eCommerce

Forecasting eCommerce Trends for 2022

Rabab Ahsan

Forecasting eCommerce Trends for 2022

In the past two years, eCommerce has witnessed an unprecedented expansion. As the world accelerates into 2022 this growth is expected to continue and reach a whopping $5.5 trillion peak.(Statista, 2021)

As new variants sweep across countries, brick and mortar sales are still struggling to recover requiring businesses that have avoided going digital so far to reinvent themselves with digital payments as their foundation.

After 18 months of the pandemic, both businesses and consumers are developing a sense for their priorities and issues with conducting business transactions online. Our list below discusses some of the emergent concerns that retailers will have to think about in the coming year.

1. Sustainable Commerce:

A report by Deloitte points out that ethical and sustainability issues are a “key driver for a third of the consumers”. In the UK, 61% of the consumers have reduced their consumption of single use plastics. (Sustainability& Consumer Behaviour 2021, 2021) Similar changes can be observed in the Middle East and surrounding regions as well, the News reports that 72% consumers in the Middle East expect businesses to do more for the environment with over 25% claiming to discontinue buying if a business is unconscious of the environment. (Consumers’ Environmental Consciousness Increasing, 2021)

This data is an important reminder to business owners that sustainability impacts their bottom line. Either organizations lose consumers because they can’t conduct business sustainably or they are impacted by the onset of natural disasters and pandemics. Either way, unsustainable abuse of the environment is warming the planet and the businesses in it will boil if the retail industry doesn’t change. As the climate changes and global temperatures rise, floods and fires will directly impact supply chains.

In this context, must find ways to cut down their carbon emissions and use of plastics. Moreover, businesses must now also be proactive at communicating their actions to the public. Not only does it help with transparency it lets your consumers know that your business is conscious of its impact on the environment.

2. Leverage Social Commerce:

Social media platforms provide businesses an opportunity to talk to their consumers in new and exciting ways. Thoroughly mapping out your social media strategy and harmonizing it with your website’s blog can be an effective way of improving traffic.

It is important to proceed with caution. With great outreach comes great responsibility. The modern online shopper is informed and presently concerned with how their data is being used and where. Moreover, tone deaf social media campaigns can do more harm than good. Hence, business owners must intelligently utilize social media platforms to engage, inform and assist. Effective troubleshooting through customer service offered through social media platforms can be a good way of meeting your consumer where they are.

3. Optimizing Payments:

Research by bSecure shows that cart abandonment reaches an all-time high of 77% in 2021. (Aslam, 2021) Poor checkout experiences cause customers to desert their purchase and look for fulfilment elsewhere.

Businesses often fail to pay their payment procedure adequate attention, leaving it till the end. This often leads to buggy interfaces and limited payment options which frustrate consumers enough to leave at the doorstep. For a deeper understanding of Cart Abandonment read our post on the topic here. An optimized payments flow allows you to onboard more consumers as less people abandon their carts, while also providing you with a shield against fraudulent activities.

4. Understanding the Digital Marketplace:

Digital marketplaces can be an excellent way to reach an expansive and diverse consumer base. To make your products stand out in digital marketplaces, make sure to work on product pictures as well as building a seamless pipeline from the digital marketplace product page to your website.

5. Enhancing Security:

As online transactions increase, instances of fraud are expected to rise too. In 2022, business owners will need to be astute about how to protect their businesses in the online world and embrace a holistic approach towards Security. This means that your online business needs to be secured from the database to the checkout page. While your data is vulnerable to viruses as well as hackers, a poorly designed and secured checkout experience can result in a ton of chargebacks and false transactions.

Thankfully bSecure has you covered. Not only have we specifically designed out checkout experience for optimal performance in the Pakistani market we pride ourselves on ensuring the security of our Builders. Learn more about our features here.

To-Do List:

1)    Optimize your Checkout: Use bSecure’s plug play system to integrate a diverse range of payment options couple with an excellent User Journey.
Advantages: Security, Payments Performance

2)    Build a Social Media Strategy: Make sure your messaging across platforms is consistent. Consider auditing how much traffic each channel is able to attract and prioritize accordingly!

3)    Put Your Products Out There: Digital marketplaces are here to stay. Make sure you are utilizing all effective platforms to position your product. Marketplaces allow your consumers to compare and browse a diverse range. This means if you pay attention to details like product description or a visible delivery and returns policy you can make a huge impact!

4)    Go Green: As the world coughs, sneezes and prays away the pandemic, your business needs to recognize the impact it is causing on its surroundings. This means not only taking stock of small things like use of paper and plastic but also coming up with sustainable business models that are cognizant of human employs or aims to serve.

5)    Remember to Innovate: Payments are changing, and so are consumer demands. Your customers expect you to understand how they would like to pay and make allowances for it. BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later) or payment through instalments is an interesting avenue which is now being explored digitally. QisstPay allows your consumer to make their payments in 4 easy instalments, you can read more about them here. bSecure’s Builders are equipped with BNPL through QisstPay ensuring that  you are never behind on innovation when trusting us with your checkout.

 

 

 

References:

Aslam, M. (2021). bSecure Snapshot 2021- eCommerce Stats and Trends to Watch. bSecure Blog. https://www.bsecure.pk/blog/bsecure-snapshot-2021-ecommerce-stats-and-trends-to-watch

Consumers’ environmental consciousness increasing. (2021). The News,Pakistan.https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/824973-consumers-environmental-consciousness-increasing

Statista. (2021). •Global retail e-commerce market size 2014-2023. Statista.https://www.statista.com/statistics/379046/worldwide-retail-e-commerce-sales/

Sustainability & Consumer Behaviour2021. (2021). Deloitte UK.https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/consumer-business/articles/sustainable-consumer.html

 

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Rabab Ahsan

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