The e-commerce landscape will change dramatically in the year 2019. Want to know the changes? Here are top trends to watch out for in 2019.

2. Top 30 E-commerce Trends to watch out for in
2019 that can boost your Sales
By
Pronkoconsulting
Pronkoconsulting specializes in B2B and B2C markets
including project planning, software development and
post-launch maintenance.

3. Looking out for e-commerce trends is an act you need to imbibe if you want
to increase your sales and stay on top of the competition.Sure you will not
want to be left behind in the e-commerce trends as the 2018 year ends and
2019 commences.
As the year 2019 begins,you need these 30 e-commerce trends and what
you can do to stay on top of the game.
1. The adoptionof Chatbot by e-commercewebsiteswillincrease
2. Visualsearchwillsoar
3. Voice searchis the nextbig thing
4. Better paymentmethods
5. Native Socialmediasellingwillovertakesaleson websites
6. Personalization
7. Augmented reality
8. Mobilewillcontinueto grow
9. Better analytics will evolve
10. User-generated contentwill becomenecessary
11. Fast shippingand better logisticswillbe in high demand
12. Multiple shopping channelsare increasinglyimportantvoice
search e-commerce
13. Better customerexperience with the aid of a Virtual Assistantin
stores onlinewillbe on the increase
14. Researchonlinepurchaseoffline(ROPO)
15. Multi-channelmessaging willbe on the rise
16. Subscription services will be on the increase
17. Video contenton the increase
18. Website performance
19. Automation will rise in e-commerce
20. Contextualand Programmaticadvertising is on the rise
21. Post paymentoptions willincrease
22. Influencermarketingwill increase
23. Manufacturers will engagedirectly with customers
24. Increasingadoptionof digital-firstexpansion strategies
25. Contentmarketing - Brand storytelling will be on the rise
26. On-site and in-app mobile commerce
27. Better physical stores

4. 28. The integrated community of buyers willbe rise
29. Advancedproductfiltering
30. Simplecheckoutpage
1. The adoptionof Chatbot by e-commerce websites willincrease
More and more e-commerce websites are adopting the use of Chatbots to
better serve their customers.Chatbots help to reduce the sales journey of
customers by making it easy for you to sell and for buyers to choose and
order products and services. Customers also love to use it. HubSpot
reported that 48 percent of consumers will preferto use Chatbot when
contacting a company. Chatbot is also predicted to tackle 85% of customer
service interactions by 2020.
Because of this demand, the global Chatbot market size is increasing. It is
projected to hit $1.25 billion by 2025.If there is a time to implement
Chatbot for your business,it is now.
Below is an example of an e-commercestore that implemented a Chatbot
is MangoDB.

5. The company increased new leads by 70% in three months using Chatbot.
Skyrocketingyour sales with AI and Chats: whatyou need to do.
● Investin creatinga Chatbotto help you drive engagements and
better supportyourcustomer.
● Personalize inside the Chatbot
● Recommend products (upsellsand cross-sells)
● Offer a producthelp guide
2. Visual searchwill soar
Visual search is gaining ground in the world of e-commerce.Whenan
internet user search for related terms, it displays screenshots,images,and
photographs as search results online. It is useful for e-commerce niches
that use images such as fashion, electronics,home décor,and real estate.

6. Already, images are returned for 19% of search queries on Google.
According to Gartner, by 2021,early adopter brands that redesigntheir
websites to supportvisual and voice search will increase digital commerce
revenue by 30%.The image recognitionmarket is projected to grow to
$25.65 billion by 2019.
Visual search saves consumers’time, closes sales fasterand it helps
upsell. You can use the visual search on the social media, search engines,
on your e-commercewebsite and in-store with mobile apps.
E-commerce stores such as ASOS,Ted Baker, Blippar, eBay, are already
using visual search. Check out an example below.
Skyrocketing your sales withVisual search:what you need to do.
● Use the visualsearch to upsellyourproducts
● Use it to turn out of stock into opportunity by presenting them with
similaroptions
● Maximize the scan-n-buy impulses
● Allow customers to “shop the look”

7. 3. Voice searchis the next big thing
Voice search is becoming popularonline, and it is time you implementit on
your website because customers are using it. Brightlocal study revealed
that 58% of consumers have used voice search to find local businesses in
the last year. Global web index also revealed that 1 in 5 adults uses mobile
voice search at least once a month. It is also estimated that 50% of all
searches will be accomplishedby voice search in 2020.
Dominos,Walmart and Lyft are already using voice search services for
their customers.
A good example of a brand that uses voice search is the North Face. It is
an outdoorgear and apparel brand uses the voice-enabled searchto
deliver a 35 percentincrease in search conversation rate and 24 percent
increase in revenue.

