Since the Covid-19 pandemic hit, we’ve witnessed an exponential rise in the number of people switching to online shopping. The global e-commerce sales stood at a gigantic $4.3 trillion in 2020.

Retail e-commerce sales worldwide from 2014 to 2024 (in billion U.S. dollars)

And with an ever-increasing reliance on the internet, the e-commerce industry has been set for a boom. According to a study, the industry will reportedly cross the $16.2 trillion mark by 2027, signaling a 22.9% CAGR between now and 2027.

Millions of store owners launch their online stores each year. While some kickstart their online venture on Amazon, Walmart, or other popular e-commerce marketplaces, others stick to building their own online stores.

And if you are planning to launch or scale your online store, this blog post is for you. In today’s ever-competitive landscape, if you want to leg up on the competition and put your e-commerce business in hyper-growth mode, you need to keep yourself updated with the latest trends.

At the same time, you need to incorporate them into your existing strategy – which will allow you to not only stay ahead in the game but also scale your business the smart way.

That being said, without further ado, let’s dive straight into these trends.

5 TOP E-COMMERCE TRENDS STORE OWNERS SHOULD CAPITALIZE ON IN 2022

• Revolutionizing Shift Towards Delivering an Enhanced User Experience
• Focus on Sustainability
• The Rise of Voice Search
• Additional Payment Options
• AI-Assisted Upselling & Cross-selling

Let’s touch down on each of these 2022 e-commerce trends one at a time.

REVOLUTIONIZING SHIFT TOWARDS DELIVERING AN ENHANCED USER EXPERIENCE

Today’s customer really expects an extraordinary user and customer experience. This means – your company, brand, plus experiences aren’t just in competition with people in your category. They’re in competition with everyone. - Robi Ganguly

88% of online shoppers have reported that they will not return to an e-commerce store after having a bad user experience. According to a report, 70% of online stores fail as a result of bad usability.

The one thing e-commerce giants like Amazon, Etsy, Walmart, BestBuy, and others have in common is their focus on delivering a stellar user experience. They are laser-focused on delivering a fast and convenient shopping experience. Delivering a top-notch user experience isn’t just limited to having a visually appealing online store.

There’s no point in implementing a stellar e-commerce design if the elements of your online store don’t work well together.

As stated by Paul Cookson, “Great web design without functionality is like a sports car with no engine.”

Upon delivering a top-notch user experience, you’ll not only be opening gates to higher sales, but you’ll also be increasing your website’s retention rate by building long-lasting relationships with your customers.

In fact, 86% of buyers have claimed that they are willing to pay more for a brand that delivers a stellar experience.

Delivering an enhanced customer experience isn’t just limited to having a visually appealing, fully functional design. As an e-commerce store owner, you need to make sure that your prospects and customers are able to find the products that they are looking forward to purchasing.

Let’s say one of your prospects is looking forward to purchasing a men’s leather bag. Here, we’re assuming you have hundreds of different leather products (for both men and women) listed in your store. Let’s assume that your prospect clicked through one of the men’s leather bags product listings – this one:

Men’s leather bags product example

Now, if someone clicks through a certain product listing, it means that it did manage to catch its attention. And maybe, he/she is planning to purchase the same product or something similar.

While your prospect may like this product and may instantly purchase it, most people will look for other similar options. And that’s where the “Similar Product” section saves the day. Having this section will help you put similar products in front of your audience based on attributes like size, color, item type, and more of the product listing they’re currently exploring.

However, you can’t have a “Similar Products” category just for the sake of it. You need to ensure accurate product targeting – which will result in higher conversion and lower bounce-off rates.

In 2022, we’ll witness an ever-increasing number of store owners capitalizing on this 2022 e-commerce trend and shifting their focus towards delivering a stellar user experience – which will not only involve working on the store’s design and functionality but also on the overall customer journey.

FOCUS ON SUSTAINABILITY

These days, “sustainable” and “renewable” aren’t just buzzwords anymore. Consumers have begun realizing and are extremely concerned about our planet’s finite resources.

People have started showcasing their concerns across both the virtual and real world. And it’s important to note that a few of our biggest conveniences are now considered to be the ones causing the most environmental damage.

73% of consumers have said that they are willing to change the way they purchase products online to reduce the impact on the environment.

From massive cardboard footprint to transportation emissions, the e-commerce industry has its supply chain has been having a gigantic-sized negative impact on the environment.

