The eCommerce industry is exceptionally dynamic, and merchants have to stay ahead of the latest trends constantly. New solutions and technologies are continually emerging, brands are competing with competitors worldwide, and consumer awareness has also increased. Customers today expect top-notch service and tailor-made shopping experiences. Headless Commerce is an apparent ally in this race due to its short time-to-market and flexibility.
Omnichannel sales
Omnichannel aims to provide customers with a seamless shopping experience across multiple channels (physical store, website, mobile app, etc.). All the information they are given in the physical store, online store, app, and advertising should be consistent and come from one source.
Also, the customer should be provided with the range of possibilities to freely choose the way they can pick up their orders, including both online and offline methods, especially given the rise of Click and Collect popularity.
Why must eCommerce businesses be omnichannel now more than ever before? It's because of the customer journey that stopped being linear anymore. To grasp customer's attention, eCommerce brands need to follow them wherever they go, and most of the time, they just wander throughout the web back and forth.
In practice, it can look like this: a customer who wants to buy a pair of pants sees an ad for those pants on Facebook. He clicks on them and goes to the online store. There he can specify whether he wants to pick up the goods in the store or have them delivered to his home address. Via the in-app chat, he can ask questions about the product and finds the same information again.
Omnichannel is simply what customers expect. eCommerce companies must address these expectations. However, as omnichannel requires flexibility on the organization level and tech, it can be challenging, and legacy tech stacks do not always deliver it. Headless Commerce, on the opposite. Within this approach, changes in the visual layer do not affect the backend layer, and - thanks to Headless CMS - the personalized content can be spread over multiple touchpoints from one single source.
It gives the possibility of broadly understood development of the application to quickly and easily reach new points of contact with the customer, and at the same time, maintain a consistent brand image.
Read more about Alokai partnerships with Headless CMSs such as:
Mobile-first approach
Two out of three shoppers prefer to browse the web on mobile devices, and so lack of mobile site in eCommerce means significant conversion losses. Even if the customer doesn't make a purchase on their phone, their first mobile impression is crucial to their subsequent purchase decision. Put, an unreadable mobile version of a website makes customer likely to abandon it.
Optimization for mobile devices is a must, and it is hardly breaking news. The outbreak, however, brought a further rise in mobile usage, and it is justified to mention it once again.
The mobile-first approach must be taken into account while choosing the right storefront solution , and there is no place for shortcuts, patches, or compromises. It is the highest priority. Of course, it is possible to create a custom-made mobile-first front-end. Still, given that mobile-first demands are not new, it seems more time- and cost-effective to reach out to existing field-tested solutions that - besides being mobile-first - takes the customer experience to the next level by adding the possibility of enriching them with the help of dedicated 3rd party tools (Headless CMS that enabled being omnichannel or loyalty programs that increase customer retention for example).
Read the article about: Alokai teams up with commercetools to offer you limitless possibilities
Voice & visual search
Voice Search is a speech recognition technology that allows users to search for information on the web by speaking instead of typing. On the other hand, visual search is based on the development of artificial intelligence technology, thanks to which (only) the sent photos or their fragments, screenshots, or Internet images can receive corresponding, connecting search results.
PwC's latest 2020 data shows that 65 percent of 25-49-year-olds use technology from Voice Search at least once a day. The 25-49 age group is the most likely to explain daily voice search, the next largest group is 18-24-year-olds and the next group is 50+.
Visual search engines are developed mainly by the biggest companies such as Pinterest, Google, Amazon, and Bing, which in itself confirms that we are dealing with a lot of potential in this area.
Even though now voice & visual search might look like a long way off, it is good to secure future development also by including these options, and choosing Headless Commerce is the best way to do that. Headless Commerce, with its API-centered architecture , allows adding of any feature, extension, and 3rd party tools at any given time, to meets current business needs.
Brand Awareness
Are you familiar with Sephora, Starbucks, or McDonald's? You are certainly familiar with these names. Even if you don't use their products or services, you know exactly what they do. You can also tell in a few words what their logos look like or the premises where they operate.
This is because from the very beginning, the companies mentioned above have focused their activities on branding, i.e. shaping identity and building brand awareness - awareness understood as the recognizability and familiarity that the brand enjoys. In the case of the brands mentioned above, this is undoubtedly impressive.
Branding pays off over the life of your business. It allows you to attract more customers with lower marketing costs while commanding higher prices for your offerings and build customer loyalty more effectively.
To have a consistent brand image and stand out from the competition in the eCommerce industry, businesses need complete freedom in creating the UI and UX, and Bodiless Frontend Platform with its limitless customization givest it by default.
Customer loyalty
Attracting customers who regularly return to the store is on average five times cheaper, and at the same time, they generate almost seven times more revenue than new customers. Therefore, you should take care of loyal customers and monitor their numbers by defining the so-called retention ratio. It is the ratio of the number of orders from returning customers to the total number of orders in the store in a given period.
Read more about Alokai's partnership with Talon.one
A satisfied customer will be happy to return to your brand. If he is satisfied with the product and quality of service, he will naturally come back because we are his first and most convenient choice. That's the customer who will increase your conversion. And the chances of this happening are 9 times higher than a customer who has only used our service once before coming back to you.
eCommerce customer retention isn't just about to repeat purchases. It's also about a larger shopping cart and a gradual increase in the amount spent. A customer who trusts our company is not only willing to make larger purchases, but more importantly, to engage in other activities - services, other products, events, training. That is why they are the best investment - because they are profitable in the long term and on different levels.
This is particularly visible in e-commerce: over 70% of Amazon's revenue comes from repeat customers. The same phenomenon directly affects you and your business. The more loyal and satisfied customers you have, the greater your revenue can be.
Keep this in mind when creating your marketing campaigns and offers. Find ways to reward and recognize your repeat customers. Also, take into account that a repeat customer is the best ambassador for your brand. Such a customer not only makes a purchase himself but also actively recommends your business to his friends, acquaintances, and business associates.
Getting the customer's attention is a big challenge. Every day he is inundated with dozens of emails and messages. Those that do not correspond to his interests and needs can lead to a dislike of the brand. No less than 72% of Internet users say that the lack of a personalized approach on the part of the store has contributed to using the services of competitors.
Personalization of content is made possible by modern tools based, among other things, on artificial intelligence. They create an individual offer in line with the user's interests and previous purchase decisions. Such tailored information about promotions or new products makes customers feel connected to a company that knows their needs and respects their time. According to research, stores that use modern solutions such as artificial intelligence or Big Data see an increase in customer loyalty of up to 57% and higher revenues (by 10% within two years of implementation).
Headless commerce allows you to connect numerous loyalty tools, like TalonOne, thanks to which the service and offer become individual and created directly for a given customer.
Social Commerce
Social commerce refers to the activity of buying directly on social media platforms without leaving the apps. The trend, relatively fresh, has a promising future ahead. Data suggests a bright future for social commerce - 60% of users say they discover new products thanks to Instagram, a third of shoppers say they would like to purchase directly on a social media platform.
Social commerce can be used as the main way of selling goods, which is better for brand purposes and can be included in an omnichannel strategy. Adding Headless CMS to the frontend platform , eCommerce businesses can handle all the social channels they need.