What are the key Ecommerce Trends for 2022?

In e-commerce, we can clearly identify a number of trends ready to either increase their foothold or make their first mark. Either way, it is clear that the digital transformation will not be slowing down for anyone, so it is important to stay on top of all the latest developments. There is great value in riding these waves of innovation after all.

No signs of slowing down

To be able to compete, companies will have to continuously expand their offerings across borders, shift towards sustainable products, and rely on effective content marketing. It should come as no surprise that we see the growth of online sales continue to outpace the growth of physical stores, with the latter shifting their focus more towards providing unique experiences. This continued growth of online sales further increases the influence mobile has on ecommerce, with more and more purchases made through various mobile devices. Not that this insight needed to be reinforced, as most large businesses have already adopted this mindset, but trend this firmly underlines the value of a mobile-first approach.

The importance of agilty and composability

Over the past years, in particular due to the effect COVID-19 has had on the way we do business, agility and adaptability have become key deciding factors for your ecommerce success. A trend that, in our opinion, will only continue to pick up speed regardless of the effects the pandemic will have in the years to come. Other factors that greatly impact ecommerce all benefit greatly from a focus on agility. This includes existing and new factors alike, such as availability of resources, data, sustainability, rules, and privacy.

Additionally, due to the time-to-market constraint, composability should also be a pillar of any ecommerce strategy. As you continue to expand on your services and add features, the last thing you want to worry about is whether or not all your solutions play nice together.

Ensuring your business stands out from the crowd

To truly differentiate your business and ensure your visibility, you continuously need to adapt and evolve on the dynamic axis of technology, business, and customer experience. A challenging task that’s nonetheless worthy of your focus and attention. In regards to the technology aspect of this trio, it’s imperative to implement an evolutionary architecture instead, as the need to re-platform every couple of years can completely cripple your growth. Building on a technological foundation that is adaptive and future-proof guarantees your flexibility, and allows you to adapt to any and all emerging trends. As an added bonus, streamlining your technological foundation also facilitates improvement of your time-to-market.

On a human and business level, it’s imperative to ensure that doing business with you is a fast and smooth process for your customers, even when you are selling them complex products or services. This also demands that you actively reassess your assortment and offering, updating it where needed and relevant. An essential ingredient in regards to your success in this department is making sure you never lose focus of the quality of your customer experience. This means continued measuring and acting towards your KPI’s on customer satisfaction and usability. It basically comes down to defining and setting clear goals for your customer experience, and actively adjusting course to ensure they remain dead centre of your sights.

To ensure your business stands out in a highly competitive ecommerce market it is important to gain knowledge from the perspective of different digital experts. A great resource to start from is the Expert Voices paper powered by Spryker Systems, which includes the opinion of 10 digital experts on the key ecommerce trends for 2022 and beyond.

Download "Expert Voices" whitepaper here

To summarize...

Needless to say, in addition to the trends we explored in this article, there are other e-commerce trends we need to be aware. We added them to the overarching trends we just covered and summarized them all in the following list: 

• Companies expanding their offerings across borders.
• Faster growth online compared to physical stores, with the latter increasing their focus on providing unique experiences.
• A continued increase in B2B purchasing online.
• Ecommerce automation.
• Smarter fulfilment processes to guarantee fast shipping.
• More focus on sustainable products.
• Mobile influence on ecommerce; more and more purchases made through mobile.
• Influence of social channels & video’s.
• More effective content marketing.
• Virtual assistants.

If you are keen to keep your finger on the pulse when it comes to current ecommerce trends and learn more about how they can benefit your business, including whatever new undiscovered trends are lurking around the corner, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

With 25+ year experience in ecommerce, and many satisfied B2B and B2C customers before you, we can guide you in making the best decisions for your organization. Whether you want to optimize an existing ecommerce platform, or are looking for brand new solutions, we can support you on this journey and ensure you are ready for the future.