Current Trends in Ecommerce

Online shopping shattered records during the holiday season. In case you forgot, it was reported that Cyber Monday generated a record $6.59 billion in sales – a 16.8% YOY increase – making it the largest U.S. online shopping day ever!
Now that 2018 is in full swing, we thought we’d take a look at some retail ecommerce trends for this year:

• Move over E-Commerce, It’s all about Mobile Commerce: We saw mobile sales make a splash during the 2017 holiday season. At the time, it was reported that smartphone traffic grew 22.2% YoY while revenue coming from smartphones ($1.59 billion) saw 39.2% growth YoY – a new all-time high. With this in mind, EMarketer estimates that the mobile commerce industry will be worth $2.774 trillion this year, and make up an estimated 11.6% of all retail sales worldwide. It is so quick, easy and convenient for consumers to whip out their smartphones (or Apple Watches) to make a purchase from online retailers. Ecommerce businesses make it easy for people to buy a product where ever they are, which is part of the reason why  online stores are surpassing brick and mortar storefronts.
• Tapping into Shopping Apps: The Chicago Tribune reports that shopping apps are becoming more popular as mobile shopping grows. According to the newspaper, “Consumers love using shopping apps which are designed to look more like catalogs on their mobile devices and come across goods they didn’t necessarily set out to shop for in the first place. … Some apps like ShopItToMe create personalized sale alerts based on your style, favorite brands and size. They then send you daily or weekly digests of discounts on clothing and accessories based on your personal data.”
• Buying Everything but the Kitchen Sink: The Chicago Tribune also reports that 70% of U.S. consumers are making unplanned online retail purchases. This should come as no surprise since e-commerce companies and mobile marketers are savvy. Tactics such as “frequently purchased together” or “if you liked this then you’ll love this” recommendations that pop up when making an online purchase result in consumers buying more than they originally anticipated. E-commerce companies can use artificial intelligence to improve the customer experience, therefore leading to more sales for ecommerce brands.
• Leveraging Virtual Card Numbers: Companies like Bank of America, Capitol One and Citi are making it easier and safer than ever for consumers to make online purchases through e-commerce businesses by leveraging virtual card numbers. These virtual and temporary card numbers are linked to a person’s actual credit card and help to deter identity theft while making an online purchase.

What do these retail ecommerce trends all have in common? More packages! All of these current trends in ecommerce will only further increase the number of packages and deliveries to multi-family communities. That is why Property Managers should utilize electronic parcel lockers especially if they haven’t already done so.
Electronic parcel lockers, such as those from Parcel Pending, help to give peace of mind to PMs who are no longer burdened with hassles, costs, and storage of packages. At the same time, community residents no longer need to worry about missed deliveries from online retailers, theft, or rushing home before the management office closes to get an important package.

What are some online shopping trends you’ve noticed? Comment below.