Social media integration, improved metrics and mobile commerce are expected to see increased attention this year
Ecommerce exploded onto the business scene, and its growth has not stopped since. A recent study from PricewaterhouseCoopers and Karabus Management found that nearly half of Canadian retailers - 44 percent - report that their ecommerce sales are growing faster than their in-store sales.
Yet the platform is still immature, and retailers have a lot to learn about how their ecommerce services can optimise their total sales.
With the first month of 2010 already under retailers' belts, several ecommerce trends for the rest of 2010 have emerged, and retailers are advised to take heed.
1. Integration with social media
Aside from ecommerce, one of the other online channels in contention for most explosive growth is social media, something that many Canadian small business owners have already added to their marketing arsenal.
Because social media is also a relatively new platform, many businesses have so far focused on just creating a positive online presence and generating brand loyalty.
Yet for 2010, that focus is expected to shift, as marketers begin to demand more measurability and demonstrated return on investment.
In particular, experts believe that one key metric will be social media's ability to influence ecommerce conversions.
"One question retailers will grapple with is how much a large fan base translates into sales or brand loyalty," eMarketer reported.
Utalkmarketing.com expressed a similar opinion, advising retailers to track what kinds of campaigns best engage customers and generate ecommerce conversions.
"Robust tracking and analysis of the data these sorts of campaigns provide is more important than ever," the marketing news website reported. "In 2010 it will be vital for online retailers to be able to effectively data mine their sales and marketing campaigns."
2. Improved metrics
This focus on improving metrics will not be limited to social media either - ecommerce services will also be scrutinised.
This is because, as the ecommerce industry continues to grow, it will get increasingly competitive. Consequently, it is imperative that retailers pay attention to their metrics, so they can ensure their website design is the best it can be and that they remain competitive.
For example, Jeff Antisdel - vice president of marketing and business development director for online furniture retailer FurnitureFind.com - told digital marketing news website ClickZ that he spends "about an hour each morning with my daily sales reports. I start with revenue, looking at strengths and weaknesses in daily sales. Then, I work backwards to evaluate the clickstream behavior that relates to those sales: how the customer got to our site, interacted with our site, and ultimately concluded with a purchase."
This information can help retailers create the best - and most profitable - ecommerce experience for their customers.
3. M-commerce
Simultaneous to ecommerce's growth, use of smartphones and other internet-enabled mobile devices has surged. As a result, ecommerce began spilling over into the mobile realm, a trend that is expected to continue in 2010.
"Just as ecommerce sites have contributed to sales in physical stores, we will see more aggressive pushes by mobile applications to drive ecommerce sales," said business process outsourcing firm FFP Global.
In fact, ABI Research projected late last year that mobile commerce sales would reach $750 million by the end of 2009, representing a 117 percent annual growth rate, eMarketer reported. Adding to that forecast, eMarketer predicted that sales would surpass the $1 billion mark in 2010.
Canadian small businesses are advised to jump on the m-commerce bandwagon by creating mobile-friendly versions of their ecommerce website design.
Remember the basics
Yet none of these emerging trends will have any impact if the fundamentals of a company's ecommerce site are not solid, experts say. Companies should make sure that their website is free of glitches and malware, and that the checkout process is as easy and transparent as possible.
