Despite rumors that the retail industry will be destroyed by online shopping, it is still a huge market and only growing. Global revenue from electronic shopping and mail-order houses were $1.477 trillion in 2014, an increase of 3% compared with 2013 ($1.450 trillion), according to statistics released by eMarketer.
In 2015, Shopify reported that businesses on their platform had grown 438% over the previous year. All signs point toward steady growth for eCommerce sales from here on out. However, there are some trends emerging within the eCommerce world – these are things you should keep an eye on as a retailer in order to not get left behind when they do become popular:
Mobile usage continues to climb
The use of mobile devices to shop online has been on a steady rise and will continue no matter what. In 2014, marketers reported that $304 billion was spent via smartphone apps in the US alone. That number is only expected to grow in the coming years. As such, it is very important for your website to be responsive so that it can be easily viewed on any device.
The use of color continues to grow.
As we head into 2022, more and more people are not only making purchases online but also directly from their phones or tablets while they’re out and about in stores – this means that the window display you have at the mall might just become irrelevant in an instant if somebody decides to make a purchase right there and then. That’s the beauty of shopping online – you can take your time and view things that may not even be available in the store!
The use of color will become more prominent as we move forward, and other elements such as fonts and spacing will also begin to change. It’s important to keep up with these trends if you wish to keep up with the times.
Product descriptions become more detailed
In order for customers to have a better understanding of what they’re buying, product descriptions are expected to get longer. In fact, eMarketer claims that 84% of participants preferred long-form copy over short or no copy at all when making an informed purchasing decision – this is especially important when it comes to products that may be a little bit more complicated or costly, such as cars and real estate.
Progressive web apps become the norm; we’ll see fewer of hybrid apps
While native applications (apps specifically tailored for certain devices) will still remain at the top, progressive web apps (applications that use the browser to function, much like websites) have been rising in popularity. In fact, Shopify reported that 56% of their merchants were interested in creating PWAs because they are designed with mobile devices in mind – instead of requiring users to download an app from an online store, PWAs can be accessed via a bookmark icon which is either accessible through the phone’s home screen or simply by clicking a link.
According to Adweek, we can expect to see fewer native applications and more PWAs in the coming years as users begin gravitating towards them more and more. This applies not only to e-commerce sites but also to social media services like Facebook and Twitter: since PWAs are designed with mobile devices in mind, it won’t be long until they become our main source of web usage rather than PC’s or laptops; keeping this factor in mind is crucial if you want your business to succeed moving forward.
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