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2015 eCommerce Landscape Predictions

Editor's note: Find out what will shape the eСommerce landscape this year. Get to know the technical and marketing driving forces that will bring change to the market in 2015. This guest post is provided by Alex Plotnikov, a marketing manager at MageCloud.net.

2015 is going to be an exciting year for eCommerce. As online sales grow each day, the number of online merchants and providers increases exponentially. The force that shapes the market — the consumer - will be the main driver of changes, and some technical advances and even limitations will play a huge role in the development of eCommerce.

People Love Mobile and Google Will Make Sure that You Do Too


Google notifies: "pages will not be seen as mobile-friendly by Google Search"

This January Google warned a huge number of websites without mobile-friendly interfaces that they will lose their page rankings, in case if they do not update their design. This is a pretty strong message, which shouldn't be taken lightly. Search traffic is the primary source of income for most eCommerce websites (especially local ones) and they will do everything possible to accommodate this requirement.

We'll probably see more website makeovers than in 2013 and 2014 combined, when Google just “scared” websites with Panda and Penguin updates. If you haven't receive this warning, then you probably will, later on. But, if I were an eCommerce business, developer or service provider, I would definitely start thinking about the redesign of my website ASAP.


Omni-Channels


While online shopping is a very convenient experience, it's still not perfect. It's in our nature that we like to touch, feel, and even smell stuff before we buy it. That's why online stores keep building brick and mortar outlets. While there may be many reasons why they do this, it's obvious that more and more retailers will follow that way.

What does it mean for online service providers and eCommerce platforms? It means that we'll see more and more platforms catering to omni-channel stores. Their storefront solutions will be more agile, more complex and more compatible with the real world. This will bring a lot of new things: more mobile features, more delivery and product review options, and so on. It's inevitable. Successful brands are joining the bandwagon.
86% of customers said that personalization has had some impact on their purchasing decisions - Infosys.

You're Going to Become Customer's Best Friend


Ecommerce is a cut-throat environment, where dozens succeed and thousands fail. That's why getting into the customer's circle of trust is going to be one of your main missions.

Personalized eСommerce is the name of the game. You're still sending emails contactig people with “Hello friend” or “Hello dear subscriber”? Then, you certainly need to get a better understanding of your customer relations model.

There are tons of reasons why eCommerce should and will become more customer-centric. More and more people are using mobile devices, when shopping online. This experience is usually enhanced with shopping apps. They notify customers on new sales and promotions and naturally, since they treat their smartphones as personal and private communication devices, they expect a personal approach. Just like texts from strangers, the app notifications that aren't sufficiently personalized will just irritate, at best.

Note: According to Invesp, over 50% of online shoppers love personalized shopping experience.



Magento 2.0 Beta will Be a Great Tease


Some people are already drooling over the potential of this update. It will bring tons of new features, more stability, and in general should be an improvement over the current version.

What will this mean for the eCommerce merchants, providers, and developers? The new architecture may be a problem for Magento developers to the point where some smaller players may lose their positions and even vanish from the market, not being able to adjust to the new tech requirements. We also expect better productivity from the platform for store owners.

What does it mean for the market? It means that the competition will become even harder. People who rule the tech game, will rule the eCommerce market.

Content Marketing will Have a Stronger Grip on eCommerce Decision Making


72% of marketers have a content strategy in place. - Curata.com

Should your online store work on the redesign and A/B testing or should your store start working closely on your blog and website copy? If you're a small-medium online store, then you'll probably ask yourself this question at some point.

The competition is significant in most of developed niches. That's why a quality content gives you huge advantages over your competitors. More and more eCommerce thought leaders are paying attention to content. TL;DR – if your online store doesn't have a content outlet, you're going to have a bad time.

Conclusion


All in all, 2015 is going to be an terrific year for eCommerce. A lot of new developments, a lot of new tech, and a lot of marketing. We'll see stores become more technically advanced, devs more prepared for new challenges and Magento providers more engaged in the learning process (especially when Magento 2.0 will be released). Aren't you excited?




alexALEX PLOTNIKOV


MARKETING MANAGER

Alex Plotnikov is a marketing manager at MageCloud.net. MageCloud.net is a one-stop solution that includes everything you need to launch your Magento online store.





What are your predictions for this year? Do you think that 2015 will see a revolution of some sort in the eCommerce landscape? Share your ideas in comments, please.

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