As a result, we’ll witness consumers shifting their focus towards e-commerce brands that offer innovative sustainable packaging solutions. At the same time, they’d love nothing more than to shop from an e-commerce store that focuses on:

• Sustainable Packaging
• Sustainable Shipping
• Supply Chain Integration
• Decreased Energy Waste
• And more!

Sooner or later, we’ll witness a major shift towards sustainable e-commerce – which, by the way, is the future of e-commerce.

THE RISE OF VOICE SEARCH

It’s now common for people to say, ‘I Love You’ to their smartphones. - Trevor Cox

Believe it or not, voice search is on the rise. 52% of people tap into voice search while driving. Over 65% of customers in the 25-49 age range talk to their voice-enabled devices. More than 50% of people are already researching products via voice search.

Whether you’re in your home or office, voice-search assistants like Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant have made things a whole lot easier for people. By the end of 2022, the voice shopping market has been predicted to cross the [$40 billion mark](web.archive.org/web/20220128051903/https://techcrunch.com/2018/03/02/voice-shopping-estimated-to-hit-40-billion-across-u-s-and-u-k-by-2022/(opens in a new tab)) – which itself is staggering.

This means – rather than hopping onto Google and typing in “best leather bags men,” we’ll witness an ever-increasing number of consumers uttering the words:

“Alexa, can you find me the best leather bag?”

Or something similar!

And while lack of visuals is a challenge, tech giants like Amazon, Google Assistant, Apple are currently rock-focused on turning people’s voice-search experience into a stellar one. While the rise of voice search will be an ongoing process, e-commerce store owners need to ensure that they are optimizing their store content for voice search.

Otherwise, you’ll miss out on this revolution – which is something you wouldn’t want to happen.

ADDITIONAL PAYMENT OPTIONS

The one thing that’ll get your consumers off your platform – lack of payment options. Payment options limited to debit and credit cards will position your store as nothing but an old-school one.

Even though thousands of people add products to their carts, the lack of payment options will just make them go away for good. Some of the most famous e-commerce payment options include:

• Credit & Debit Cards
• E-Wallets
• Cash on Delivery
• Cryptocurrencies
• And more!

Right now, cryptocurrencies are on a hyper-growth train – off to the moon. People claim cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and many more to be the “People’s Money.”

As of this writing, Bitcoin’s market cap exceeds the $1 trillion mark. At the same time, Ethereum just broke it’s all-time high – which is huge. With cryptocurrencies on the rise and an ever-increasing number of people supporting the use of cryptocurrencies, we’ll witness more and more businesses and e-commerce stores rolling out major announcements – related to the acceptance of cryptocurrencies as a payment option.

By offering numerous payment options, you’ll be turning your consumer’s buying journey a whole lot easier – which is what the consumers want in the first place. They don’t want anything messing up with their buying journey.

And they would love nothing more than sticking to an e-commerce store that makes the buying process simpler for them.

AI-ASSISTED UPSELLING & CROSS-SELLING

All thanks to rapid technological advancements, machine learning and artificial intelligence can help e-commerce stores predict their consumers’ shopping habits – based on their shopping and browsing history.

And while similar product recommendation is just one part, you can tap into the power of AI to upsell and cross-sell different products. For example, someone who purchases a leather bag may be willing to purchase a leather book or leather purse.

With the help of AI, you can add these products as “Customers Who Buy {This Product} Bought This as Well.”

And that’s the magic of AI. Platforms like Amazon, Walmart, and many more already have top-notch algorithms in place with a heavy focus on upselling and cross-selling. And while you may not have the resources to build your own algorithm from the ground up, you can tap into the power of AI with Similar Products – which operates as a sales-boosting and user-experience improvement tool.

TAP INTO THE POWER OF SIMILAR PRODUCTS

The world of e-commerce is ever-changing. And if you want to grow your business in a smart manner, familiarizing yourself with and capitalizing on these trends is a must.

We’re a few months away from 2022. Maybe, by the time you’re reading our top e-commerce trends 2022 article, we’re already in 2022. And it doesn’t matter if you read this in 2021 or the first half of 2022; you need to equip yourself with the right set of tools that’ll help you incorporate these e-commerce trends.

From relevant products recommendation to upsell and cross-sell to various additional features, Similar Products is a high-grade e-commerce tool that’ll help you increase your revenue, deliver an outstanding user experience, scale your business in an efficient manner.

Don’t wait around!

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