When it comes to shopping in 2024 and beyond, the name of the game is ecommerce. Advances in technology have made it possible for retailers to expand their businesses beyond a physical brick-and-mortar footprint to a broader—often global—scale.
However, the rising popularity of online shopping means ecommerce is becoming increasingly more competitive. Online retailers must be poised to nimbly shift and change with the trends to remain relevant. The guide below provides insight into the latest ecommerce statistics to give you an edge when creating your improvement strategy for the coming year.
Almost 30% of consumers use mobile devices in-store to inform purchases.
This statistic is a huge advantage for online retailers. Having a digital storefront enables businesses to grow exponentially while keeping overhead costs low—which means savings for the consumer. If you can offer a similar—or better—product than a physical store at a more reasonable price, odds are the consumer is going to opt to give you their business.
Advertising strategy is key, here. Be sure to use keywords and marketing strategies that will pull your products into price-comparison searches, such as those on Google.
Key Takeaway
Consumers want the best product at the lowest price, even if they have to wait for delivery. Use marketing strategies to get your business to show up high on Google product comparison search results.
24/7 access is the biggest draw for over 50% of consumers.
Affordability isn’t the only benefit to those who prefer to shop online. There’s also the convenience of having goods delivered right to your door—and the ability to shop from anywhere, anytime.
When distance isn’t a barrier, consumers can access your products and services around the clock. Did you forget to pick up your favorite multivitamin? No problem, just order it while enjoying your morning coffee. Need a quick gift for a friend’s birthday? Send them something thoughtful while cozied up on the sofa.
Key Takeaway
A well-organized online storefront is convenient for the consumer, and an excellent way to increase your earning potential.
Up to 80% of online shopping carts get abandoned due to complex checkout processes.
Few things are more disheartening than finding potential customers have been abandoning their digital shopping carts. When this happens, the impact on your business goes beyond reduced conversion—it can skew your analytics, inventory, and affect website speed. High lag times lead to reduced customer traffic, creating a vicious cycle of lost potential income.
Most customers abandon their shopping carts because the checkout process is clunky or delivery fees are too high. Fortunately, this is a fairly easy fix. If you find this happening to your business, see where you can streamline the process and reduce or eliminate fees added at checkout.
Key Takeaway
Abandoned online shopping carts can hurt your business in multiple ways. To reduce instances of this happening, make the checkout process more intuitive. Consider Amazon’s “Buy Now” option that allows customers to make purchases instantly.
There were 2.05 billion consumers purchasing through ecommerce in 2020, up from 1.5 Billion in 2016.
Clearly, ecommerce is on the rise. In 2021, the number of digital purchases was projected to reach at least 2.14 billion—and the momentum isn’t expected to stop anytime soon. As technology advances, more and more businesses are taking their storefronts online, and consumers are enjoying the trend. As cited above, purchasing goods and services online is fast, easy, and convenient—everything consumers prefer.
Key Takeaway
Ecommerce is on the rise, to the benefit of both businesses and potential customers. Remaining relevant and turning a profit means joining the trend.
The number of consumers purchasing items online is expected to amount to 4.8 billion users by 2025.
What does this mean for business owners? It means ecommerce technology is likely to become continuously more sophisticated. Entrepreneurs must stay ahead of the trends and update their tech to remain competitive.
Second, physical storefronts will likely become less important to running a successful business. While it’s important to maintain an excellent online and in-store customer experience, it may be wise to invest the most time and effort in improving your website and delivery services.
Key Takeaway
As technology advances, ecommerce will likely become consumers’ preferred way of shopping. To remain relevant, you should invest your resources into improving and expanding your digital presence.
Revenue in the ecommerce market is projected to reach $4.23 trillion in 2022.
Existing digital storefronts have the advantage of brand recognition and consumer loyalty. When online shopping became popular, it was easy to catch customers’ attention. Businesses need to know how to stand out, cut through the noise, and reach their target demographic. This will be challenging for smaller and newer businesses.
Key Takeaway
Strategic, targeted marketing and an excellent brand strategy are key to reaching your target demographic in today’s online marketplace.
28% of small businesses still don’t have a website.
Despite the rising popularity of online shopping, a startlingly high percentage of small retailers don’t have an online storefront. Small, local entrepreneurs without websites are often brick-and-mortar businesses that are well-established in their communities.
While many of these businesses are sustained by local commerce, this could change quickly with the exponential rise in ecommerce. They could easily become subsumed by newer small businesses housed solely online.
Key Takeaway
Small businesses need an online presence to remain relevant and attract a growing customer base. This could be a simple website showcasing your offerings, or an expansion of the business into digital commerce.
Around 95% of consumers read online reviews before making a purchase.
As the saying goes, “It takes many good deeds to build a reputation and only one bad one to lose it.” In this example, reviews are a business’s deeds. Consumers shopping online can’t touch or handle what they’re buying, so they must rely on other customers’ experiences to inform their decisions.
In general, between 20 and 50 total reviews are enough for customers to feel confident about whether to make a purchase. This trend means that generating plenty of honest reviews is crucial to growing your business.
Key Takeaway
Online consumers use reviews to help them make purchasing decisions. Incentives such as a small discount or entry to win a prize are a good way to encourage customers to leave reviews.
38.4% of online shoppers in the US are below the age of 35.
And this number will only grow as the younger, more technologically-savvy generations enter the workforce and gain financial independence. Simply being online isn’t enough to attract new customers from this demographic.
