5 Personalisation Trends That Will Impact E-Commerce

Has made some predictions for 2015.

Among the trends that will affect retailers, e-commerce, online and offline are the real emergence of mobile as a transactional device and the impact of loyalty programs.

While these trends might be new in US and UK markets, some of these trends have been reported by our Dubai Office for a while now – particularly mobile and loyalty programs.

1. Mobile E-Commerce is Here. 

Seems like every year for the last 10 years has been the ‘Year of Mobile’, but there is no arguing with the statistics. During ‘Cyber Week 2014, mobile purchases increased 45% over 2013.

Lucinda Duncalfe, CEO, Monetate said:

“Mobile experiences are improving, thanks to advances like in-store and online activation with beacons, disruptive standalone apps and new mobile checkout solutions like Apple Pay and PayPal Mobile Express. Consumers embraced these technologies during the 2014 holiday shopping season, proving that mobile is becoming a key revenue driver. Customers are increasingly expecting one-click ‘Amazon-like’ payment experiences and super-personalized mobile sites, and we anticipate seeing brands make this a priority this year.”

The mobile experience has to be considered carefully. Compared to desktop visits, bounce rates on mobile are 50 percent higher and add-to-cart rates are 30 percent lower.

2. Social is for Selling, not just Talking and Listening. 

According to a Nielsen study, 84 percent of consumers are directly influenced by what their social network says about a product. Facebook and Twitter recently debuted “buy” buttons that allow in-feed sales, so brands can instantaneously direct consumers right to the checkout page – and boost business results in the process.

“Social is now an integral e-commerce driver. Consumers are relying on their networks for pre-purchase research. We anticipate merchants focusing on leading consumers from the discovery phase to a purchase by adding ‘selling’ to the list of offerings on social channels.”

3. Black Friday becomes Cyber “Month”

In 2014, the U.S. holiday shopping season also expanded globally for the first time. Online sales patterns abroad began to mimic the U.S. holiday shopping season’s spikes — for example, the number of online purchases in the UK increased year over year by 39.5 percent on Thanksgiving, 109.9 percent on Black Friday and 30 percent on Cyber Monday.

4. In-store Tech To Influence Digital Marketing Strategies

Omnichannel thinking should apply to personalisation too.

“The landscape is shifting as retailers are looking at their customers holistically. Our customers import in-store data from CRM and POS systems into Monetate to enable a more complete view of personalisation. For instance, if a female customer purchased new running shoes in-store, the next time she visits the website, she will see females in running shorts, women’s running accessories, and products that are in the same price range as her in-store purchase.”

5. Loyalty Programs to Drive Deeper Personalization

Brands can use VIP behaviors and habits to create specifically personalised experiences for valuable customers as they hop between in-store, the phone, the web and other mobile devices. For example, when a VIP customer enters a store, they could receive a notification via mobile that an item they were previously browsing online is now on clearance.

“Loyalty program customers are the most profitable for retailers, so brands should use all the data they have about those customers to drive personalised experiences. VIPs expect a brand to know them, and they respond to customized and relevant interactions across multiple channels. Retailers who embrace multi-channel personalisation will see consumers establishing a deeper emotional connection with their brands.”

More insight from Monetate