Top 9 Trends That Would Impact the mCommerce Industry in 2018

1. Automation, Virtual and Augmented reality

Since you’ve chosen mobile commerce as your preferred channel, you’ll have to automate your services. This encompasses having; a comment section, add cart option, product review, email services among others.

Apart from automating your application, it’s a bonus for retailers who choose to use virtual reality and augmented reality. These two make things spontaneous as it allows customers to pick a product or try it out in the living space for example.

It may cost you some extra bucks, but at the end of the day, the goal is to be unique in this highly competitive field.

2. Single-click payment options

One way to achieve this is integrating the single- click payment option. As the name suggests, customers only need to click on the menu and finalize the payment. So why should retailers have this? First, this option saves time spent on mobile shopping. This, in turn, leads to efficiency and high customer flow.

As a retailer, you sit to benefit from impulsive buying by customers. This is due to the quick action provided by the option. So until last year, Amazon was the sole proprietor of this option as it had obtained a patent on it. With the expiry of the patent, it’s now easy to access and incorporate this feature into your mobile app development projects.

3. Voice search options and Price control

Voice assistant tools such as Alexa and Google Assistant have come to ease interactions between people and gadgets or appliances. The same, this invention can be manipulated by retailers to improve services on mCommerce.

The voice search makes it easy for customers to view and order an item from your application. To show the remarkable benefits, NorthFace expressed how their revenue shot up by 24% after adopting voice search.

When it comes to price control, it’s important to engage analytic tools to study the behaviour of customers. This guides retailer on when to increase, reduce and give discounts based on a realistic algorithm.

Another benefit of analytic tools is that it’s able to monitor your competitors in terms of the deals offered and so on.

4. Search Engine Optimization

The success of mobile commerce is determined by how well you know your customers. That’s why we advocate that retailers customize their applications to deliver tailored results. This is resourceful as it helps you to reach out your target base and provide them with desired products.

As a retailer, you ought to go the extra mile of getting in touch with customers via email. An active interaction with your clients helps you retain and even add more traffic to your mCommerce platform.

Another beneficial area is the social media. If you wish to easily learn your customers’ likes and dislikes, then this is the platform.However, this shouldn’t be misinterpreted with stalking or snooping as it’s only meant for personalization.

5. Make use of Chatbots

Conventional in-store shopping prioritizes customer services in retailing. Consequently, the scenario is the same with mCommerce but these round chatbots are preferred. This is because they offer real-time interaction with your clients.

A chatbot in your application will aid in providing customer satisfaction which replicates in better sales. If possible take things a notch higher with your application. By this, we advocate for inclusion of live chats in your customer care services.

At the end of the day, you’ll be able to understand your customers better and adjust accordingly.

6. Embrace other Channels and Optional Payment Methods

As highlighted at the beginning, mCommerce will be the in- thing in 2018. Nevertheless, retailers shouldn’t negate customers who still enjoy touching, holding or seeing an item before purchase. To capture these numbers, it’s important for retailers to have on- location stores.

In the US, 56% of retailers have their brand names in stores. As a retailer, we know that you thrive in receiving payments on your preferred channels, which is okay, but you shouldn’t evade other alternatives. This includes; Google Pay, Apple Pay, and Alipay which are available in Asia, Europe, and North America.

The reason we advocate for this is that customers look believe inconvenience, especially during payment. In plain words, a retailer who has no payment alternative option seeks to lose a potential customer base.

7. Introduce Visual Content on your Application

You wouldn’t wish to bore your customers, right? Then it’s high time that you add some videos or short clips. Feel free to blend in an ad/video clip with the text word to capture the attention of your audience. On this note, it’s important that retailers present the most relevant information without losing meaning.

Some of the benefits of using videos include:-

• Captures and relays important information to customers
• Reduces boredom
• Breaks the monotony of word texts
• If making an ad or video is tricky, then get in touch with an expert to help you with this.

8. Employ a Skilled Online Staff

Yes, go get yourself top skill staff to work with you. As a retailer, you should surround yourself with a team that is conversant with mobile commerce service. Some of the roles that the staff can play include; gathering updated information such as competitors’ deals, current market trends among others. Similar to staff hired in stores, your team should be; pro-active, dedicated and information seekers.

9. Highly Competitive Field

As more retailers flock to enjoy mCommerce services, so does the competition. Well, this is good news for customers, as they get more products online; it’s something that retailers need to observe to stay on top. At this stage and going onwards, it’ll be a neck-to-neck competition among retailers thus the need for you to put your best foot forward.

After reading through the trends, it’s evident that mCommerce is here to stay and retailers should gear up. It is fundamental that a serious retailer invests in this area for better results.