Given the steady and strong growth of e-commerce, which is expected to exceed 20% of all retail sales in 2024, owning an e-commerce startup is an exciting and dynamic endeavor.
What’s more, e-commerce revenue is expected to grow at an annual rate of more than 9% over the next five years. This puts established online shopping brands in a strong position to seize exciting growth opportunities.
But what if you’re just getting your startup off the ground? The practical steps to scale your online business can feel elusive.
In this guide, we’ll take a look at some of the key trends shaping the e-commerce niche, and how to scale an e-commerce business using established best practices.
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3 Trends Shaping E-commerce in 2024
Before we get into the kinds of initiatives you can use to scale an e-commerce business, it’s important to examine the broader trends shaping the ecommerce niche, and think about positioning your brand to benefit from these changes.
Here’s a brief look at three key e-commerce trends and how they could affect your ability to scale.
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Ethical BNPL Creates More Checkouts
The demand for BNPL (buy now pay later) options remains an important consideration for e-commerce brands, with an estimated 79 million users in the US alone.
Short-term financing solutions such as Klarna and PayPal credit have stayed competitive by developing increasingly frictionless customer experiences through “invisible payments”, but that doesn’t mean BNPL is always a walk in the park.
2023 studies from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau show that BNPL users are more likely to “exhibit measures of financial distress than non-users”. This highlights the need for modern e-commerce brands to offer their customers a flexible range of payment options, while balancing this with staying as transparent as possible and protecting shoppers from taking on debt that’s going to be too detrimental to the customer experience.
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AI and Zero-Click Search
The rise in generative AI tools has been fairly novel in the eyes of many retail consumers. However, with the rapid pace at which AI is changing users’ relationships with search engines, e-commerce leaders must stay informed on predictions for the near future, such as the increased emphasis on “zero click” searches recently adopted by Google.
Sales channels like Google Shopping, which account for “over half of UK retailers’ ad clicks” according to performance marketing agency KAU Media Group, are likely to change dramatically as Google and other search engines pivot towards zero click AI-based searches.
It’s important for e-commerce leaders to keep their finger on the pulse of these developments and plan to focus their marketing on accommodating a generative search format.
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Word of Mouth, UGC and Influencers Continue to Drive Purchases
Organic, authentic product recommendations have been a major influence on the e-commerce marketing landscape for almost a decade now.
As the purchasing power of the Gen Z generation grows, it’s going to become more and more important to integrate this into your strategy for launching new products, marketing your flagship items, and defining your unique approach when looking to scale an e-commerce business.
While younger millennials consume online content more or less equally across all formats, Gen Z consumers show a clear preference towards user-generated content (UGC), and a tendency to place greater value on product recommendations from friends or influencers they trust.
As a wealthier Gen Z becomes a bigger and bigger portion of the global consumer base, e-commerce brands should try to find space for UGC and influencers in their marketing mix, and stimulate and amplify organic voices that are talking about their products.
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How to Scale an E-commerce Business: 3 Best Practices
As demand ramps up and changes its form in the world of e-commerce, online retailers should adapt to these trends with an appropriate strategy.
Here are three best practices to bear in mind as you work to scale your e-commerce business.
Develop Your Inbound Marketing
The e-commerce experience is becoming faster and more globalized, with online shopping accessible on a greater range of channels and platforms with every year that passes.
While this happens, a larger number of consumers are embracing new technologies to find the products they want, with generative AI search, voice search, and augmented and virtual reality all changing the way that people shop online.
While these developments are changing the nuances of the modern sales funnel, one thing that’s remained constant is the importance of quality, engaging content that will stimulate your inbound marketing and give you a strong first point of contact for converting your audience into customers.
By mapping out a rich content calendar that holds to universal content creation principles, while adapting to the demands of new browsing habits and technology adoption, you’ll be able to attract “switched-on” members of your audience for stronger conversions, while reaping the benefits of a new customer journey before many of your close competitors.
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Be As Authentic As Your Audience’s Favorite Influencers
Gen Z consumers’ attention pivoting to influencers and UGC shouldn’t begin and end with your social media strategy.
This behavior speaks to a much broader consumer preference for authenticity in sales and marketing that should impact every part of your customer journey when you’re looking to grow sales.
Aside from the standard considerations of product features, pricing strategy, and the overall convenience of your customer experience, more and more shoppers expect brands to show an authentic personality, and positive contributions to the world in one way or another.
Fostering closer ties with your audience through social media community development, being as transparent as possible about your product’s materials and sourcing practices, and leveraging UGC and influencers to ensure more authentic modes of communication can all be effective methods to make your brand identity more authentic in the eyes of your customers.
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Personalize Every Facet of Your Customer Journey
The increased scope of personalization within e-commerce has had a major influence on what customers expect from brands when they’re being marketed to, first visiting an e-commerce store, or seeking support with their product experience.
With 83% of consumers willing to share data for a more personalized experience according to Ninetailed, tapping into this potential is essential for anyone looking to scale an e-commerce business while staying aligned with online shopping trends.
Just as BNPL gives customers greater control over how they finalize a purchase, you need to accommodate the global need for personalization and give your customers the flexibility to make the shopping experience their own.
Initiatives like AI-powered upsell recommendations and loyalty programs will not only help you tailor every touchpoint to the preferences of your audience and create a more enjoyable experience, but open up new sources of data collection to better understand what your audience finds important in an e-commerce brand.
This, in turn, will make you better equipped to fine-tune the experience at various touchpoints in the customer journey, and enjoy better customer retention and referrals while expanding your database for future personalization.
The Right Way to Scale Online Business
The modern e-commerce market is highly competitive and growing all the time. However, with a keen understanding of influential trends and the right principles for growth, you can develop your business at a healthy rate and achieve your most high-priority goals.
We hope this guide has given you a good starting point for reviewing your brand’s relation to hot industry trends, and creating a roadmap to scale your e-commerce business in the future.
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