E-commercetrends in 2022
In 2021, the value of thee-commerce market was estimated at around $ 4.9 trillion worldwide. This figure is forecast to grow by 50 percent over the nextfour years, reaching about 7.4 trillion dollars by 2025. It is ahuge possibility that it will increase to $ 5.5 trillion this year! Thedynamics of this market’s development are visible all over the world. It isthen safe to predict what the new trends will be in 2022. Let’s have a look.
Onlinesecurity
This should be and is one ofthe most important issues in e-commerce. The emergence of new technologies suchas the Internet of Things, AI and machine learning increases the risk ofattacks and data breaches, so it is vital to improve defensive measures.Although GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) launched last year, forcingmany companies to invest in improving the privacy and security of theircustomers, over 45% of Internet users still believe that their data is subjectto abuse.
Voice search
Voice search has been aroundfor several years now, but it gained more significance lately, all thanks tothe introduction of Voice Assistants created by huge players like Google, Appleand Amazon. According to research we are becoming so comfortable with voicesearch that it is beginning to surpass the traditional one. As a result, searchqueries will have to change as well. Short phrases like “cheap games” will nolonger do. They will be replaced by much more precise formulas, e.g. “cheap RPGgames created by X,” which give direct answers to specific questions. The solutionwill then emphasize the so-called long tail keywords that respond to specificcustomer queries.
The shift from “mobile first”to “mobile only”
Pretty much every store manager knows how important it is to optimize yourwebsite for smartphones. According to Hootsuite and We Are Social’s reportsfrom 2020, 82% of European users watch videos on their mobile devices, while 49%do the shopping using these. The number of smartphone users almost doubledsince 2016 and it is estimated according to Statista around 6.646 billion ofusers right now.
Customer service
Establishing good relationships with customers is now more important thanever before. Customers themselves say that building a positive image of youronline store is crucial, since this often works better than traditional formsof advertising, and offers some interesting opportunities for SEO and the like.What clients expect today is open interaction and a platform where they canfreely express themselves and exchange opinions. If a company neglects theneeds of its customers, this can easily backfire and become a disadvantage. So,the trend for 2022 is a pleasant, fast and interaction-oriented customerservice.
AI & the Internet ofThings
Global conferences give you an impression that our industry is focused onthe development of artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things. Thesewill definitely see some major improvements, but voice-based e-commerce willalso become more mature. 2022 is shaping up to become a sensational year whenit comes to challenges for the industry and life-changing improvements forconsumers.
Marketplaces
Marketplaces growing in importance, especially due to the pandemic thatstroke in 2019. In the USA where Amazon holds over 50% of e-commerce it’s hardto pretend this is not a major distribution channel. Marketplaces are becominga big challenge for brands that need to come up with new strategies on how toestablish their presence on such platforms. On the other hand, they also offergreat opportunities for local brands (including Polish ones) to quickly enternew markets.
Social commerce
This concept is worth a brief mention here, as not everyone might befamiliar with it. It’s basically using social networking in the context ofe-commerce. To put it in simpler term: it’s selling through social platforms.The thing is that points of purchase are now closer to buyers than ever before.These days you can buy something via Facebook or Google without going to theactual store. This seems to be the focus in 2022, which becomes apparent whenwe take look at marketing budgets in e-commerce. We can clearly see theemphasis on Google and Facebook Ads.
Mobile payments
Mobile phone technology is constantly evolving and users are becoming moretrusting towards mobile payments. According to the Global Wire news, at the end of 2020, there were over 2.8 billion mobilewallets in use. That number is projected to increase by nearly 74% to reach 4.8billion mobile wallets in use by the end of 2025 – nearly 60% of the world'spopulation.
2022 will see further development in e-commerce and new technologies, butalso fresh trends, such as subscription economics, interbranch partnerships, aswell as activities focused on sustainable development. This is all to meetgrowing consumer requirements. Technology indeed is something our imaginationshave a hard time keeping up with.
