What’s New for Online Stores in 2018?
n 2017, online retail around the world grew to some two trillion dollars. In Australia alone, online shopping is one of the fastest growing business sectors. More and more companies now have online outlets for shopper convenience.
As the competition stiffens for web-based retail, so does the demand for top-notch websites. Here is a list of new trends that are overtaking the digital marketplaces that you can use to improve your web store:
Animated Products
We are not talking about Pixar-style animations here. The animation in web design refers to motion. If you have visited a website where you could turn a product 360 degrees to see it in every angle, then that is animation in online retail. Retail websites like Amazon use photographs taken in different angles to showcase a product from all sites.
Even Amazon allows some motion in the product description, such as the zoom feature. The reason motion exists is because it attracts potential customers. Customers are more likely to buy a product if they can examine it from every angle, as in a real store.
Therefore, you can consider including animation on your website. However, be careful that a complicated website might take forever to load. But animation is something to keep in mind when improving your store in the future.
Video
The video is rising as the foremost form of content in recent times. There are several ways online stores can use video to improve customer experience. For starters, videos are great for showing customers products in context. Videos can be used to deliver important information and show customers what a product looks like in real action.
A video is also a popular form of user-generated content. Customers can make video reviews of products and disseminate on social media to improve brand awareness.
It’s important that your website prepare itself for delivering video content right away. You can improve the site design and code for this purpose by hiring reputable and experienced Magento ecommerce developers locally.
Social Shopping
Most digital marketers are expecting “social shopping” to explode to volcanic levels this year. So what exactly is it? Social shopping refers to using image-based social media platforms like Instagram and Interest to attract customers.
It’s slightly different from the typical digital marketing strategy. Social shopping allows customers to purchase directly from a social media site. Right now, this is done through linking. But most marketers believe direct shopping to be a possibility for platforms like Instagram in the near future.
E-retailers should pay attention and get their sites updated to facilitate such a feature right away if it becomes available.
Virtual Shopping Carts?
Virtual reality and augmented reality, AR, and VR is increasingly visible in the digital marketing landscape. So it’s not a stretch to say that AR and VR will have a major impact on online shopping experienced in the near future.
Shopping carts may have VR capabilities to drive conversions. Some retailers in the U.S. are already experimenting with various AR and VR marketing strategies that closely intertwine with the shopping experience.
So, is your online retail business ready to embrace any of the trends listed above?