Rather, businesses need to be laser-focused on trends that attract and convert younger consumers. Your strategy may include a brand refresh to appeal to a modern audience or an update to your product or service to meet their expectations.
Key Takeaway
Younger consumers have grown up with technology and know how to use it to their advantage, especially when it comes to shopping online. Staying on-trend will help you attract, convert, and build trust with these customers.
Almost 40% of all ecommerce sales are done through Amazon.
Amazon is an incredible powerhouse when it comes to online shopping. Why are they so popular? For starters, they:
- Sell a vast variety of useful and novelty products
- Have an intuitive, easy-to-navigate interface
- Are compatible with PCs and mobile devices
- Make checkout a simple one or two-step process
- Can sometimes deliver products on the same day
While many businesses can’t compete with all of these advantages, it’s worth taking these details into consideration when building or updating your digital storefront. Additionally, Amazon hosts small businesses on their site to increase revenue for the small businesses and themselves.
Key Takeaway
Looking at why large online businesses are so successful can help inform your personal business strategy. You may also find an opportunity to partner with a larger business to foster growth.
Lack of free delivery is the most common reason shoppers avoid making a purchase.
All-too-often customers spend time filling their online shopping bags only to discover shipping charges push their purchases over budget. This is especially frustrating for consumers making small purchases—sometimes the delivery fee is more expensive than the purchase itself!
Offering free delivery may be a simple way to grow your customer base. If needed, you can start by offering free delivery for purchases over a certain price, for first-time customers, or as part of a promotion.
Key Takeaway
Customers prefer transparent pricing. If you can nix delivery and shipping costs, you’ll generate more customer loyalty and better business in the long run.
81% of shoppers research the brand and product online before purchasing.
Today’s consumers are more socially conscious than ever before. They care not just about the quality of their product or experience, but about the quality of the company itself. For example, it’s becoming increasingly common for consumers to boycott businesses that back certain politicians.
Additionally, shoppers may research a company’s ethics, including how they conduct business and treat their employees. Businesses with a humanitarian approach to company culture and who they sponsor have better longevity.
Key Takeaway
Consumers with access to a global worldview are more likely to purchase from brands that value authenticity, treat their employees with respect, and support popular causes.
Ecommerce sales accounts for nearly 20% of all retail sales.
What started as a trend has become an integral, inextricable part of the retail industry. In 2022, global ecommerce sales accounted for 19.7% of all retail sales. That number is projected to increase by nearly 5% by 2026.
Key Takeaway
This trend offers huge opportunities for modern entrepreneurs—provided they strategize carefully. Ecommerce makes it possible for any single person to start their own business—but more small businesses means it can be challenging to stand out from the crowd.
In 2022, over 1.8 billion people—more than 25% of the global population—frequented online stores.
This statistic is an excellent reminder that ecommerce isn’t localized to a single country or continent—it’s a global phenomenon. Online retailers aren’t just convenient, they give consumers access to products and experiences they may not otherwise have had.
For example, a person in the Midwest United States can order rare spices directly from India. A small-business clothing designer can get high-quality fabrics from Europe. Conversely, customers from across the world can find your business.
Key Takeaway
Global access to ecommerce enables small businesses to draw customers worldwide. It also enables business owners to access resources they may not have been able to, otherwise.
Over 50% of online storefronts use multichannel communication.
The key component to attracting customers is letting them know you exist—multichannel communication is a huge part of that. Having a robust online presence increases your chances of coming into contact with consumers.
Most businesses use social media accounts to:
- Advertise new products or discounts
- Create brand awareness
- Develop a rapport with potential customers
Though this approach takes tremendous organization and planning, it’s a powerful way to bring consumers through the sales funnel.
Key Takeaway
Most potential customers have social media accounts they curate daily. Communicating through accounts of your own greatly increases your chances of connecting with potential customers.
By 2024, almost half of ecommerce will take place on mobile devices.
Anyone who made the leap from PC to handheld mobile phones knows the mobile experience is very different from shopping on a computer. Successful mobile sites must be easy to navigate with graphics scalable to different screen sizes.
Key Takeaway
If you haven’t already, optimize your website for mobile devices. Site-building software—like Wix—often have a mobile-view feature, so you can do this more efficiently.
Over 75% of customers abandon retailers after just two poor experiences.
Millions of choices for online shopping mean consumers can easily find similar products or services across many businesses. If they have a poor experience with your website or customer service, they can simply abandon it and find a company they like better.
Key Takeaway
It’s essential to continuously monitor your site and customer feedback for potential pain points and poor interactions so you can address them quickly.
Summary
More people than ever are shopping online, and that number is likely to increase with each passing year—especially as the younger generations become adults with disposable income. That means a robust online presence and pleasant digital shopping experience are the most important aspects of building a successful retail business.
When it comes to online shopping, ease, convenience, and transparency are the name of the game. Consumers respond best to retailers with the following:
- Aesthetically pleasing websites with intuitive navigation
- Excellent customer service—e.g., a straightforward return policy
- Transparent pricing, with clear communication around discounts
- Integrity—products are high-quality and work as described
- Clear, consistent branding and communication across digital channels
Of course, to give your customers a great online experience, you have to have an online presence to begin with. If you’re a business owner with flagging sales, consider expanding your footprint to the digital world. There’s a wide array of intuitive site-building tools and resources available that even a novice can use.
Though commerce has evolved through the years from local storefronts to websites with a global reach, the basic rules of business remain the same—be honest, value your customers, and sell quality products.
