Top eCommerce Trends of 2009
2009 was a difficult year for online retailers who bore the brunt of the economic downturn, as online spending experienced zero growth during the first quarter. The retailers though were able to sail through the downturn by adopting certain strategies that have become trends.
Cross Selling
Today, e-commerce is not just about customers visiting your site, but is about engaging customers, which ultimately leads to making a sale. Links to other recommended products has been a successful strategy to keep your customer’s attention.
Using the Social Media
2009 is a year that saw more effort being spent on blogging and Twittering as this is a low-cost strategy that provides a higher return-on-investment. The year also saw many min-stores being added directly to social networking media sites like Myspace and Facebook.
Mobile and Smart Phone Applications
2009 saw the growth and potential of mobile and smart phone applications. They are relatively inexpensive and easy to build applications. Mobile users are hooking up to the idea of ordering their favorite food or paying their bills while being on the move.
SEO
It has become very important for an ecommerce page to be ranked by a search engine. Revamping websites by uploading content constantly shows how important SEO rankings are, as a top priority in 2009.
Security
One of the success factors in ecommerce has always been security. With more and more mobile applications being built, security of data and back up remain key concerns for e-tailers with customers expecting a higher degree of security.