E-commerce & Mobile Commerce Trends for 2013 #ecomchat – Key Points

This week’s #ecomchat was on E-commerce Trends for 2013 – crystal balls on the table, time to step into the world of futurology and predict the key trends for 2013 like an ecommerce Nostradamus.

Please share any links you have to relevant online reading and we’ll add them to the ‘further reading’ section of this post.

Question 1 – What are the key trends for ecommerce that you expect to see in 2013? e.g. in-store WiFi will become standard for all large department stores

• @chrisdalrymple suggested there will be a trend for increased focus on how we work with mobile devices and tablets as the boundaries between the two are becoming blurred following the release of formats like the iPad Mini.
• @jamesgurd suggested that more businesses will invest time (and hopefully money) in understanding attribution analysis, learning how different marketing channels really interact to help make better investment decisions. @chrisdalrymple expanded on this to talk about cross-device attribution – learning how individuals use different devices during the purchase cycle, which is a more complicated challenge requiring device identification.
• @_EdNash_ expects to see more high street stores acting as showrooms with customers ordering online in store or via mobile. A good example is the House of Fraser ecommerce stores. His belief is that each year we get more savvy shoppers who are experienced at using technology to find the best deals and shop how they want to.
• @gcharlton mentioned that in-store wifi for department stores is a good idea for customer service and helping people shop on their terms but there isn’t yet enough case study data to validate the real impact. There are some people who fear it will lead to increased price comparison, driving people away from the store to a cheaper alternative. @PG_Martin suggested that if there was a benefit to using the in-store WiFi (e.g. free store guide/offers), then this would help prevent people from switching.
• @paulnrogers picked up improving website performance – improving speed across websites, not just the basics but getting into the nitty gritty of server side optimisation.
• @chinashopbull discussed the expectation that B2B marketers will make more use of marketing automation in lead generation.
• General consensus that 2013 will be the year of the tablet – backed up by the post-Christmas data when there have been major spikes in mobile/tablet traffic. M-Commerce expected to reach $14bn per year by 2014 (via @andrewfhimself).
• Interesting comment from @robeasson that he expects to see people abandoning ‘lite’ versions of websites for devices as customers want to do as much as they can via all channels. @jamesgurd argued that some standard ecommerce features just don’t work well on mobile phone e.g. product zoom.
• @_EdNash_ also anticipates further adoption of rapid payment methods online, likely assisted by social network logins. @danbarker agreed, raising the question of whether we will see options like payment via iTunes.@_EdNash_ tweeted that payment by Facebook is to be expected.
• @markbolitho suggested that customer account creation might grow as ecommerce teams try to improve customer recognition across multiple devices.
• @TheFutureGeek thinks there will be a decline in people using blogs simply for SEO effect as the focus on quality increases.
• @jamesgurd thinks we will also see internal marketing teams be less fragmented for PR, Online, Social media etc – there is a clear convergence happening e.g. social media supports SEO, link building helps PR, PR helps SEO and on and on – interdependencies being better understood
• @lakey stated his payment mantra: the more payment options you provide, the more sales you get. The prediction is that more websites will offer multiple payment options in 2013, including 3rd party solutions like PayPal.
• @paulnrogers expects to see more finance solutions offered as a payment option – help people manage the cost of purchasing. A good example of a retailer already doing this is The Watch Gallery.

Question 2 – What mobile specific trends do you expect to take front stage in 2013? e.g. increased allocation of marketing budget to mobile marketing

A lot was covered during question 1, so below are the additional comments.

• @willdymott thinks that there will be improvements in the speed of payment via mobile devices as well as enhanced environments for 4G compatible devices.
• @willdymott and @dergal discussed the potential for semi-responsive design, such as templates that use the same navigation and menus but use optimised content based on the device.
• @CommerceJohn tweeted that he expects more businesses to implement mobile click and collect to increase the interactions between online and stores.
• Common theme discussed was the impact of 4G on mobile plans. @AndrewBaker72 suggested that, as 4G rolls out, it will have an impact on the ability to push content such as product videos via mobile sites. @jamesgurd added that the ability to annotate videos with individual product links will benefit retailers trying to use mobile content to drive sales.

Further reading:
Econsultancy blog post on in-store WiFi.
Postcode Anywhere 2013 predictions.
2013 predictions from various industry sources .