Looking Ahead: The Future of eCommerce

“The online shopping paradigm is finally changing. Indeed, I think we’ve seen more innovation in the last 10 months than in the last 10 years. We’ve seen an explosion of interesting technologies and opportunities that seek to change online shopping.” – Josh Kopelman

A Growing Industry
The world of eCommerce is expanding rapidly – faster than experts had predicted before the pandemic. Insider Intelligence states that the US eCommerce sales will exceed $1T for the first time ever in 2022. Previously, this goal was set to be hit in 2024. With the massive shift in buyer behavior moving online within the last two years, the eCommerce world is any merchant’s oyster.

While having your classic brick-and-mortar store is a great start, it limits you to:

• Consumers within a specific geographic area.
• Restricted shopping hours.
• High costs with rent and physical employees.

By having an online presence in addition or instead, your shop will be open 24/7 and is able to be accessed by an unlimited amount of people. Not to mention, the cost of maintaining a website is significantly less than maintaining a building or rental space. In most cases, it just takes a small team to develop and keep your website up to date.

Even when consumers choose to shop in a brick-and-mortar store, 74% of shoppers are still researching reviews and searching online beforehand for specific product information, such as stores near them with the item in stock. 93% of consumers say that online reviews make an impact on purchasing decisions.

• Who is making the bulk of online purchases? Everyone, especially millennials. In 2020, consumers aged 25 – 34 made up 20.2% of online consumers, with 35 – 44-year-old consumers closely behind, making up 17.22%.
• How often are they shopping? A Statista study of over 33,500 individuals concluded that 75% of online consumers shop at least once a month.

eCommerce Innovations
These consumers are tech-savvy and are always looking for the latest and greatest experiences. Innovations within the eCommerce world are key to the growing industry and are taking place every minute.

Augmented Reality (“AR”) in eCommerce has emerged within the last few years, and consumers are taking a liking to it. AR enhances user experience (“UX”) and helps customers in the decision-making process by showing them what the product looks like in their own home or on their own person. According to a survey conducted by Google in 2019, 66% of people are interested in AR while online shopping. 

Another innovation that has been taking the eComm world by storm, and improving each day, is Artificial Intelligence (“AI”). With AI learning consumer behavior, it’s personalizing the shopping experience, making purchases much more likely. A study done by BCG states that when the shopping experience was highly personalized, customers indicated that they were 110% more likely to add additional items to their baskets and 40% more likely to spend more than they had planned.

With the ease of various selling platforms available such as Magento, Shopify, and BigCommerce, which SkuNexus already integrates with, and more, new eCommerce businesses are popping up each day. As of April 2022, Web.com now offers an eCommerce website builder within its platform, with the ability to link to social media marketplaces. 

Whichever platform you choose, it’s imperative to have a mobile-first mindset with your website. In 2021, 72.9% of eCommerce purchases were made via mobile devices. With the addition of quick buy buttons on social media platforms, purchasing items right from the palm of your hand has made it that much more convenient.

A Good-Looking Store is Only the Beginning
No matter which direction you head in with your eCommerce business, your website and products are just the beginning of your business operations. More to plan for, which SkuNexus easily assists with, are:

• Making sure your inventory levels are up to date.
• Reordering stock from your vendors and effectively demand planning.
• Creating an efficient warehousing and eCommerce fulfillment strategy.
• Choosing timely and cost-effective shipping methods.

These components are all equally important. Time after time merchants bite off more than they can chew with multiple software platforms to manage the different facets of backend operations. But, it doesn’t need to be that daunting.

Let SkuNexus Help
With the ever-growing and ever-changing world of eCommerce, juggling multiple software systems for your backend operations can be more trouble than it's worth. Having an all-in-one inventory, order, shipping, and warehouse management solution can save you valuable time, money, and sanity.

SkuNexus offers:

• Easy integration with your eCommerce platforms including Shopify, BigCommerce, and Magento, within minutes.
• Automated order management across all channels with one simple dashboard to manage them all.
• Real-time inventory updates, plus easy barcode creation and scanning that eliminate room for error.
• Automatic vendor POs for dropshipped items and robust vendor management for stock reorders to avoid stockouts.
• Custom workflows to automate eCommerce fulfillment processes.
• Warehouse efficiency maximization with item location insights for smart fulfillment decisions.
• Integration with 150+ shipping carriers to get your product to your customers on time and save you money.

With all of these features and a support team that’s always happy to help, let SkuNexus be your solution. Plus, SkuNexus’ multi-tiered platform allows your business the flexibility to grow without worrying if your software can keep up. Whether you’re looking for a SaaS solution or access to the software’s open-source code, book a demo with the team to learn more about how we can help you.