8. Skyrocketingyour sales with Voice search:whatyou need to do.
● Optimize for localvoicesearch
● Create contentthat answers questions likehow,where,how many,
what, which,and when
● Use commonlanguages and structure thatdepictsthe way people
speak.
4. Better payment methods
Not having enough payment options on your e-commerce websites can
contribute to shopping cart abandonments. Therefore,you need different
payment methods for your customers.Currently,there are differentonline
payment methods such as PayPal and Credit cards. If you use Magento,
payment extensions like Converge Elavon Realex payments, Elavon
payment, Pagseguro,Ingenico e-payment, and ATOS Wordline gives you a
variety of payment solutions to add to your website.
In addition, Cryptocurrency(Bitcoin) will also gain more ground in the
coming year. Digital wallets such as Apply Pay Google Pay and Samsung
pay and Instant Layby such as Afterpay and Zippay are also on the
increase. In fact, Digital wallets such accounts for 3x mobile cart
conversion.
The use of mobile payments is also increasing. According to the
Washington Post, 70% of people believe mobile payments will overtake
cash and cards by the year 2030.
Check out an example from Zelle mobile payment app below.

9. Skyrocketing your sales withPayment options:what you needto do.
● Add more paymentoptionsto your customers in 2019
5. Native Social mediaselling will overtakesales onwebsites
The buying processis changing rapidly and more marketers are searching
for new ways to reach prospectand make sales. One of the trending ways
they use is social selling. More and more people are on the social media all
the time. It is difficultto expectthem to leave the network to visit your
website to buy.
This is where social selling comes in. Instagram and Pinterest now have
shoppable posts.It makes it easier for people to buy on the social media
network as the sales journey is shorter.
This is why 90% of top performing sales people opined that social media is
part of their sales strategy and 64% of sales teams that invest in social
media hit their team quota. Again over 105 social sales reps have closed 5
or more deals due to their activity on social media.
Below is a native social selling ad from Viking River Cruises

10. Skyrocketingyour sales with socialselling: whatyou need to do.
● Search for your ideal prospects on the social media
● Be active on yoursocialmediachannels
● Add buy buttons to yoursocialmediaposts

11. 6. Personalization
Personalization is very important for customers.It is selling products that
are customized for each buyer. Most e-commercewebsites such as
Amazon are already using it to thrill their customers.They use customers’
browser's history to recommend products forthem.
n fact, Amazon.com increases their revenue by 35% due to the product
recommendations engine that personalizes products for customers.
According to Gartner, by 2020 there will be a 15% increase in e-commerce
profits for brands that adopt personalization.
In 2019,personalization of products for customers will increase as brands
use customers' data to create relevant content and products for them.
Skyrocketing your sales withpersonalization:what youneedto do.
● Use differentdata points suchas socialbehavior,location,search
queriesto deliverpersonalizedproductto yourcustomers.
● Use personalizationapps such asBeeketing’spersonalized
recommendationtool
● Offer productrecommendations throughthe Chatbot
7. Augmentedreality
Augmented reality is offering customers new ways of viewing their products
beyond the physical store. It places a computer image on a user’s view in
the real world. It is a great way to improve customers experience when they
are making purchase decisions.
A study revealed that 71% of shoppers said they would shop at a retailer
more oftenif they offered augmented reality.

12. The global market for augmented reality is also on the increase. It was
valued at $3.33 billion in 2015 and it is expected to reach $133.78billion in
2021,growing at a CAGR of about 85.2% between 2016 and 2021.
AR can increase your sales revenue tremendouslyas you show different
features of your productto customers.
A good example of this is from Sephora Virtual Artist.
It shows customers how their make-up will look on them.
AR will be a game changer in 2019 for brands in niches such as Furniture,
clothes, foods,and beverages.Footwears,cosmetics,jewelry, and toys.
Skyrocketing your sales withAugmentedreality:what youneedto do.
● Create more engaging shopping experiences for yourcustomers
● Connectreaders with printed content
8. Mobile will continue togrow
There are more people making purchases on their mobile phones than ever
before.It is reported that smartphones have taken over computers as the
top source of traffic for e-commerce sites.

13. Increase in the use of mobile phones is also likely to increase the usage of
mobile wallets. There will also be an increase in the number of people who
uses mobile digital assistants for shopping.In fact, Gartner predicts that
digital mobile assistants will assistin $2 billion worth of purchases in
2019.
Check out Nordstrom’s mobile site below.
Skyrocketing your sales withmobile:what you needto do.
● Ensure the user experience on your mobile channels are top notch
● Ensure you integrate with mobile wallets
● Improve your SEO as a mobile digital assistant pulls result from
search engines.

