Top 7 eCommerce Trends in India
Since the initialization of eCommerce, so many people have turned to online markets for products. This is because the process of purchasing goods online is both fast and convenient. In India alone, the e-commerce market is expected to hit a whopping $200million in sales by the year 2026. Despite the rapid increase in the number of online buyers, it has been noted that getting new entrants to adopt the system is becoming difficult. That is why new trends are cropping up in an attempt to streamline e-commerce even further and lure in more online buyers. The list below contains some of the most popular e-commerce trends in 2019 cropping up in India.
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Dropshipping has become a very lucrative idea in the ecommerce business. This is where the retailer only provides a platform for the customer to view a variety of products from different suppliers. If at all the customer wants to initiate a purchase, he or she is transferred either to a wholesaler or the company itself. This trend has provided a huge number of people in India with a platform where they can buy products in bulk. Dropshipping has also made products to become cheap since everyone is competing for clients on the same website. This ecommerce trend is expected to attract more online buyers in India, especially those who are buying goods to resale them to the local customers.
Some of the main dropshipping ecommerce platforms in India include chinabrands, Indiamart, baapstore, TradeIndia, JimTrade and Tradeford among many others. The efficiency of these dropshippers is remarkable. There is no day a buyer will ever miss a product on a dropshipping ecommerce platform. There is also plenty of other alternatives in case that happens. With this in mind, most buyers are shifting to ecommerce. It is also evidently true that these dropshippers offer remarkable discounts to the buyer, and this means that once the purchase is done, the buyer stands a chance to get huge returns. This has lured most traders in India, thus increasing the number of online buyers significantly. Some customers have even established a business relationship with the sellers, and this has created a better trading environment. The trend has gained prominence, and it has completely revolutionized ecommerce.
Mobile
Nearly everyone above the age of 15 has a mobile phone. People find these gadgets to be very easy to carry around. It has also been noted that about 80% of online customers use their mobile phones to search, view, and purchase products. This is a clear indication of how this trend is having a huge impact on ecommerce. At the end of the day, what people want is simplicity and uninterrupted accessibility, and that is exactly what mobile phones are offering. Most ecommerce website owners in India have noticed that people are no longer using desktops to access the internet and so they are making their ecommerce websites mobile friendly.
Some of the top ecommerce websites in India that have adopted the ecommerce mobile trend include shiprocket 360, which was previously known as Kartrocket, SellMojo, BuildaBazaar’s, Shopify, MartJack and StoreHippo, among others. This is a clear indication that the only way for an ecommerce website to earn revenue is by adopting the mobile trend. Your website should be accessible using any mobile phones. This way, people will be able to shop on the go and view your products without any problems. At the end of the day, you will increase your sales and get new customers. This trend has already picked up, and researchers are projecting an increase in the number of people shopping with mobile phones within the next few years.
Chatbots
This is among the most amazing trends in 2019. The ecommerce platform in India is expected to see a rise in the use of chatbots in the next few years. Chatbots are intelligent automated programs that have been developed to stimulate conversations with customers and perform a number of tasks. What chatbots do is that they engage customers and provide real-time answers to their queries. Despite being around for quite some time now, it is until recently that chatbots started being incorporated in the world of ecommerce. In India, only a few ecommerce platforms are making use of chatbots, but it has been noted that the plan to use chatbots by other online website is evident.
The chatbots are very strategic, and they execute great tasks. They have minimized the amount of time a customer has to wait to get a response from an online website. What makes them even more important is that they are coded to help customers locate specific products in a list of more than a thousand products. This is a smart way to ensure customer satisfaction and avoid the loss of a potential client simply because you took ages to reply to their question or inquiry. With such great functionalities, the trend is gaining popularity among a number of website owners with many having plans underway to include the program in their ecommerce platforms. India being a highly populated country, the use of chatbots will not only improve buyer-seller interaction but also lead to an increase in sales.
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D2C model
Most product manufacturers and customers alike prefer dealing with one another instead of using a middle man. This is because the company ends up increasing the profit margin while the customer gets the product at a much better price. To ensure this in ecommerce, manufacturers are using Direct to client trend, also known as D2C. Using this trend, Manufacturers get to be in direct communication with the consumer. Once the product is rolled out, all the consumer has to do is order it direct from the manufacturer. This way has the ability to return the product in case it is faulty, and the manufacturer gets to control the market as he or she sees fit. With this trend, both parties will benefit from the transaction without the stress of dealing with middlemen.
Direct to client model, however, can only be initiated via the mobile platform or other digital channels. This means that those customers who are accessing ecommerce platforms using their desktops and personal computers will still have to go through the middleman. This is, however, not a big challenge because the mobile trend is really making an impact on ecommerce and is also considered to be among the major ecommerce trends in 2019. This means that within a few years, a huge number of people will be able to make use of the D2C module, and manufacturers will start enjoying direct sales and deliveries. The manufacturer will also not have to bear the loss whenever the middle man makes a sales mistake. With D2C, they will be in control of all the sales aspect, including customer satisfaction.
Voice assisted search
Everyone in India is putting too much time on generating income. When they get online, they are either too tired to scroll down the online store in an attempt to find a particular product or too lazy to type in the search box. This is why the use of voice search is expected to increase by 50% in the year 2020. Voice search has simplified the search of products on ecommerce website. All the buyer has to do is say out loud what he or she is trying to search and let the console do its job. This makes online shopping easy and also increases the number of searches required. If the buyer was only to search for a designer top, he or she goes ahead and looks for a designer phone.
To make it even better, the voice search assistant will also be programmed to read out loud the product description. This means that the buyer won’t have to waste plenty of time reading a product but simply listen as the assistant reads. As the website owner, you will also benefit from the trend since you don’t have to waste so much money creating video content. All you have to do is have a voice-assisted search that is ultra-responsive. So many websites already have a website console, and so it is a matter of deploying it.
Social media
Social media has transformed how people interact. It is the trend that has made the world to become a global village. With social media, you can easily access any news from any part of the world without making even a single step. It is also the place where a huge number of people meet and share their experiences. With Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram having such a huge following, online buyers have decided to use them as an avenue to rich potential customers. The trend is growing exponentially, and so far a huge number of ecommerce websites are using it. The plan is to come up with a way through which online buyers will be able to purchase products directly using their social media accounts.
India is already experiencing a social media revolution in the ecommerce sector. A number of Instagram and snapchat shops are being used to sell products to Indians. This is done by using a link that leads straight to the merchant’s website, and within a few minutes, the buyer will be done with the transaction. There are other social media apps however, which allows the buyer to complete the whole transaction by just using the social media app. This includes viewing of the product and paying for the product. The social media trend is making strides with China on the lead. This trend is also set to be used by a huge number of Indians in a bid to make online buying conveniently.
Conclusion
From the above information, it is unquestionably true that there are quite a number of ecommerce trends that have evolved in India over the past few years. These trends have been initiated to improve the operation of an ecommerce website and enhance customer satisfaction. All the trends aim at increasing sales and multiplying the number of people shopping online. So far, the best trend that will not only give you plenty of customers but also skyrocket your sales is social media. As an ecommerce website owner, using these trends will have a positive impact on both your sales and the number of searches done on your ecommerce website.
Borzo Team
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