As brick-and-mortar stores were forced to adapt to more online shopping, eCommerce sales began to soar. Now ordering even the essentials online is commonplace, and eCommerce is one of the hottest markets to be in. If your business was on the leading edge of the eCommerce boom and you want to maintain that momentum, or if you want to capitalize on the eCommerce boom with a business of your own, here are a few trends to capitalize on in 2022.
Limited Supply is a Good Thing
Supply chain issues continue to affect just about every industry. Instead of running out of products and leaving customers in limbo as to when a product might be back in stock, consider scaling back and embracing limited-run or special edition products. This will help solve your supply chain issue and garner marketing attention for your product. If production can only guarantee a line of 100 t-shirts, don’t over-promise in the hopes that another hundred or so will be available in a few weeks. Working with what you have and marketing limited edition products in your social feeds and newsletters can boost sales and improve your bottom line. It may take some work to transition your company from mass production to limited edition sales, and changing your business model can affect your search engine ranking. An eCommerce agency that knows the ins and outs of your selling platform can help you make the switch with minimal disruption to your rank and sales.
Premium Pricing
Premium pricing is a fancy way of saying don’t undervalue your products. By moving yourself to the higher end of your eCommerce industry, you’ll enjoy both increased profit margins and a more interested customer base. Customers, who are almost fans of your brand, are more likely to do a better job of spreading the word about your brand and bringing other customers to you. More casual customers may often complain more and are less likely to bring new customers to brands. Increasing prices may move your products out of the price range of some customers, but it will bring more interested customers to your brand. Only a few companies can succeed with mass marketing. Considering the state of eCommerce in 2022, it’s a better business bet to produce the best product possible for consistent customers who help to spread your brand rather than producing for the masses.
Mobile Purchases
Mobile shopping is here to stay. If your eCommerce website isn’t optimized for mobile, you may be missing out on a lot of potential sales. If you’re not on a social media platform advertising your brand, sales, and encouraging people to check out your products, you might really be missing out. Social apps such as Instagram and TikTok allow brands to run ads that link straight to their websites, and many apps are beginning to develop a way for users to shop and check out directly in-app without even leaving the platform. While you don’t need to establish a presence on every social media platform, you should consider choosing one or two to focus on to be on the cutting edge of new mobile shopping developments. If social media is a foreign language to you, some marketing companies can handle the finer points of social media branding and calls to action, allowing you to focus on developing your product.
Long-form Content is on the Rise
In the early days of SEO and eCommerce, having some content that included your keywords was enough to get noticed. As search engines and algorithms have become more complicated, however, content has had to adjust as well. A new shift is on the horizon again, with search engines favoring informative long-form content over short-form. Long-form content provides more value to the user and keeps readers on a website longer – all good things for improving both your business’s authority on a subject and improving your search engine rank. There’s certainly more opportunity to go in-depth on a subject when writing 2,000 words instead of 500, but that’s also a significant increase in time investment for eCommerce business owners.
If you don’t have the time to tackle content yourself, use the expertise of an eCommerce SEO service that has experience creating content. These companies research the subjects your customers are interested in, incorporate keywords in content that fits your brand, and allow you to review what’s been written before it's published. These companies can also take existing short-form content on your website and increase the word count to make it long-form friendly, allowing you to capitalize on the long-form trend without dismantling your existing content.
Not every trend will work for your specific eCommerce business, but hopefully there are a few suggestions here that will resonate with you as you prepare to tackle 2022.