Ecommerce Trends You Need to Know for 2022

One of the coolest things about writing a blog is discovering who your audience is. Sometimes an audience forms that was never anticipated, but is definitely a welcome addition to the party. Upon finding out that eCommerce is a hot topic with readers of the Kynship blog we decided to stop being coy and give our readers what they want! This blog was crafted with some help from our friends who specialize in eCommerce. We are pretty excited to bring you this collaborative effort created by friends and colleagues from as far away as Seoul, Korea. Here's what you need to know about Ecommerce trends for 2022.

As per a recent report released based on the analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic, online shopping has grown by $183 billion. This figure spans from the beginning of March 2020 to February 2021. During this span, U.S consumers alone spent a staggering amount of $844 billion online. Adobe, in its report, mentioned that a large part of this money was spent online in November and December 2020 when the holiday season saw an expenditure of $188.2 billion. But, while this hindsight is a sure-shot motivation for eCommerce business ventures, it is the rise of eCommerce trends in 2022 that we are quite excited about! The experts are anticipating the eCommerce industry sales to reach its first $1 trillion in 2022. So, while this revenue is surely reflecting a very bright potential; we are more excited about the trends that will help shape this up. We help set up many different eCommerce business ventures and the following trends are surely going to be making to our game plan in our upcoming strategies:

eCommerce Trends in 2022

• Special strategies targeting first time buyers: Customer is the King
• Customized packaging would definitely pick up
• Omnichannel strategy is going to become prominent- even more than before
• Voice shopping would also gain popularity
• Headless eCommerce will continue to grow
• Green consumerism is another welcome change
• Drone delivery is the more prompt and environmental solution we are looking at!
• Insta marketing should feature on your strategy for sure

Special strategies targeting first-time buyers

As per a source, nearly 75% of consumers grow weary of the same shopping experience. Plenty of eCommerce brands struggle trying to gain customer loyalty from first-time buyers. A lot of marketing and sales strategies in 2022 would target this consumer base. At this moment, any eCommerce business can leverage the buyer response to the pandemic as more and more people are moving towards eCommerce.

Basically, a lot of your database would start observing customers you were able to attract in the first go, but they did not stick around for another buy. This has also got to do with competitors vying for your customer’s attention. So, most eCommerce business ventures would rethink their messaging to make it more relevant and build these sustainable relationships with the consumers. Additionally, recognize the unique customer touchpoints of your brand. It will help you analyze where you are getting engagement on your brand and enhance them more to engage your first-time consumers.

Customized packaging and shopping experience would become more frequent

This particular trend has been in the works since 2022, but with more and more people getting specific in their demands, brands would have to up their online personalization game. Any eCommerce business, both B2B and B2C are handling buyers who are looking for customized shopping experiences. To get a better perspective, think about what you would prefer as a gift. A classic black wallet, or a hologrammed tan wallet which is made to match your sensibilities.

While the above example caters to your customer’s preferences, near to home- we found a study that shows that on-site or marketing efforts can have an impactful effect on your revenue, increasing it by 25%. Retailers with personalization potential can take advantage of this opportunity and introduce interesting experiences for their user base to stick around. Additionally, sellers can leverage big data to make the experiences they offer more personalized.

A lot of customer targeting in the eCommerce business currently is based on tried and tested methods, personalization experiences based on particular preferences of frequent buyers would be a trend that we will see innovative eCommerce brands adopt in 2022.

The omnichannel strategy would become a priority

Omnichannel selling is all the rage currently and would truly see quite a growth in 2022. If you are still wondering, whether you should diversify from your current strategy- then here are some statistics that can help you reevaluate your approach.46.7% of all online searches are sourced from Amazon, eBay, and Etsy. 51% of units sold on Amazon derive from third-party sellers. On the other hand, Amazon has increased a share of 37% on its online spending. Similarly, 37% of users have indicated the usage of social media to research products as well as brands. Source for statistics

We feel expanding your horizon when it comes to different channels is an option you can consider. The reason why we are promoting multi-channel selling is that first, consumers are purchasing from different online sellers which include branded stores, Amazon, eBay, and your social media marketplaces. This eCommerce trend would be inevitable in 2022 as eCommerce companies would keep growing and would have to get their customers from different sources as one channel would just not suffice.

Voice shopping would surely see a surge in popularity

Voice Shopping is a synonym for convenience for customers who are always on the run. The number of voice shoppers is expected to increase by 55% in 2022 and this is surely a trend to get on board with! The growth of voice shopping stemmed out of Amazon’s Echo and has revolutionized the tech world since. However, voice shopping comes with a challenge because it does not involve visuals in most cases. So, customers stick to more mainstream products like food items, low-cost electronics, and homeware which do not require much visual research.

In fact, more and more voice assistants are gaining traction in the market. With ‘Okay Google’, ‘Apple’s Siri’ and ‘Amazon’s Alexa’ becoming a rage- people are using voice assistants for pretty much everything. As times progress, more users are going to buy into this technology. They are also slowly getting accustomed to purchasing products through these technologies. It is almost every multi-tasker’s dream come true and the effortless shopping experience is surely going to be a big boost for this technology.

