This material was originally published on Codica Blog, as part of the article Top 10 E-commerce Marketplace Development Trends 2019-2020.
Online marketplaces emerge every day and gain more popularity. According to Statista research, retail business transactions are expected to reach a volume of $6.54 trillion in 2023, which is almost twice as much as in 2019.
This information means that marketplace owners should become more competitive and achievement-oriented day by day. This will give entrepreneurs an opportunity to beat off competition in the e-commerce market and steam the scene of the target audience. For this reason, online websites need to continually follow new standards and online marketplace trends.
In this post, we will discuss the top 10 ecommerce marketplace development trends 2019-2020 that will become game-changing for the whole industry.
1. Transactional socials
One of the most trending innovations in 2019 is shoppable social networks. It means that e-commerce websites can trade items right in the application. This approach became popular because the redirecting process from socials to online marketplaces was absolutely slow and annoying. It stimulated many users to close the window and break the checkout procedure.
For instance, Instagram introduced the internal checkout feature that gives customers an opportunity to buy products right in the application.
Furthermore, private messengers like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are predicted to transform into a transactional network. Facebook Survey 2019 states that more than 30% of e-commerce consumers worldwide start online shopping via chat.
2. In-car commerce
The world-known newsletter NY Post states that the US residents spend more than 15 days a year sitting in traffic jams when going to work. During this time, over 130 mln drivers use their mobile devices to search for the most relevant coffee-to-go shops, parking lot, high-quality groceries, and so on.
This way, in the near future, the majority of car owners will begin taking part in e-commerce while sitting in a traffic jam.
Advertisers can make the best out of this situation and provide private car owners with the most relevant products. It is possible through an algorithm which monitors the driver’s geolocalization (i.e. via Google Maps) and process such data as location, search requests, rating, and so on.
3. Dynamic pricing in marketplace development
Another trending innovation in marketplace development is dynamic pricing. Roughly speaking, it is about providing the client with the best probable cost in real-time. This rate is built upon the following factors:
- The competitors’ rates;
- Market demand;
- Other conditions, predictions, and trends.
Below we have listed the core factors of dynamic pricing.
4. Progressive Web Apps (PWAs)
The number of mobile users and e-commerce websites is swiftly growing on a daily basis as devices and websites simplify people’s lives. It is demonstrated by the Statista research which says that mobile e-commerce transactions will touch the point of $3.56 tn by 2021.
Source: Statista
Progressive web apps have become a popular trend in recent years due to its lightness, cost-efficiency, and vivid benefits over native apps. In fact, PWA is the combination of web and mobile that gives entrepreneurs such advantages as:
- Increase in mobile traffic;
- Average conversion increase;
- Average session increase;
- Engagement increase.
Related reading: What are PWAs and their benefits for your project
5. Voice commerce and chatbots
Nowadays, the popularity of voice assistants transforms into a hot marketplace development trend. The key factor that forces Artificial Intelligence growth, namely the AI assistant creation for e-commerce websites is enhanced user experience.
The matter is that many voice assistance devices afford a hands-free feature that enables you to evade interaction with mobile platforms. Everything you need is just to launch an app and say a particular command which will be processed by the machine. Afterward, you will get a rapid and relevant response.
The most widespread voice commerce tools:
- Siri
- Google Assistant
- Alexa.
Chatbots in e-commerce
Another hot trend in marketplace development is chatbots. This platform feature allows consumers to get split-second and precise responses to their questions.
The mechanism is pretty simple: a machine handles, interprets, and processes the information provided by users in a live-chat. After, it responds to them with useful and appropriate data (i.e. it offers suitable products filtered by customers’ criteria, like cost, colour, and item properties).
Chatbots can replace many online marketplace staff engaged in communication with the customers through a website live-chat.
6. Dropshipping model
One of the core marketplace development trends in 2019 is a dropshipping model. It is a sound opportunity for startups and small enterprises if they don’t want to face the challenges with inventory space, shipping management, and item delivery. This way, dropshipping allows saving much financial and time resources when starting an e-commerce website.
How does dropshipping function?
1) A dropshipping website looks for consumers and takes their orders;
2) It sends them to its companion - the supplier of products;
3) A retailer ships the order right to the customer;
4) A dropshipping website makes a profit by taking the difference between the wholesale price set by the retailer and the final price.
Let’s take a look at the image that illustrates the dropshipping procedure with all the sides.
What are the core advantages of the dropshipping model?
- Quick and cost-cutting launch;
- High scalability;
- No inventory risks.
7. eWallets and Blockchain
eWallets
EMarketer’s research states that smartphone transactions will take more than 1/3 of online marketplace sales in 2019. It indicates that consumers start using mobile devices more frequently than desktops to make a purchase. This way, the demand for making online payments simpler and quicker for online marketplaces is crucial now.
Such well-known technologies as Apple Pay and Google Pay provide the e-commerce website owners with a good possibility to create a unique buying experience and reduce the checkout procedure time.
Here you can see the chart demonstrating the core reasons for avoiding the checkout process while making online purchases. Thus, the necessity of implementing efficient eWallet systems becomes obvious and clear.
Blockchain
Another rising trend is Blockchain technology. It makes digital payments even more secure and almost eliminates any risks connected to the fund loss.
For instance, Newegg, a large online marketplace player focusing on electronics, has implemented Blockchain technology and allows making purchases via Bitcoin now.
Conclusion
To summarize, ecommerce marketplace development trends in 2019-2020 are powerful and will surely revolutionize the way consumers interact with e-commerce websites. The buying experience points to become even more seamless and immerse. Briefly, they are as follows:
- Shoppable media
- In-car e-commerce
- Dynamic pricing
- Progressive Web Apps
- Voice assistants and chatbots
- Dropshipping model
- Digital payments and blockchain
Check our full article: Top 10 E-commerce Marketplace Development Trends 2019-2020.
Top comments (2)
In fact, there are a lot of different trends now and it is necessary to pay attention to it, but I can say one thing for sure, that of course it is necessary to study profile materials on this topic, then you can already draw certain conclusions. That is why I personally am very glad that I have already managed to find a very good and actually excellent article merehead.com/blog/e-commerce-trend... on trends in this difficult area for this year with some important conclusions of experts, there are many variables now, taking into account current events, you know. I hope I helped someone to make up their mind.
Thanks a lot for your feedback!