14. 9. Better analyticswill evolve
Analytics is one tool that power e-commerce business.There are so many
of them available on the internet. However, the trend is moving towards
analytics that shows real-time activities of your website users.
This helps you to better create strategies that work based on current data.
Predictive and prescriptive analytics will be on the increase in the coming
year. Brands such as Rare.io are already using predictive data to automate
their email marketing to keep existing customers engage with specific
offers and emails meant for them.
A good example of predictive analytics is the new Google Analytics 360

15. Skyrocketing your sales withBetter analytics:what you needtodo.
● If you are still using GoogleAnalyticsfor your business,itis time to
upgrade
● Use predictive and prescriptive analyticsalongwith real-time
analytics for youre-commercebusiness.
● Integrate currenttools such as Google Analytics 360 thatgives you a
more in-depthoverviewof your analytics.
10. User-generatedcontent will become necessary
User-generated content is a great way to engage customers.It helps you to
re-purpose your content easily. You can request customers to submit their
photos with their reviews. User-generated content is good for your store as
new prospects cansee pictures of your product as it is on people who have
bought and used it. It also a good thing for customers to get featured on
your website.
A great example is the Coca-Colabrand, they implemented a User
generated campaign that was a huge success.
They encouraged their consumerto look for bottles with their names on it
and share the pictures of themselves with the personalized Coca-Cola
bottles on the social media channel. The campaign was tagged “share a
coke”

16. Skyrocketing your sales withuser-generatedcontent:what youneed todo.
● Feature customer’s products and poston yourwebsite
● Retweetand share customers’images and posts on yoursocial
media channels,such as Instagram and Facebook
● Host Q & A days on your social media channels.
11. Fast shipping and better logistics will be inhighdemand
In the time past, customers are satisfied with getting their products within 2-
5 days after ordering. But today, things are changing. Nobody wants to wait
for a week to get their products. They want fast and free shipping for
products.According to a survey by Comscore, 58% of shoppers said they
would add items to their cart to qualify for free shipping.
The younger generation is even much more impatient with shopping
according to a reportby Bizrate.
Speed and efficiencyare the master keys to online purchases.In 2019,
same-day delivery will be on the rise. For example, Amazon uses drones
for delivery as seen below.

17. Skyrocketing your sales withfast shipping and better logistics:what youneedto
do.
● Provide fastershippingoptions foryourcustomers
● If you can afford it, make yourshipping free
● Make it easy for customersto return items
12. Multiple shopping channels are increasingly important
Most internet users use over one device to research before making their
purchase decisions.Forexample, they can start their research on a
desktop computerat home and end up buying it on their smartphones or
even on the social media messengerbots.This makes it very important to
optimize your store for differentchannels. Most brands use an average of
nine marketing channels for their business.
Examples of brands already involved multi-channel marketing are Apple,
Uniqlo, and Burberry.
Skyrocketing your sales withmultiple channels:what youneedto do
● Implementmultiple channels for yourmarketing

18. 13. Better customerexperience withthe aidof a Virtual assistant instores
online will be on the increase
Customerexperience is a major contributor to your online and offline sales.
The new move that is rising very fast in the e-commercesectoris the use
of a virtual assistant to enhance customerexperience.In the brick and
mortar store, you have assistants who are ready to show you products
based on your interest.
With e-commerce now,brands are implementing virtual assistants in their
online stores.It assists and makes recommendations of products to
customers by asking them differentquestions.
Find an example below from Concierge.
Skyrocketing your sales withvirtual assistants instores:what youneedto do.
● Provide answers to your customers’popularquestions
● Make it availablefor both desktopand mobile users
● Use the customer’s naturallanguage

19. 14. Researchonline purchase offline (ROPO)
The way people make purchases are changing. Most of them carry out
research on products online before buying from the brick and mortar store
around them. A research report revealed that 72% of consumers who did a
local search visited a store within five miles.
Skyrocketing your sales withMultiple channels:what youneedto do.
● Use click and collect.It is a process where you allow customersto
buy onlineand pick up in stores close them.
15. Multi-channel messaging will be onthe rise
More people are using differentmessaging channels in recent time and you
must reach them on those channels. Unfortunately, mostbrands use only
one messaging channel. A recent research revealed that customers who
receive outreach in two or more channels had levels of engagement166%
higher than the single-channel rate.

