Trends in e-commerce in 2015

E-commerce is growing rapidly and also changing shape year by year. M-commerce, omni-channel and personalization promises to be the trends with the strongest impact on the online retail industry in 2015, according to some experts.

“2015 will be the year when most online retailers also offer the customers a mobile site”, said Jörgen Bödmar founder, owner and CEO of Scandinavian Design Center, a company that operates several online design stores across Europe. “The reason is that more and more consumers ‘go mobile’ – shopping here and now. It is instant shopping in the moment. And it is not social media that drives m-commerce but rather the m-retailers’ own marketing.”

Mr. Bödmar, who is President of EMOTA, the European trade association for e-retailers, also believes that big data and a more globalized consumer are trends that we will see in 2015:

“E-retailers will intensify their efforts to analyze the customers and their behavior in order to understand their intentions. The objective is to provide relevant offers at the right moment to simply become better e-traders.”

“Next year, local consumers all over the world will discover global, or foreign, web sites in a major way, and spend a larger portion of their online budgets on non-local e-retailers. This will pose serious challenges to local merchants but will also create new opportunities for them to sell abroad.”

Omni-channel is a growing trend that will become more pronounced next year.

“An increasing number of e-retailers are beginning to see the benefits of physical stores,” said Karl Prytz, CEO of Animail, the leading online pet store in the Nordic region. “With an increased presence of companies operating in both channels, the shopping experience will be better aligned to the customers’ specific needs. Physical and digital channels will be woven together so that the customer does not have to distinguish between channels.”

Mr. Prytz also predicts an stronger focus on personal content:

“It is becoming increasingly important for online retailers to customize their sites for the individual visitor, instead of offering a single solution for all customers. There are many tools that use the customers’ historical shopping patterns in order to better adapt the product range presented. We will see more solutions where the customers are involved in adapting the site according to their own needs.”

“I also foresee many more attempts to recreate the experience of a physical store. In order to facilitate the customer’s decision, it will become important to guide the consumer through a visit to an online shop in the same way as is done in a physical store. The knowledge and services that are currently available in physical stores need to be re-created by e-commerce companies. This means a greater focus on knowledge about the products on offer. We will see more interactive solutions where consumers can ask questions directly to store staff – even online”, concludes Karl Prytz.

Torkel Hallander, CEO and co-owner of the fast-growing European online retailer BytHjul.com, the largest tire and rim online shop in the Nordic region, also believes that more e-retailers will offer omni-channels:

” The e-commerce boom is limited by the fact that consumers are interested in physical contact with the products on offer. E-commerce winners will be those retailers who deliver a compelling shopping experience in all channels – and particularly for products with ‘physical connection’.”

“Personalization will be another strong trend in 2015”, says Mr. Hallander. ”Web sites, web shops, e-mailings and other forms of digital marketing are becoming more targeted. The presentation and the offering will become more designed for individual customer preferences, behaviors and purchasing power – all in order to maximize sales, profit margins and customer satisfaction.”

“And finally, I am convinced that the price race is becoming saturated. For commodities with easy distribution, which can be easily compared with each other and without the need for physical connection, the transparency will create a “winner takes it all’ situation.”

Indeed a very intersting year to look forward to for everyone in the e-commerce industry.