Forecast for E-Commerce in 2013

2012 turned out to be difficult for the retailer, many shops were forced to close its doors after failing to raise sales. But in turn, the online stores have shown good growth. Association IMRG expects 12% growth in sales during the Christmas holidays, which will increase the volume of the online UK stores in 2012 to a projected year 77 billion pounds.

Over the past 12 months online business has made a quantum leap from a simple service that provides online transaction to complete your store, has successfully created a brand for the product. More and more customers prefer to shop at online stores from their mobile devices. With such a variety of options that are just one click away from the buyer, increasing customer loyalty and instilling habits of users to make online purchases will be the main direction for the Internet business in 2013.

In this article, I brought six key trends that will accompany and support the growth of e-commerce in the coming year:

1. Individual approach to customer loyalty

Some principles of retailers have not changed much over the years. The secret of success is still is: to attract customers so that they would return again and again to your brand and advertise it to your friends. Social networks have allowed retail business not only to communicate directly with their fans, but also to reach out to their friends. However, when it comes to ROI based on loyalty in 2013, the attachment of clients will be only a buzzword, and not the actual number of fans. In the end, it's not the number of fans, but in quality, ie how much they are committed.

2. Social shopping

Consult with someone before you make a purchase, have already come for us to return to normal. But now you can not just take a friend for shopping, and the entire social network. Services such as Pinterest and The Fancy, are gaining popularity in the role of social media, allowing users to sort all that they love, thematic collections, and to share these collections with friends. This is not only a way to express themselves in shopping, but also a way to share with other buyers to your preferences. Business should take note, that's why we expect to see this collection as a major trend in 2013.

3. Changing payment methods

Already a huge selection of options purchases, which now sellers offer buyers likely will grow, giving more and more influence on the purchase decision. Along with the growth of mobile transactions, methods such as NFC and contact-less payment, can radically change the habitual for us to pay for things. Services PayPal and iTunes for a long time have started to tie payments to mobile devices, and in turn have services such as Square, offering retailers the opportunity to accept payments from credit cards, using only a smartphone and a simple attachable device reader. It is this freedom of the final payment for purchase online or directly to the store will be in the coming year invaluable for companies of all sizes.

4. Return to the specialty stores

Whether it is selling a "face to face" or via the Internet, in recent years there has been a steady return of buyers to the pro shop, which, in contrast to mass retailers can often offer their customers a more competent service and a personal approach to the needs of each client. These stores include those that deal only in goods a certain area, whether it be fashion, jewelery or photographic equipment.

5. More videos

One of the reasons why the video has long been used widely in e-commerce has been slow Internet connection, making the download sites with video would be too long, which, by the way, and to this day remains for many issue. However, with the increase in the average speed of Internet access around the world this restriction will cease to be so critical, and online stores finally have the freedom to use a rich multimedia content. I waited to see the video review and demonstration video decompression sold, which will be more prevalent in 2013.

6. Increasing integration with mobile devices

Whether it is optimized for mobile browsers platforms website or mobile applications, most retailers agree with the need for a solution that supports smartphones or tablets. However, mobile technologies can offer much more than that. Next year we expect more integration of stores in mobile devices and applications through the use of QR-codes, along with the latest methods of payment, starting and ending with the NFC service Passbook.

In any retail business, the customer is critical for success, and mobile and social applications only help retailers to work more closely with the customer. In the coming year, the key to customer loyalty and build a successful brand is to create a mulch-channel retail environment as a whole platform.

As the industry as a whole, we need to increase the comfort of shopping, as well as attract new customers by using more targeted promotions and special offers, thereby continuing to shape the consumer confidence in its brand and to mobile devices in their new place as a payment instrument. In addition to this, the industry needs to actively use social networks, thus prompting a buy recommendation on a new level and making social shopping is fun.

We agree with the presented trends? Got something to add?