The eCommerce industry in 2022 is surely going to see quite a rise in voice shopping. Online sellers are encouraged to consider this particular trend to seek to offer customers comfort. If you haven’t tried it yet, 2022 may just be the perfect year for you to hop on the bandwagon.

Headless commerce will continue to grow

When it comes to eCommerce business 2022 and the trends that will continue to dominate it, headless commerce is definitely a solution that will allow your eCommerce platform to be different from the layer presenting the front end. A lot of our customers prefer BigCommerce because of its headless nature and the flexibility it offers. Plus, when you add content marketing and SEO to this whole package, this particular trend would prove to be a winner for you.
As per a popular eCommerce architect, headless allows a lot more control over the content and in ensuring a smooth customer journey until the checkout process. In fact, you should check out headless integrations to take complete benefit of this particular trend.

Why we highly recommend opting for this eCommerce trend in 2022 is because-as a store owner, we are sure you wish to be in complete control of your frontend design as well as the layout of the website. However, eCommerce platforms are available in the market with a premade design where themes can be changed and all layouts can be structured as per the eCommerce platform architecture. So, you get the best of both- technology, design, creative control, and customer retention.

Green consumerism will become more important than ever

Both consumers and business ventures are understanding the importance of a sustainable environment. As consumers get more conscious, green consumerism is definitely a trend that eCommerce brands need to take into consideration (we also support it for ethical reasons, but talking from a pure consumer perspective, it is something you should put your eye on)

As per a survey, 50% of respondents preferred more sustainability in the fashion industry and 75% wanted to do away with extra packaging. A lot of business ventures are looking at ways to get more environmentally conscious and go eco-friendly by embracing practices like biodegradable packaging and going paperless as well as using recyclable supplies. So, green consumerism is on the rise and brands need to get their business strategy in accordance with this approach. Nearly four out of ten consumers say that they wouldn’t want to buy from brands that do not reflect healthy environmental records. So, that’s your answer- this is a trend that you would surely want to consider adopting in 2022.

2022 is going to be the “year of the drone”

Drone delivery is still in its inception stage, but experts are eyeing its viability. It would prove to be a game-changer, especially when it comes to local and small deliveries. In times like these, where social distancing has become a way of life, this delivery method is one of the best solutions to ace contactless delivery. One of the top eCommerce trends in 2022 that we can expect eCommerce merchants to adopt is getting on partners that facilitate drone delivery.

The best part about this trend is that a lot of industry giants are using it in some capacity on a global level. So, for instance- Amazon, FedEx, Alibaba are just some of the brands that have hopped on to the bandwagon or should we say- have taken the flight on their innovative delivery methods. Additionally, with big names opting for this method, we can aim at faster developments in drone technology. This can help in drone delivery becoming a lot more employable, secure as well as feasible.

Some other benefits associated with drone delivery include promptness in deliveries. With drones, you can deliver a product in a couple of minutes or hours depending on the destination and origin. Drones can also be used to reach more inaccessible locations which do not have roads and other conventional modes of transport. They are high on the mobility factor and can go anywhere- across parks, mountains as far as the right coordinates are provided.

Drones are also more cost-effective- they can curtail costs of delivery vehicles and labor costs too. Also, just imagine the wonders it can do to real-time tracking- for both customers and merchants. Drones can deliver medical supplies as well as perishable goods promptly. From a more environmental perspective, drones tend to leave a much tinier carbon footprint as opposed to trucks and delivery vehicles, so perhaps drone technology is holistically one of the top eCommerce trends in 2022 that we hope picks up!

Instant marketing towards Insta marketing!

Instagram ventured into becoming a digital shopping base for brands, businesses, and creators in the year 2020. Instagram shops caught all the attention- especially with tech-savvy generations and COVID-19 gave online shopping the boost it needed. This particular portal made a really convenient way to discover shoppable products which gave users the ability to browse through shops and editor’s picks- as well as a lot of other attractive features.

Instagram has become the ultimate eCommerce-friendly platform with stories and stickers, creators shopping, live shopping, convenient checkout options, and shoppable posts. Basically, if you are looking at one of the eCommerce trends in 2022 that definitely should feature on your list, then there is no match to this one. They started out with wanting to make shopping more accessible and selling easier to creators on a global level. Another reason why Instagram is all set to become the ultimate hub for eCommerce is because of influencer marketing as well. In the year 2022, we are potentially looking at a $15 billion dollar industry which means that influencers are here to stay and slay. Also, Instagram’s new features- especially the ones that are creator specific; both marketing and selling are going to dominate how eCommerce trends in 2022 will work. We can also count on an increase on spend on screen time due to the pandemic being one of the primary reasons why Insta marketing has become all the rage it was always expected to! With OOH spends becoming lesser, more and more brands are going for social shopping as the next tool in their armory to gain the right target audience for their services and products.

The eCommerce trends to watch out for in 2022 are reflecting quite a bright future for the industry. These numbers are a clear indicator that there is a great potential to grow for the industry in the upcoming year. Online selling has changed the face of eCommerce websites.

As we stated earlier, influencer marketing is a critical piece to the Ecom sphere. If you are ready to open up a conversation, we're here to help. The time to take action is now, not at the end of Q4. See why Kynship isn’t just our name, it’s our philosophy!