The game-changing factors that shaped e-commerce CX in the past year

The e-commerce marketplace is a fascinating and constantly evolving landscape characterised by complexity and dynamism. While this presents exciting opportunities for e-businesses, it also means a true battleground and genuine arena for competition. Companies must, therefore, continuously strive to attract and retain picky consumers, ensure loyalty and secure repeat purchases. A carefully crafted and regularly modernised CX strategy can provide a cutting-edge advantage and help online stores stand out in this fiercely contested environment, leading them towards sustained growth and success.?

However, more than relying on a one-time-designed CX is required. In e-commerce, Customer Experience is not a static concept but an ever-evolving process that demands continual attention, analysis, and adjustment to remain relevant and effective in response to frequently changing circumstances. The changes can stem from various factors such as unforeseen events like the global health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, societal transformations and economic turbulences that shift consumer behaviours and expectations, competitive pressures that require differentiation and innovation, or emerging technological solutions that offer new opportunities for e-businesses to thrive in the digital age.?

By monitoring these factors and adjusting their CX strategies, e-commerce companies can remain competitive and efficient in promoting positive and convenient experiences leading to winning e-shoppers' engagement and commitment. The numbers speak for themselves that it is worth trying, for instance:

Key triggers affecting retail e-commerce: global events, economic trends, business strategies, and consumer sentiment ?

How did the e-commerce market landscape evolve in the last year? Which major events, trends and technologies disrupted the industry, and what was their impact on e-businesses? While there is much to discuss, let's analyse the critical background and focus on the most significant external factors and emerging trends. ?

First and foremost, global economies transformed after the COVID-19 pandemic, which strongly accelerated the shift to online shopping as a tendency for many consumers worldwide. E-commerce organisations needed to adapt quickly, allowing seamless e-shopping processes, contactless payments, fast delivery, and excellent customer support empowered with relevant strategies, innovative technologies, and compassionate interactions. It aimed to help buyers feel more valued and better understand any unexpected situations that may occur on a larger scale of operations. ?

In addition, the e-commerce landscape continued to grow, influenced by increasing consumer engagement in spending more money on goods directly from their homes. According to Statista, in 2022, virtual sales were estimated to reach over 5.7 trillion U.S. dollars worldwide, around 10% more than generated in 2021. Statista also predicts the industry sales to grow by 56% over the following years, reaching about 8.1 trillion U.S. dollars by 2026.?? ?

As a result, the risk of an even stronger e-competition has appeared just a click away. Competing has become more challenging and complicated as many online stores have ended up in the same category bucket with similar offerings and support strategies. Moreover, increased access allowed e-buyers to become less attached to brands, more demanding and better informed while easily navigating and shopping around, effortlessly comparing products, services, prices, and reviews, and seamlessly switching between different providers when another one grabs their attention or delivers a more customised experience.?? ?

More than that, snowballing global inflation has put pressure on e-retailers to maintain competitiveness even more, not only with pricing but also with more efficient customer service, additional cost-saving initiatives, increased automation and exceptional experiences as a primary differentiator. ?

Finally, in times of fast-paced tech development, new solutions and tools are constantly emerging to enhance our lives and businesses. The past year was no exception. Technological opportunities such as hyper-personalisation, conversational AI, Augmented Reality or the Metaverse have become available, allowing e-businesses to stay ahead of the game and deliver even more exceptional CX than ever before.?

Top Strategies for boosting e-commerce CX with the latest trends?

The occurrences that have taken place worldwide, including within the economy, industry, and other areas, have greatly impacted the attitude of many e-commerce companies towards Customer Experience empowerment . Specific strategies, concepts, or technological solutions were selected to address challenges better, mitigate risks, drive revenue and unlock a higher potential for exceptional consumer interactions. Among all, there are a few strategic ones which are closely related to Artificial Intelligence and correlated technologies, like, for example:?

HYPER-PERSONALISATION. Hyper-personalisation is a customer-centric approach that uses AI-empowered personalisation engines to prioritise buyers’ needs and requirements to intensely, precisely and accordingly tailor online interactions, proactive support, targeted communication and recommendations. It involves using large data sets and AI-driven analysis to examine customers’ contact points with an online store while treating them as a valuable source of information to generate insights into buyers’ unique preferences and behaviours.?? ?

NEXT-LEVEL AUTOMATION. E-businesses can leverage technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) or Natural Language Processing (NLP) to achieve the next level of CX automation. They help facilitate processes, speed up interactions, provide a more customised and contextualised CX, and create more efficient and compelling experiences that adapt to changing customer needs and preferences at hand. This may cover AI-powered chatbots engaging in human-like dialogue with consumers while providing accurate and personalised responses in real-time or ML-driven voice assistants providing efficient assistance through voice commands. ?

A MORE IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE. A more immersive experience is another way to empower CX in e-commerce. This can be achieved through technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR), which allow buyers to interact with products online in a more immersive and realistic way. It can include virtual trying on clothes, testing furniture, and checking how the makeup looks or how the glasses fit on the face before purchasing. The metaverse is another example of how consumer-brand interactions can be more immersive, interactive and virtual. While seamlessly blending online activities, extended reality, and virtual spaces, the metaverse promises to deliver unparalleled engagement and unforgettable experiences. ?

DEVELOPING EMPATHY. In digital sales, a successful CX strategy must incorporate a human touch concept emphasising compassion and empathy. AI-driven solutions can assist in understanding customer needs and provide agile and personalised support, but they can only replace personal connections partially. Empathetic, skilled, well-trained agents can make a difference by making buyers feel valued, especially when resolving more complex complaints or issues. This often requires using human emotional intelligence, which more than AI alone would be needed to address. ?

PERSONAL DATA SAFETY. As e-commerce companies collect and store a large amount of data to improve CX, concerns around its privacy and security increase. However, by promoting a safe online environment where consumers’ information is protected with special care and attention, e-businesses encourage customer trust and understanding and set themselves apart from less data-conscious competitors. This is associated with applying relevant measures to mitigate security risks, such as using encryption algorithms and multi-factor authentication, as well as ensuring secure data storage protocols. ?

IN SUMMARY. By incorporating the latest trends into their CX strategy, what benefits can e-commerce companies reap? This approach can yield numerous rewards, including improved customer retention rates, more robust brand perception, positive word-of-mouth marketing, increased loyalty, and elevated satisfaction metrics such as CSAT and CES. These outcomes can drive revenue growth and provide a competitive advantage.?

How can a partnership with a CX outsourcing provider benefit e-business??

While monitoring all the trends and changes that can positively impact and transform Customer Experience can be challenging for many online businesses, e-commerce companies can follow another way. By partnering with a CX outsourcing provider, e-businesses can leverage the provider's tools, technology, and best practices to continuously improve their CX strategy and achieve their business objectives without investing in in-house resources, processes reorganisation and costly technology stack. The condition is cooperation with the BPO partner , which offers relevant resources, expertise, experience and knowledge about CX solutions to help them stay ahead of the curve and meet customer expectations.? ?

?If you want to explore Customer Experience initiatives or the CX?strategy for e-commerce business, you can?contact us directly ?or read more on?our website .