THE FUTURE OF ECOMMERCE: ECOMMERCE TRENDS

Ecommerce seems to be a growing trend in web design. More and more businesses are selling directly through their own websites, as well as online marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon. And, as with website design, ecommerce changes quickly, with trends

1. More mobile sales, not just traffic
For many of our ecommerce clients, it's common to see around about a 50:50 split between mobile and tablet traffic versus desktop traffic to their websites. Conversion of that traffic to paying customers on mobile is still weak, though, accounting for 20 - 30% in some sectors. This can be related to how visitors use those devices. We're often happy to browse and research purchases on smaller devices, and use a larger device to pay.

Technology is catching up to help deal with this. Historically rigid payment gateway screens are launching responsive payment screens to help maintain a mobile-friendly checkout process for merchants. New, smarter payment methods such as Stripe are helping this trend.

2. Faster delivery
We're all a little guilty of being impatient online. The wonders of the modern web have desensitised us to long waits, whether they're for a loading web page or products, and long delivery times can often be the weak link in the ecommerce chain. Services such as Shutl.com allow for delivery as quick as 90 minutes from ordering in metropolitan areas, and Amazon's drones are closing in too.

3. Embrace local
Ecommerce doesn't have to be a national offering. A growing group of more socially conscious online consumers are becoming weary of large multinational companies such as Amazon, and looking to shop locally online. And optimising for local search results in search engines such as Google is certainly less daunting than competing nationally!

These cases show you can survive outside of the "marketplace bubble" and make significant income from localised ecommerce sales.

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Richard Carter is founder of Peacock Carter, the established ecommerce web design agency based in the North East. We've worked with clients large and small throughout the world, maximising the power of leading ecommerce platform Magento.