5 key marketing trends of 2018 in the e-commerce industry

The e-commerce market is developing rapidly: the main asset of retailers and brands is information about customers and their activities online and offline. These data help to better understand the motivation of modern Omni channel customers and to interact more successfully with them.

So, what 5 marketing trends in the e-commerce industry in 2018 will be, in our opinion, key, and will largely determine the mechanics of online retail?

1. Voice Shopping:

Contextual audio ads will be able to offer personalized content and make recommendations. People will buy more actively through smart speakers (for example, Google Home or Amazon Echo) - and in the next two years these technologies will be very popular. Also, smart speakers will be able to advise relevant services and products, thanks to the abundance of information about customers and their preferences.

2. Social Commerce:

If you look closely at the content of posts on Facebook, it becomes clear that social networks are gradually becoming a platform for online e-commerce marketing services.

After analyzing this trend, Facebook introduced the Facebook Marketplace - a platform for ads from individuals, created within the social network. Amazon doesn’t stand still, launching Amazon Spark: like Instagram or Pintrest, Spark demonstrates product images and allows you to place an order instantly. 

The hitch is that social networks protect personal data, so retailers and brands need to find other ways to build relationships with customers and get information about their preferences.

3. Integration of offline and online sales:

A vivid example is Amazon, which in August concluded a deal to acquire the Whole Foods supermarket chain. Thus, Amazon will get access to offline buyers and in the future the retailer will be able to better understand buying habits and increase the amount of the average check.

Other retailers will also look for opportunities to cooperate with offline sites to gain access to their internal CRM databases, in order to later offer more relevant and personalized online advertising campaigns. 

In addition, large retailers will continue to invent more convenient ways of self-delivery of online orders - for example, from the parking of shopping centers or from lockers for storage. In general, the focus will be on attracting offline shoppers to the online space.

4. Exchange of information:

Such technology giants as Facebook and Amazon, anxiously preserve the user data of their customers, refusing information partnership with other market players. It is not surprising that with such volume of loyal audience they do not see the point in information exchange. 

However, smaller players in the global market, on the contrary. Strive for mutually beneficial partnership. To regain a competitive advantage, retailers and brands will continue to share information about their customers with each other. 

72% of marketing managers believe that an information partnership will increase revenue, profits (65%) and customer satisfaction (56%).

5. Upgraded product presentation:

Advertising departments will look for new ways to present the product, including using the description of the product and its image. Contextual product photos, high-resolution close-ups, 360-degree images and other tools will become necessary in order to provide the online user with the best customer experience.