PayPal Stories Archive

 

We're well into the New Year, but it's not too late to create a forward-thinking plan to capitalize on the latest in ecommerce marketing, sales, and media. Here's a look at some ecommerce trends that could shape your business's marketing strategy in the year to come.

 

For the past few years, we moved from a world where businesses designed their ecommerce sites primarily for desktop shopping to one where best practices dictated an omni-channel development approach. In 2016, that trend will shift even further, where designing for mobile devices takes precedence before making an equal investment in desktop-based design. This is particularly important for businesses with limited development funds.

 

A November 2014 Forrester report forecasts that mobile and tablet commerce could reach $142 billion in the US by 2019, representing 38% of online transactions. And, while the younger the shopper, the greater their relationship with their smartphone, consumers of all ages are engaging more and more in mobile shopping – whether it’s for purchasing or product research.

 

And, if you haven't even optimized your site for mobile, now is the time. Check out our best practices for mobile optimization.

 

If you have any doubts about the possibilities for your business, consider this: A 2014 McKinsey report study estimated that 1.8 billion people will become consumers by 2025, spending $30 trillion annually – or 50% of the world’s consumption. 

 

It’s essential to understand how customers in your target markets prefer to pay for goods and services online. As you research payment providers, make sure they offer one or more payment methods – for example, debit cards or PayPal – that appeal to customers in your target markets. People prefer to pay using their local currency, an internationally recognized currency such as U.S. dollars may also be an option.

 

Shipping internationally is becoming easier as many companies now offer all-in-one cross-border solutions that go beyond shipping. Fee-based services will ship your products internationally for you, taking care of customs, documentation, and shipping logistics. All you need to do is get your goods to their domestic warehouse.

 

Buying a purse, an opera ticket, or a drill bit is about to be as easy as liking someone's post.

 

"Buy Now" buttons will be popping up on more and more social media platforms, from Facebook to Pinterest to Twitter. Contextual commerce takes advantage of social sharing and peer recommendations within a consumer's social network, creating an innovative buying experience embedded where user communities are actively engaged.

 

In addition to social media, you'll also be able to embed buttons in your own channels, such as your blog and branded content—even directly within your emails—pretty much anywhere else you can think to drop a button.

 

The result is a much shorter want-to-buy path, helping improve conversion rates.

 

EMV—which stands for Europay, MasterCard and Visa—is a global standard for cards equipped with special computer chips. When used in card-present transactions, the chip creates a single-use unique transaction code, helping protect shoppers and reduce the cost of fraud for businesses.

 

European banks have been issuing credit cards with chips for years, and now the US is finally catching up. By the end of 2016, the vast majority all credit and debit cards issued in the US will contain an EMV chip.

 

Chip cards require the use of new chip card readers, such as the PayPal Chip Card Reader. In an effort to spur businesses to transition to chip card readers, MasterCard, Visa, Discover and American Express, began in October 2015 to shift the liability for card-present fraud to whichever party is the least EMV-compliant in a fraudulent transaction.

 

The value of branded video content is going to increase dramatically. This is due, in part, to the power of YouTube, which has more than four billion views per day, making it the second most popular search engine in the world (behind Google). It's estimated that by 2019, 80% of all internet traffic will be video.

 

Your branded videos can range from employee interviews to customer reviews and product promotions. And, you don’t have to start from scratch. You can repurpose some of your existing content just by converting it to video form.

 

In addition to the "About us" section, there are other places on your site where videos can make an impact. Add a video to your home page to introduce your business and leadership to potential customers. Product demonstrations and customer testimonials are great additions to your product category and product-level pages.

 

Fortunately, today there are many intuitive video solutions and editing platforms, giving small businesses the ability to create content quickly and easily.

 

From mobile shopping to rich media and social selling available to even the smallest of businesses, these trends should help guide your ecommerce strategy for a successful 2016.

 

Happy selling!