Top-7 Marketplace Development Trends in 2019
In 2018 e-commerce has demonstrated the record-breaking numbers of global sales. Around 8 billion US dollars were transacted in the USA just on a single Cyber Monday. The experts predict the fastest and constant online marketplace development in the next few years, making electronic commerce the main global retail channel. Actually, we have now come to the point when the cutting-edge technologies and the growing digitalization are fundamentally changing the way the ecommerce is conducted.
We have analysed and presented the digital marketplace trends 2019. They can help you lead the pack in the following year and beyond improving the online shopping experience for your customers.
Online marketplace websites present businesses with the new and exciting ways to drive innovative changes within their eCommerce activity.
So if you have been considering shifting to a new level in your business, it’s high time and the right moment to think about the digital marketplace development. Not sure what to start with?-Stfalcon expert team is always ready to provide you with all kinds of professional assistance in this question, practical or informational.
Let’s find out what are the main online marketplace driving trends for 2019.
1. Mobile Design and Progressive Web Apps.
The number of smartphone owners continues growing and it will not stop in the several nearest years for sure. To be in trend you should create an online marketplace with a perfect mobile design and consider the app development for the marketplace you launch.
At present, the technological progress of mobile devices goes at such a pace, that they can even stamp out ordinary Computers from the market completely. As a smart business owner, you should make the mobile-first design creation the main priority in your online marketplace software development. Make sure you put enough effort into the adaptive or responsive design you work at and provide the users with a sufficient UX quality. The additional bonus to cover your effort will be better search-engine ranking because mobile-optimized sites are ranked better. Use Google AMP technology for your site and get your web platform prioritized in the search results by default.
Another software development trend, closely connected to a mobile interface, which will remain up-to-date in 2019 is progressive web apps creation. The PWAs work on any mobile browser and should not be downloaded. The apps are called progressive because they combine the advantages of mobile experience with the benefits of browser technology. At the same time, they are easier to develop and maintain compared to the native or hybrid mobile apps. It’s a sparkling idea to think about PWA for your business next year as well.
2. Hyper-personalization
Contemporary customers expect personal experience from shopping, that’s why personalization is going to rule the ecommerce sphere in 2019. To be successful you should make all the ways you target and appeal to your customers personalized. We would even advise tying together all digital touch points and create hyper-personalization across all the aspects of the customer journey around your online marketplace. The truly unique user experience for each individual visitor is a secret ingredient of your web-based shopping platform success in 2019.
Satisfying the high expectations of the consumers may be quite challenging, however, not impossible. If you want to gain your users once and forever present them with a few, but high quality, safe and relevant search results, specific to the many data points collected from their profiles. Relieve your customers from the necessity of scrolling through multiple irrelevant items, value their time and you’ll benefit from it.
3. Voice Search
The rise of voice technology has already totally changed the way the users interact with their gadgets. Human voice has become a tool of searching and purchasing products already and gave birth to a new term «voice commerce». According to OC&C Strategy Consultants estimations, the voice commerce will hit 40 billion USD sales in the USA alone by 2022 already. So for your users’ convenience, building an online marketplace you should optimize it for the voice search.
4. Artificial Intelligence
The development of voice technology goes in tie link to the artificial intelligence, which can fundamentally change the modern online marketplace solutions making them more efficient for the consumers. But why is artificial intelligence considered nowadays the key driver of digital transformation?
AI can categorize goods automatically, improve the quality of photos by default, translate item descriptions and listings as well as messenger conversations. Besides, aiming to provide the high-quality services and enhance customer experience, AI technology can recommend the items similar to the ones the buyer search and the ones to match his or her choice.
If you have taken up an ecommerce marketplace development or optimization, then artificial intelligence is something you should keep an eye on in 2019.
5. Augmented Reality
AR has already become an alternative way to see the world, blurring the lines between physical and digital reality it can provide the users with the unique opportunity to try goods outside physical stores. Augmented reality is able to enhance the customer’s experience in the purchase consideration phase, thus to help your clients make better choices just offer them AR and the opportunity to interact with it.
6. Mobile Payments: Google Pay & Apple pay, Blockchain Technology
Mobile transactions have come to make the traditional payments easier and safer. The user’s information stored on the mobile devices reduces friction in the process of making a transaction. Apple Pay and Google Pay technologies are now quite beneficial for the development of a web-based marketplace as they allow creating a seamless experience for the customers in the process of checkout. A «long or complicated checkout» was one of the main reasons for cart abandonment in 2018, about 25% of the buyers admitted that.
Besides, digital currencies are no longer a foreign affair. To be in trend, you should also introduce such a payment option to your customers in the process of web development of a marketplace. The advantage of this payment method is that the currency can be received and converted in real time, with direct funds deposited into your account without any restrictions to the amount, location or device. More than that the Blockchain technology almost eliminates the risk of frauds and chargebacks.
7. Customer Involvement
In 2019 consumer engagement is going to shift to quite a new level. So, how to make an online marketplace engaging with this in mind? As a smart developer, you should invest in complex software for data collection and exploration and also encourage your users to generate content. Active customer engagement results to the users’ loyal attitude to your platform and has a fantastic marketing side effect. In case you have not involved the buyers until now, it’s high time to start.
Final Words
Today the online marketplaces offer businesses all kinds of great benefits and advantages for making money and for getting sales. However, the industry is constantly changing ruled by certain digital and technological trends.
Originally published in Stfalcon.com.
This story is published in The Startup, Medium’s largest entrepreneurship publication followed by +421,678 people.
Subscribe to receive our top stories here.
Thanks for reading the end. Before you go:
Follow us on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok to see the company lifestyle.
Follow us on Bēhance, Dribbble, and Stfalcon to find design case studies.
Please consider clapping and following the blog!