20. Multiple channels you could use for your customers includes email, push
notifications, text messages (SMS),in-app messagesand Chatbots.
Multi-channel messaging increases conversions.Use the multi-channel
messaging to stand out from your competitors in 2019.
Skyrocketing your sales withmulti-channels:what youneed todo.
● Personalize users messages based on analyticdata
● Tailoryourmessages for each channel
● Use a uniform voiceand visual onall yourchannels
16. Subscriptionservices will be onthe increase
Many e-commerce businesseshave started adopting the subscription
modelto differentiate their offerings.It is convenient for customers as they
will know when they have to make payments for their product supplies.As
an e-commerce store,you can predict your sales revenue, and scale up as
you get more leads. Amazon made over $1.4 billion in subscription
services.
A good example is Atkins that sells refillable meal kits to customers.

21. Skyrocketing your sales withsubscriptionservices:what youneedto do.
● Give customers a superexperience of yourproductor services
● Offer products thatare popularand in high demand
17. Videocontent on the increase
More and more people are preferring to view content on videos rather than
to read them. Studies showed that the average person spends 45 minutes
every day watching mobile videos online and it is predicted that the internet
will catch up with television in terms of hours watched in 2019.
Videos help you to keep your customers engaged and also make them
more receptive to your message.E-commercebrands that utilize video
content for marketing increase their conversions and reduce product return
rates. This is because it is easier for customers to view what they want to
buy before marketing the purchase decision.
Many companies are showing interest in video marketing. In fact, the
number rose from 63% in 2017 to 81% in 2018.Also, 76% of marketers
reported that video has helped to increase their company sales.
Checkout Zenreach video campaign on Facebookbelow.

22. Skyrocketing your sales withVideocontent:what you needto do.
● Tailoryourvideo content to your audience,so it will resonate and
engage them.
● Utilize livevideosto connectwith your fans in real time

23. 18. Website performance
Website performance is important to enhance customers’experience on
your website.According to research, customers who are not satisfied with
your website performance may not buy from you again. The website speed
is very important to customers. A 1-second delay in page loading could
lead to a 7% reduction in conversionrate. Therefore,you need to increase
your website performance in 2019 to enhance your site SEO and your
customerexperience.
Skyrocketing your sales withwebsiteperformance:what youneedto do.
● Increase the speed of yourwebsite
● Ensure yourwebsiteworks well on differentbrowserand devices.
19. Automationwill rise ine-commerce
Automation is the use of technologythat makes it easy to streamline
processessuch as marketing, sales, production, and delivery. Automation
is key to e-commerce websites as there are lots of processes involved.
Using automation will improve customerexperiences,reduce staffing cost
and produce higher conversion rate.

24. 91% of successfulmarketers agree that automation is vital to the overall
success ofmarketing across all channels and by 2019 the global marketing
automation market will reach $5.5 billion.
A good example of an e-commerce brand that uses automation marketing
for a repeat campaign is Pinkberry.
Skyrocketing your sales withautomation:what you needtodo.
● Use personalizedemails forcustomers
● Show new products accordingto each visitor’s history

25. ● Retargetcustomers with related products
20. Contextual and Programmatic advertising is onthe rise
Programmatic ads use datasets to choose your target audience. The ads
are them shown to the audience according to how they consume content.
You can retarget them after a while, to increase conversion.It helps you to
reach more audience.
A good example is Facebookpixel. It allows you to choose your audience
and show them targeted ads. If your e-commercewebsite platform is
Magento, you can add a Facebookpixel extension to your e-commerce
store.
Below is an example of a programmatic ad from Lacoste.

26. Skyrocketing your sales withContextual andProgrammatic:what you needto
do.
● Search for more effective channels for yourcampaign
● Use your customerdata to create personalizedmessages for your
audience
● Alwaystest yourcampaigns
21. Post payment options will increase
Cart abandonment is one of the major menace facing e-commerce
businesses.
In a study carried out by Barilliance, it was discoveredthat the average cart
abandonment rate for 2016 was 77.24%.The number increased to 78.65%
in 2017.

27. Some of the reasons for cart abandonment is trust issues, lack of
confidence inpayment processors and productquality. One way you can
minimize cart abandonment on your website is to adopt postpayment
options. This is where you allow customers to take delivery of their
products before they make payment. It will help to reduce the loss of
revenue in cart abandonment.
Skyrocketing your sales withPost payment options:what you need todo.
● Use bespokedesignon your checkoutpage
● Make it easy for users to fix corrections
22. Influencer marketing will increase
Influencermarketing is on the rise and it will continue to increase even
more in 2019.The truth is, people are influenced by influencer’s
recommendations.A survey conducted by Collective Bias revealed that
30% of customers buy products recommended by non-celebrity influencers.
They have a real audience that is eager to hear from them. It is time to put
influencers to use in 2019.
A good example is Sony. They used 30 influencers to promote their
campaign. It generated 17 million potential contacts.

