an increased interest among businesses in personalisation and chatbots
2Checkout has been looking into what it thinks will be next year’s eCommerce Trends based on a survey of 1,000 companies across the world.
Customer experience and technology are top concerns for merchants, and many are prioritising international markets for their next expansion, meaning they need to consider how customers in these new markets search for, choose, and pay for their products and services online.
2Checkout’s President and Chief Operating Officer Erich Litch said: “Our latest research reveals digital commerce priorities, challenges, and plans of businesses selling online.”
The business priority in 2019 will be “customer experience” (CX), with 33 percent of eCommerce companies putting this first, behind content marketing at 26 per cent, brand awareness and launching new products and services at 24 percent. Offering a seamless CX enables companies to differentiate from competitors and grow sales in a world where customers are often overwhelmed by highly similar offers and product choices.
Despite fragmented ownership of digital commerce, with only 11 percent of companies having a dedicated eCommerce department, customer experience remains the top priority.
Unsurprisingly, ownership by a dedicated eCommerce team places the highest importance on CX, at 45 percent.
Implementing reviews and recommendation engines has the least priority, which is alarming, given reviews are an influential factor in shoppers’ buying decisions. This discrepancy suggests vendors need to analyse customer behaviour data before making any investments seriously.
Technology and partners are critical enablers for growth in digital commerce, and this is reflected in the survey results. Choosing the right technology is listed as the main challenge by 29 per cent of respondents and finding the right partners is a close second, with 26 per cent of votes.
Digital commerce platforms can make a substantial difference in how online merchants handle payment processing, order management, local and regional customisations, back-office operations, support for marketing campaigns, and partner sales – to name just a few business-critical operations for any online merchant wanting to stay competitive and relevant.
Targeting and personalisation take a top spot in spending plans. In line with current eCommerce trends, 53 percent of surveyed companies are planning to invest in targeting and personalisation in 2019. While many have already adopted video marketing (38 percent), mobile apps and mobile optimisation will also receive help from significant investments.
A third (35 percent) of respondents are planning to employ machine learning algorithms and tools such as upselling or cross-selling to increase customer retention and average order value.
When asked about growth, expanding into new markets worldwide is the foremost priority for 66 percent of respondents, followed by an increase in new buyer demographics (34 percent).
Top targeted regions for expansion in 2019 are North America at 49 percent and the Asia Pacific at 46 percent, with Western Europe holding steady at 44 percent. Expanding into new markets comes with localisation considerations, as shoppers in different locales have widely varying preferences regarding payment methods, currencies, checkout flows, and support.
This explains why 35 percent of study participants are planning to implement local payment methods in their online stores.
More than 46 percent of businesses are contemplating accepting mobile payments (such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, Alipay etc.) in the near to medium future, while almost 32 percent intend to introduce credit and debit card payments in instalments, a popular payment method in specific regions, especially in Latin America.
Customer support is mentioned by 21 percent of respondents as an essential challenge in their new market expansion plans, as merchants need to deal with new channels, support localisation, more extended operating hours, and raised shopper expectations.
More than 48 percent of respondents are planning to implement chatbots and virtual shopping assistants, and a ticketing system for email support. Additionally, 38 percent of businesses are planning to implement multi-language phone support, compared to the 19 percent already offering the service. The low numbers here are a reflection of the high costs incurred by this service, which cannot be easily supported, especially by smaller companies.
