The ecommerce market has continued growing at an accelerated rate for several years, and that won’t be stopping anytime soon. By 2026, the ecommerce market is expected to account for around 24% of worldwide retail sales.
So, what does this mean for online businesses?
It means that they will need to stay on top of modern marketing methods to stay competitive, with omnichannel strategies being a major one of these. In fact, an omnichannel approach has essentially become a vital necessity to stay relevant in the modern age of ecommerce, and businesses need to stay on top of the rising omnichannel trends.
4 Omnichannel Retail Trends for 2024-25
Some may think past trends will stay effective, but omnichannel trends in retail can change rapidly. Discover the upcoming trends set to influence retail in the next year.
1. Seamless Omnichannel Retail Experiences
Gone are the days when disjointed messaging or inconsistent brands were an acceptable part of multichannel retail experiences.
Whether it be advertisements and offers irrelevant to the customer or email campaigns with different offers from social adverts, these now leave a bad taste in the mouth of shoppers.
Instead, customer expectations are higher than ever and shoppers expect a seamless experience that feels continuous across all channels of the retailer.
While this includes integration and communication across channels, it also means offerings like:
- Purchase in store and ship to home: Some brands are truly embracing the purchase in store and ship to home methodology, acting more like a showroom. This allows brands to reduce overhead of stored inventory while also giving customers the opportunity to get what they want without carrying it around while out and about.
- Buy online, pick up in store: Buy online and pick up in store became an incredibly popular option during the pandemic of 2020. So, while it is not a new trend, it certainly hasn’t stopped being a popular option.
- Return online purchases in store: Online return costs can sometimes fall back onto the customer and the experience can be tedious or
time-consuming. This is why buying online with the ability to return items in store have become more attractive options.
2. Social Media Selling Explodes
Almost every social media platform now offers its own online store option, which has exploded the social media retail market. This is yet another channel that brands need to ensure they are taking advantage of.
This channel is somewhat
3. Social Media Video Marketing
This point goes somewhat in line with the above point, but deserves its own attention. Social selling in the form of video content has become more effective and powerful than ever. According to Wyzowl, 91% of users prefer videos from a brand over other types of content.
Many brands are now even taking advantage of TikTok or Facebook live streaming to sell products to their audience. This can be especially powerful when brands combine it with influencer marketing.
Video content has become one of the most impactful forms of advertising and selling, and it typically offers an excellent ROI that is hard to achieve from other forms of content.
4. Supply Chain Resilience
Informed supply chain management and resilience is far from a new consideration in the world of ecommerce, it continues to be one of the most important. In fact, it has become even more critical when needing to maintain inventory across an omnichannel strategy. The pandemic caused significant impacts and disruption to supply chains and this has not quite returned to normal as of yet.
To combat potential disruptions, businesses need to stay on top of their supply chain in more ways than one. They need to ensure that they continue to maintain a
Fortunately, there are some strategies that any business can use to improve their supply chain, including:
- Just in time inventory (JIT) management: JIT systems use data monitoring and prediction to ensure inventory is ordered precisely when it is needed. This can help businesses to avoid overstock and cluttered warehouses.
Vendor-management systems: Vendor management inventory systems help to take some of the stress off the business itself, as the vendor will be the one to control the inventory. This can be an excellent system for businesses with numerous types of items.- AI forecasting: AI tools have become an incredibly powerful asset in the world of retail. There are now several AI tools that can be used for forecasting inventory needs to gain better insight across the supply chain.
Aside from improving the supply chain, it is also important for the business to be communicative about any supply chain issues. They should keep customers informed when items are out of stock, let them know the date the item is expected to be in stock, and send reminders when it becomes available.
Good Luck in Your Selling!
We hope this guide to current and upcoming omnichannel trends helps you achieve amazing success in the future!
Ecwid: Your Most Powerful Ecommerce Tool
Whether you are well versed in the ecommerce space or starting your first store, Ecwid is the perfect partner.
Our selling platform is designed to be easy to use while intuitively integrating with a wide array of other online selling platforms. It can be integrated with multiple platforms at a time, making it easy to see all of your storefront’s performance from a single dashboard at a glance.
The best part is that you can get started on your store for free today. If you want to learn more about starting a successful ecommerce store, you can check out our other blog posts or head over to the Ecwid Academy.