29. Skyrocketing your sales withInfluencer marketing:what you needto do.
● Use influencers to promoteyourproducts especially during the
holidayseason.
● Work with influencers thathave a dedicatedaudience
23. Manufacturers will engage directly withcustomers
Brands are figuring out how to remove the middlemanfrom purchase
processes.The supply chain will likely be no more as manufacturers find
ways to engage directly with customers thereby improving their profit
margins and also getting to know their customers more.
Skyrocketing your sales:what you needto do.
● If you operate a middleman business,it is time to re-strategise.
24. Increasing adoptionof digital-first expansionstrategies
There will be an increase in digital-first strategies in 2019.Major brands will
use digital channels to open new markets for their product and drive
customers to their offline shops.
Panera implemented a digital-first strategy to grow the business from a
single 400-square footstore in Boston to 2,200 locations nationwide.

30. Skyrocketing your sales by investing indigital first:what youneedto do.
● Investin digital marketing in 2019
25. Content marketing - Brand storytelling will be onthe rise
Content marketing has come a long way in the past decade.It is far from
being over, it is going to rule in 2019.This is where brand storytelling
comes in. Create high-quality content that will keep bringing your audience
coming back again and again to your website and to buy from you. It helps
you to grow your brand awareness and increase word of mouth referrals.
Find an example below from Harrys.

31. Skyrocketing your sales withBrandstorytelling:what youneedto do.
● Engage youraudiencecontinuouslywith high-quality content
● Sell the benefits of yourproducts
26. On-site andin-app mobile commerce
Mobile apps are on the rise and the market is increasing tremendously. A
research revealed that the Mobile application industry will bring in $189
billion by 2020 and the e-commerce brands are riding on the tide. Buyers
are more focused to make purchases on mobile. The mobile app will win
the raise come 2019 because users are browsing 286% more products on
mobile apps than mobile web.
Find an example below from Starbucks.

34. Skyrocketing your sales withMobile apps:what you needto do.
● Create a useful app with engaging and memorable content
● Use your app to grow brand awarenessand loyalty
● Continuouslypromote yourapp
27. Better physical stores
Physical stores are far from dead. They still have a lot to offerand they are
not going anywhere soon. Many physical stores have online platforms.
Physical stores are great for productexchanges, producttrials and in-store
experiences.Physical stores are engaging technology to get their online
customers to see their products offline.Such technologies include In real
life (IRL), Amazon Go and Kanuk.
The physical store is the future of retail.
Check out the Amazon Go (physical store) below.

35. Skyrocketing your sales withbetter physical stores:what youneedto do.
28. The integratedcommunity of buyers will be rise
Brands should look into creating an integrated community of buyers. This
means building a group, fans and followers and integrating the community
in a way that will make them trust you enough to buy from you. Creating a
community of fans will help you to create engaging content and increase
your socialactivity in order to sell your products or services.49% of
businesses with online communities report costsavings of 10% to 25%.
Lego created a community of fans around their Lego Ideas.Fans of Lego
can vote on their favorites, leave feedbackand also submit their ideas.
Skyrocketing your sales withanintegratedcommunity of buyers:what you need
to do.
● Create personalizedsocialmediacontentand videos
● Be active on relevantforums in yourniche
● Use influencers in yourniche to help you builda communityof fans.

36. 29. Advancedproduct filtering
Although some e-commerce brands are using advanced product filtering, it
will be more commonin the coming year. It goes beyond the search
function on your e-commerce website.With advanced product filtering, you
can include features such as the size, color,material, price, availability,
new in stock, etc. it helps your customers to quickly find the product they
need on your website. This helps you to keep them coming back to buy
from you.
Below is a good example of Macy’s.

38. Skyrocketing your sales withAdvancedproduct filtering:what you needtodo.
● Create filters for a productcategory
● Promote popularfilters on top of the productlist
30. Simple checkout page
Simplifying your checkout page will give your customers a good
experience. Cumbersomecheckoutpage can be complicated and it can
lead to cart abandonment. 2019 is a year you should simplify your checkout
page to increase your sales revenue.
Check out a single page checkout page of Sephora.

39. Skyrocketing your sales withasimple checkout page: what you needtodo.
● Use a one-pagecheckoutto increase conversion
● Auto-fillyourform fields
● Don’t force customers to register.
Conclusion
Aboveare the 30 ecommerce trends you need to watch out for in the coming
2019.
Need more?
Visit: http://www.pronkoconsulting.com
Pronkoconsultingspecializesin B2B and B2C markets including
project planning, software development and post-launch
maintenance.