Year after year, the e-commerce industry continues to grow with a number of business organizations moving on to the cyber platform. The production of countless apps has amplified online business world greatly and apart from the tech savvy entrepreneurs it is grabbing the attention of even those who were not technologically inclined previously. The business analysts around the world are persistently up to predicting the latest trends that could make difference to online business industry in the years ahead. The factors that could affect your online business in the running year include developing trends as well as those which may just be set to explode this year. Below are some hotly anticipated predictions for e-commerce marketplace in the year 2015:
2015 is the year for smartphones
Since last couple of year, the e-commerce experts are predicting mobile payments and technology to experience massive growth and changes however every time these predictions have fallen short. In the year 2015, mobile e-commerce has finally started to make these predictions come true. As per forecast from Google as well as report by LiveAdmins® the m-commerce sales are expected to peak at $120 billion worldwide by the end of this year. The smartphones and tablets are taking over the market and omni-channels/multi-channels as well as screen swapping are catchphrases for mobiles in 2015. Apart from the online business industry, the mobiles are also making their mark in physical shop environments. This has resulted in leading e-commerce retailers working closely with responsive websites and ads to ensure perfect access across all mobile platforms. Not only browsing and information grabbing but the rise in mobile POS systems are also set to hit the market in 2015.
It’s time for customer engagement via social media
If your online business is not prominent and active on social media, it is certainly missing a great deal of prospective customers on daily basis. As per advice by e-commerce experts, the social media is going to put a stronger impact on e-commerce sales this year and ahead. Social media is no longer the tool for branding but has already become a source of creating customer engagement and generating sales online. The leading online chat solution providers are even offering integration of live chat software with Facebook to allow companies interact with their customers visiting their business page and chat with them on a real-time basis.
Online customer reviews are going to play vital role
With the growth of e-commerce industry around the world and advent of a countless number of e-commerce business organizations, the online review sites are getting more significance. The customers check for reviews of online companies from online feedback sites like Trustpilot, Bizrate, ePinions, ResellerRatings etc. and after having read the customer reviews, form opinions about them. So it is really important to offer topnotch customer support, products and after sales service to win the trust of online customers and have them write good feedback for you. 62% of the online customers are likely to purchase from a company after reading a positive review on any of the trusted feedback sites.
Customer support would remain the key to business’ reputation
As mentioned above, your business reputation is what’s going to help it sustain in the long haul and to ensure excellent customer support, you need making use of all channels of customer support. In 2015, the customers will be more sensitive when it comes to the quality of an organization’s customer service because of the countless options they have for buying desired products. As for the e-commerce industry, live chat service remains the primary and most preferred channel of customer service followed by email and telephone. If you can afford hiring sufficient customer support staff, it’s well and good otherwise you may hire the services of a live support providing company such as LiveAdmins® to ensure flawless support round the clock for your valued customers.
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