15 Major ecommerce trends to watch for in 2024 to help your business grow

2. Social selling: Still in the lead

Among the trends of the year 2024, one of them has already been established for several years and isn’t ready to be dethroned. What is it? Social selling or social commerce!

Once reserved for large accounts, social selling has been widely democratized in recent years and now offers a multitude of possibilities for marketing large businesses’ products as well as those of smaller ones. Today, using multiple channels, such as social media, to sell your products is highly encouraged.

The beginnings of social commerce are largely inspired by cold calling. The entry on the digital marketing scene was done in a timid way with, among other things, canvassing by private message, extracts of databases, and recovery of leads that are more or less well targeted. A relatively technical practice, essentially reserved for B2B professionals and other insiders.

Today, social commerce has evolved and can be used by all sectors and all types of audiences. However, it’s especially the possibility for the consumer to purchase directly from a post on social media networks that has strongly contributed to the progress of this marketing concept, which is now essential.

Several social media networks now have this ability. Instagram Shopping, to name but one, offers, for example, a catalog for e-retailers and the ability to tag products in posts.

Instagram isn’t the only social media network to offer this type of option for businesses. However, it’s, today, the most complete, compared to TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, or Facebook.

Instagram allows you, for example, to tag your photos with prices and product information directly in your posts. These will send your potential customers directly to the selected item’s product page and thus offer a direct link to the sales page of your product.

This allows you to attract your community, create conversation, and convert to help maximize your brand’s growth and how much you can make in ecommerce.

3. Marketplaces: Find your place on the market

Ecommerce statistics are clear. Marketplaces have established themselves as the sales levers most favored by consumers.

This strategy has been widely adopted by major retailers, such as Walmart, which has completely redesigned its online store to offer customers products from its partners, in addition to its own catalog.

Marketplaces are now an integral part of the visibility and reputation strategy of online stores. A way to give voice to one's activity, to make oneself known, but above all, to offer a viable continuity to physical commerce.

Marketplaces are a great marketing lever for your online store.

4. Customized and responsible product delivery

Delivery is an essential part of online sales and is becoming increasingly important in shoppers’ purchasing decisions.

Whether it's fast delivery, click and collect, or pick-up at a relay point, consumers like to customize their delivery options according to their habits. As you manage your ecommerce site for your business, consider what methods your business’s targeted shoppers will appreciate to help improve the user experience and encourage them to make a purchase.

However, in 2023, the trend was towards responsibility: e-shoppers preferred certain types of more responsible deliveries, such as order consolidation, delivery to a relay point, or even the circular economy and buying locally or within their national borders.

5. Video: A new tool for commerce customer service

Video has become a major part of ecommerce practices: whether it’s a marketing tool or a tool of choice in customer care, text and/or photos have given way to video content, which is more personalized, closer, and more involved with customers.

Whether it’s to present a product on social media networks or to create a live event around your catalog or your brand’s universe, commercial practices have never been so precise and so focused on this type of content.

The real revolution of 2023 was the extension of this practice to customer service. In order to respond to all of the public's issues, customer service is turning and recording itself for greater efficiency. And how about you? Have you started shooting video content to guide your customers to your website?

If not, and if you find that your online store is not selling like you’d hoped, take a look at how you might be able to start incorporating videos into your marketing strategy for social media and beyond to help bring your ecommerce business more growth.

6. Second-hand and reconditioned goods are booming

This awareness and the need to give meaning to one's purchases has led to the emergence of a new form of commerce: recommerce. Recommerce means “second-hand commerce”; “re” for “recycle” and “commerce,” quite simply.

After years of over-consumption and “fast commerce,” Generation Z advocates awareness with more ethical consumption patterns. Smart, useful, and infinitely (or almost) reusable purchases, the second-hand market is on a roll!

Nearly 75% of 18–30 year olds now prefer to buy from sustainable brands. 

Online sales giants are also investing in the sector: companies are starting to sell products from their old collections themselves in a “second-hand” way directly in their stores. Sustainable levers for the future!

