As we approach the end of the calendar year, we wanted to recap – particularly for new readers of this blog – some of the best actionable eCommerce learnings we have shared here during 2019.
Cyber Monday and Black Friday reach new heights
We’re all very familiar with Black Friday.
What really stood out about this year’s was that a record $7.4 billion in consumer sales were made online in those 24 frenzied hours, with $2.9 billion of those purchases being completed via smartphones[1].
Amazon, predictably, had a hugely successful Black Friday.
But, in such a competitive marketplace, it can be difficult for brands to stand out.
Which is why we gave you some expert tips on how to shine and win big on Black Friday that you can look to implement ahead of 2020’s event.
Similarly, all previous records were broken this year for online-only shopping day, Cyber Monday.
With more and more brands latching onto the sales opportunities offered by Amazon on Cyber Monday, we gave brands some expert advice on which options to choose in 2020 and beyond.
Singles Day 2019 – the biggest shopping day ever
If you think that Black Friday and Cyber Monday generate massive eCommerce sales (which they of course do), then you should take a look at the figures for Singles Day 2019, which topped $38 billion[2]. Staggering. And it was the biggest shopping day in history.
And Singles Day is no longer a Chinese annual shopping day, but an increasingly global one.
With this in mind, we showed you how Western brands can create strategies for taking advantage of the Singles Day sales phenomenon.
Amazon and the holiday spending spree
Our CEO Luigi Matrone offered his expert insight on how your brand can boost its online sales during the holiday season, sharing strategies and tactics your business should implement to take full advantage of the incredible annual eCommerce sales opportunity.
Amazon has a huge part to play in the shopping extravaganza that incorporates Cyber Monday, Black Friday, Thanksgiving, Christmas shopping, the post-Christmas Boxing Day, New Year’s and the January sales.
But don’t forget about Halloween. This +$9 billion[3] (and increasingly global) event offers brands whose products that consumers might not immediately associate with Halloween a huge sales opportunity.
That’s if they can get their approach (among other things) to their Product eContent and Retail Search right.
VR & AR – shaping the future of eCommerce
We took a deep dive into how VR and AR are shaping the future of eCommerce – and ask if your business is ready for them.
Brands are understably taking VR and AR very seriously, believing these immersive technologies are the next big thing in brand experiences that drive eCommerce sales.
That’s all great.
But, as our CEO Luigi Matrone points out, it’s vital that eCommerce businesses are joined-up in their thinking and have the right organisational structures and strategy in place if they are to deliver truly great VR and AR experiences.
Evolution of eCommerce
During June 2019, our CEO Luigi Matrone wrote a visionary and very well-received three-part series of articles with the theme of the Evolution of eCommerce: from Retail to Social Networks; from China to the Western World.
In the first part, we looked at how China’s hugely influential messaging service, WeChat is transforming the Chinese eCommerce industry with its ‘mini programs’ that are plugged into the existing social network platform and the app’s digital wallet, WeChat Pay.
We also looked at how livestreaming is used by brands as a highly effective tool for building loyal consumer communities.
In the second part of the series, we explored how Facebook-owned WhatsApp and Instagram are following hot on the heels of Asia’s trendsetting integration of eCommerce programs with social media platforms and livestreaming.
In the third and final part, we discussed the challenges facing companies to ensure they become mobile ready, and future ready. A key learning is that adopting a digital transformation mindset is critical to the future success of your business.
The Subscription Economy is transforming consumer behaviours
We explored the impact that the Subscription Economy – in which the consumer pays a fee to subscribe and receive a product or service on a recurrent basis (like Netflix, for instance) – is having on consumer behaviour.
This piece formed part of a three-part forward-thinking series of articles by Luigi Matrone.
One particularly striking learning to take away from this piece is that though retailers love to secure subscriptions (because they provide: recurring, predictable cash flow; higher lifetime value of customers; and more valuable, long-term relationships), they have to work very hard to retain those customers by continually delighting them.
Are you ready for voice commerce?
As Luigi Matrone pointed out in his thought-provoking article on the CES (Consumer Electronics Show), 50% of all product search is predicted to be voice-activated in the near future.
This means that businesses that are not already prepared for the voice commerce revolution – whereby consumers can research and buy products anywhere at any time using just their voice – need to get ready very quickly.
Voice commerce requires a different approach to web-based eCommerce, both from a device manufacturing and content perspective, and those that want to thrive in this exciting new space need to go on a learning journey.
In conclusion – keep on learning
We’ve given our readers highly actionable advice throughout the year from our experts.
These experts include our CEO and Founder, Luigi Matrone, who is regularly invited to speak at top events across the world for his visionary thought leadership.
From top tips for selling products online to revealing new trends, and from emphasising the importance of digital transformation to guidance on putting the right organisational structures in place before rushing into new technologies, we’ve provided valuable lessons that will help your business win online.
These are just some of the valuable lessons for helping your business win online that you will have learnt by reading this blog during 2019.
Keep coming back for more in 2020. We’ll be kicking off the year with a piece on what we think the key digital, leadership and eCommerce trends will be in 2020.
This article was written and created by the eBusiness Institute Team.
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Sources
[2] https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/11/alibaba-singles-day-record/
