eCommerce became a lifeline to the world during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Hard-working and dedicated SMBs (small- and medium-sized businesses) did their part to keep the channels of supply and demand open. Three years later, eCommerce is a trillion-dollar industry in the U.S. Now convenience is King, and consumers are latching on to new online buying trends. Mikel Lindsaar, founder and CEO of StoreConnect, wants to help SMBs stay in the game against the behemoths of online retail with eCommerce 3.0 to keep up with mercurial consumer behavior.
SAN FRANCISCO, May 8, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- What was once a necessary workaround for some SMBs to get through the pandemic, eCommerce, has become an industry mainstay that has enabled the new convenience culture. In its formative years in the mid-1990s, The United States Census Bureau's Annual Retail Trade Survey (ARTS) of 1998 calculated online sales to be about $5 billion. In the first year of the pandemic, a 2020 ARTS survey reported a 43% — $244.2 billion increase in online sales over the previous year, heralding the emergence of an eCommerce Empire worth $815.4 billion.(1) And in 2023, online sales in the U.S. are expected to exceed $1.1 trillion, with global online sales reaching $6.3 trillion.(2) And with more online buying options come more digital payment options creating an assorted mix of consumer behavior based on current trends. Mikel Lindsaar, CEO and Founder of StoreConnect, observes, "Unpredictable shifts in consumer buying habits triggered by rapidly unfolding technologies have created even more challenges for retailers wanting to service their customers online, especially for SMB Davids who are trying to keep pace with the eCommerce Goliaths." Some top eCommerce trends in 2023 are BNPL, AI interfaces, card-linking loyalty programs, and BOPIS.
BNPL (Buy Now, Pay Later) has become increasingly popular with consumers who still want what they want despite crushing inflation. BNPL, also called point-of-sale (POS) installment loans, offers the option of making a small upfront payment followed by predetermined payment installments until the balance is paid off, usually with no interest.(3) BNPL lending in the U.S. increased from $3 billion in 2019 to $39 billion in 2020 and is predicted to reach $114 billion by 2024.(4) Other popular payment options include bank transfers, eChecks, mobile payment apps (e.g., Cash App, Venmo), mobile wallets (e.g., Apple, Samsung, and Google Pay), and conventional credit and debit cards.(5)
AI is cozying up with eCommerce as another industry runaway trend. Chatbots and other virtual assistants are getting smarter and offer 24/7 customer support with advanced capabilities such as natural language processing (NLP) and self-learning to become even better over time. AI can make product recommendations based on a customer's past purchase history, improving conversion rates by 915% and order values by 3%.(6) Omnichannel loyalty programs offer coupons and rewards in-store, online, or via a smartphone app.(7) Card-linking technology allows customers to attach coupons and other loyalty program perks to their credit card that activate once the card is swiped at the counter or used online.(8)
Forty-five percent of consumers worldwide use their smartphone to shop online at least once a day.(9) BOPIS (Buy Online, Pick up In-Store), or click-and-collect, is a hybrid of the online and in-store shopping experience. Customers order online from their laptop, desktop, or mobile phone, then pick up their purchase at the store for added speed, security, and convenience. For brick-and-mortar stores, BOPIS increases the chances for consumers to make additional purchases once they arrive to pick up their online order.(10)
StoreConnect is the only fully-integrated eCommerce, point-of-sale, content management system and CRM platform powered by Salesforce that can handle multiple payment and ordering options and manage complex coupon codes and customer loyalty programs. Built on Salesforce, the world's largest and most successful Customer relationship Management (CRM) platform, StoreConnect provides eCommerce 3.0 solutions that provide a single source of truth designed for small- and medium-sized businesses to help them to consolidate all of their marketing, sales, and support channels into one system saving time, double-work, and lost information.
Lindsaar advises, "With online purchases coming in from all directions, multichannel eCommerce, expanding digital payment options, and heightened demand for a more personalized and rewarding shopping experience, eCommerce SMBs trying to survive and thrive need to accommodate these trends without adding additional labor and expense. Time is Money. And StoreConnect is Time. Well Spent."
About StoreConnect
Mikel Lindsaar, CEO and Founder of StoreConnect, is an experienced technology entrepreneur whose mission is to infuse small- and medium-sized businesses with the power to be successful in eCommerce 3.0 and scale to meet growing demand. Small companies can't waste time setting up their business on a platform only to repeat the process by changing platforms when they want to scale, nor do they want to waste time figuring out how to integrate multiple platforms. StoreConnect (built on the World's Number 1 CRM, Salesforce) gives clients a complete, powerful, configurable eCommerce and CRM solution where they can manage their website, online and in-store sales, provide amazing customer service, run all their digital marketing campaigns and have up-to-date detailed metrics, reporting and full understanding of their customer. They were awarded Salesforce's 2021 International Partner Innovation Award of the Year for the Retail sector and are changing the ease with which small businesses are run ─ with a manageable price tag. StoreConnect is Time. Well Spent. Visit https://getStoreConnect.com/.
References:
1. Brewster, M. (2022, October 3). Annual retail trade survey shows impact of online shopping on retail sales during COVID-19 pandemic. Census.gov. Retrieved April 29, 2023, from census.gov/library/stories/2022/04/ecommerce-sales-surged-during-pandemic.html
2. Baluch, A. (2023, March 10). 38 e-commerce statistics of 2023. Forbes. Retrieved April 29, 2023, from forbes.com/advisor/business/ecommerce-statistics/
3. Lake, R. (2023, March 16). Buy now, pay later (BNPL): What it is, how it works, Pros and Cons. Investopedia. Retrieved April 29, 2023, from investopedia.com/buy-now-pay-later-5182291
4. Howarth, J. (2023, January 18). 27 buy now, pay later statistics (2023; 2024). Exploding Topics. Retrieved April 29, 2023, from explodingtopics.com/blog/bnpl-stats
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6. Countants. (2019, September 18). How artificial intelligence is transforming the e-commerce industry-countants nbsp;: Scalable custom... Medium. Retrieved April 29, 2023, from medium.com/@Countants/how-artificial-intelligence-is-transforming-the-e-commerce-industry-countants-scalable-custom-73ae06836d35
7. Safaryan, B. (2022, April 25). Council post: Ever heard of an Omnichannel loyalty program? this is how it works. Forbes. Retrieved April 29, 2023, from forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2022/04/22/ever-heard-of-an-omnichannel-loyalty-program-this-is-how-it-works/?sh=530282443b72
8. Chiaradio, A. (2020, June 11). How retailers are using card-linking technology. Total Retail. Retrieved April 29, 2023, from mytotalretail.com/article/how-retailers-are-using-card-linking-technology-for-customer-loyalty/
9. Global: 45% of global consumers use their phones to shop online at least once a day. YouGov. (n.d.). Retrieved April 29, 2023, from //business.yougov.com/content/42686-global-mobile-online-shopping-survey
10. Brush, K. (2022, December 6). Buy online/pick up in Store (BOPUS). Customer Experience. Retrieved April 29, 2023, from techtarget.com/searchcustomerexperience/definition/BOPUS-buy-online-pick-up-in-store
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