7. The importance of consuming locally and/or nationally

In this desire to consume better, purchasing local and “Made-in-[buyer’s own country] products are sustainable, timeless trends that are increasingly part of the purchasing habits of people around the world.

Many people say they prefer products from the circular economy, first of all for environmental reasons, but also for the quality of their purchases and to support local companies that have suffered from the various successive crises.

8. Augmented reality and visual ecommerce to improve the customer experience

Following the coronavirus crisis and thanks to technological advances, brands have invested in technology augmented and virtual reality to allow consumers to try, consume, and purchase despite the impossibility of going to the store.

Still reserved for large retailers, augmented reality has allowed consumers to project themselves during confinements and merchants to invest in the environment of their customers. The gap between digital and physical is becoming increasingly blurred, and these presentation models are now popular and appreciated by shoppers, especially in mobile commerce.

9. Live shopping is making a comeback

Does the ability to buy a product directly during its online presentation sound familiar? Live shopping is born again from its ashes.

In 2019, it was NBC who tried it with an application allowing viewers to “shop” their products seen on TV directly on their smartphone.

In 2020, live shopping went viral in China thanks to Taobao Live, the dedicated mobile app from AliExpress. Since then, the wave of live streaming shopping is spreading to the four corners of the world. Instagram is developing it on its platform, and TikTok should also get involved. Live shopping has a bright future ahead of it for a whole new ecommerce customer experience!

10. Voice commerce and voice search

Voice assistants are an integral part of our daily lives.

Whether they’re in the form of connected speakers or integrated into smartphones, the place of these voice assistants is becoming increasingly important worldwide with a real challenge for brands to be recognized as the “best choice” in order to have the chance to be proposed to consumers.

The challenge of 2024 will be for businesses to give confidence to users who are still reluctant to place orders and pay on voice platforms, with the fear of not being able to secure their data.

11. The senior target: The new online shoppers

More and more seniors are becoming ecommerce enthusiasts, as they recognize the advantages of this mode of purchasing, such as convenience, wide product choice, and competitive prices. Today's connected seniors are increasingly using the web to buy products from their favorite brands online. Seniors are also more comfortable with digital technologies, and increasingly understand the benefits of online ordering.

It's important for retailers to take seniors' needs and preferences into account to offer them a pleasant online shopping experience. For example, it's useful to have easy ways of contacting customer service (chat, telephone) for customers who prefer this option. Seniors are dynamic consumers, and it's important to consider them in your sales strategies.

12. Targeting sub-niches to know what to sell on the internet

If you work in ecommerce, you're already aware of the importance of a niche in order to stand out on the web. A niche in ecommerce allows you to target a specific product sector and audience, who will be directly interested in the type of item you're offering. Finding a niche is a key step for all ecommerce entrepreneurs.

Today, to stand out from the crowd and attract a public committed to your products, thinking about your strategy by choosing sub-niches can be very profitable.

A sub-niche is characterized by products that appeal to a very narrow target of potential customers but have the potential to win them over over in the long term or generate a large number of sales.

This could, for example, be a highly customizable product, such as eco-responsible sweatshirts with the option of adding your own design. It can also involve seasonal products, offered only in a catalog that focuses on specific categories, such as end-of-year celebrations or weddings.

13. Using a CDP for better customer personalization

The use of a customer data platform (CDP) is a revolutionary step in improving customer personalization, going even further than with a customer relationship management (CRM) system. This tool collects customer data from a variety of sources, for a complete, unified view of each customer. With this rich, detailed information, brands can create tailored experiences that meet the needs and preferences of each customer.

A CDP integrates data from various touchpoints into a detailed analysis of customer behaviors, preferences and interests. With instant access to data, companies can react quickly to customer actions, enabling real-time personalization. This software helps to segment customers more precisely, enabling companies to target their messages and offers more effectively.

Unified data in a CDP ensures that personalization is consistent across all channels, whether website, mobile app, or even email communications. Marketing campaigns, order placement, after-sales service, development, shopping experience, supply chain, payment solutions, pricing policy... All aspects of ecommerce stores will be impacted by this ultra-precise data.

Segment, Exponea, Adobe Experience Platform: these are examples of CDP software to help commercial companies grow and increase their revenue.

14. Omnichannel extends to a unified shopping experience

Haven't you noticed that the app for the store you're in appears first in your app suggestions on your smartphone just as you're shopping there? This is an example of omnichannel commerce, another leading trend in ecommerce today.

Omnichannel redefines the shopping experience for a unified customer journey, in a process where their online, mobile, and in-store purchases are seamlessly connected. You can start exploring an item on your smartphone, test it in-store, and finally buy it online with all your preferences saved.

This omnichannel approach creates an ideal shopping experience, where every interaction is synchronized across all channels, from ecommerce stores to physical stores and even email or SMS campaigns, thanks to the strength of the customer account and geolocation. This means less hassle and more pleasure in the shopping experience, so you can enjoy a tailor-made experience to suit every need!

Ecommerce trends between 2019 and 2023

In recent years, ecommerce has been marked by COVID-19. Some trends have emerged and are now sustainable, such as the following:

• Marketplaces have grown.
• Dropshipping exploded before slowing down.
• Augmented reality has invaded sales sites and social networks.
• Payment in installments has become a must in ecommerce.
• Recommerce has attracted millions of users.
• Click and collect has kept the link between ecommerce and retail during the crisis.

The fabulous resilience of the ecommerce sector has brought new life to the business, whether it’s physical or electronic.

From new marketing levers, more personalized, more efficient to the possibility of adapting the market to the constraints imposed by the health crisis, everything seems possible to boost the impact of ecommerce on the consumer. And your ecommerce business just needs to rely on the trends.

What sells best? Top product trends in 2022 and 2023

It's hard to predict what trends will hit the market in the coming months. However, some major product groups are not experiencing a crisis, and are still exploding on the market:

• Eco-responsible products: Consumers are increasingly aware of the environmental impact of the products they buy, so it's likely that ecological and eco-responsible products will continue to be in high demand. The second-hand sector is booming.
• Health and wellness products: It is likely that health and wellness products will continue to be popular, due to the growing awareness of these themes and the desire to find ways to stay healthy.
• Connected products: Connected products such as smartphones, accessories, fitness equipment and electronics should continue to be popular, as consumers look for ways to improve their quality of life through technology, all from refurbished product sites!

Product niches 2023/2024: What to sell on the internet to stand out

E-merchants: how about a little help in your search for trendy products to sell in the coming months? Here are a few ultra-original ideas!

1. Digital wellness products: applications or devices focused on wellness and mental health, such as guided meditation, mindfulness, or sleep tracking.
2. Relaxation and meditation products for kids: items designed for children to encourage relaxation and mindfulness, with children's yoga mats, meditation cushions, or relaxing audio books.
3. Wearable technology for pets: technological gadgets for pets, such as GPS-connected collars that monitor the animal's health or physical activity.
4. Gardening kits for apartments: complete kits for growing herbs, vegetables or edible flowers in small spaces, or for composting in apartments.
5. Travel accessories for photographers: specialized equipment for traveling photographers, such as waterproof bags, lightweight tripods, and secure storage solutions for photographic equipment.
6. High-end survival equipment: luxury survival kits for extreme adventure enthusiasts, with sophisticated navigation tools, high-quality portable shelters, and gourmet food rations.
7. Photography kits for old techniques: kits for practicing old and rare photographic techniques, such as wet collodion or cyanotype.
8. Traditional and rare musical instruments: traditional musical instruments from specific cultures, accompanied by tutorials, accessories, and musical history guides.
9. Professional-quality podcasting equipment: high-quality audio equipment for podcasters, with specialized microphones, audio interfaces, and soundproofing solutions.
10. Do-it-yourself kits for miniatures and dioramas: kits for creating detailed miniatures and dioramas, targeted at model-making enthusiasts.

Thinking of starting a new online retail business? As you build your ecommerce website from scratch, consider the aforementioned trends. Make sure that your chosen platform will help you to accommodate these top global trends and create high-quality content while providing excellent experiences for users visiting your online store, helping you to boost your e-retail revenue!