Many of us are shopping differently than we used to, from buying subscriptions to discovering new brands on social media. Some of us are rushing to do more shopping in stores after being limited by the pandemic, or ordering online and picking up curbside.     

Whether these changes are generational and/or a reaction to all that’s been happening in the world during the last few years, consumers’ expectations when it comes to shopping are now different and likely changed for good. What is it that consumers expect? Ultimately: that merchants meet them where they are. They want a cohesive customer experience that spans any channel at any time of day or night, and marketing and communications that are responsive to their preferences and life situations. In other words, consumers want omnichannel shopping experiences.

As 2022 comes to a close, we hope our recommendations and insights over the last year helped answer your questions, spark new ideas and put you on a path to optimize your business, including well-designed PDPs, great mobile experiences, fabulous site search, engaging lifestyle and educational content, proactive zero- and first-party data collection, more diversified marketing strategies, stellar subscription self-management portals, and more. 

YouTube is an eCommerce channel that can’t be ignored. In addition to being the second most popular social platform after Facebook with more than 2 billion monthly users worldwide, YouTube is also the second most popular search engine after Google. Research shows that 90% of consumers say they discover new brands or products on YouTube, and 40% say they have purchased those products. Seventy-five percent of consumers say that using YouTube makes for a better shopping experience. 

Black Friday/Cyber Monday (BFCM) is a critical event for most retailers, historically delivering 20-30% or more of total holiday revenue. Therefore, you want to be sure your eCommerce site is ready and able to handle the influx of visitors and that you have strategies in place to convert one-time purchasers into longer-term customers. To help merchants capitalize on BFCM this year, we reached out to some of our tech partners for insights on what is the most important area they think merchants should focus on to get the highest return on their efforts. 

Shopify Editions are the company’s bi-annual highlights of what’s new in terms of products and features. The Summer 2022 release covered a lot of cool new developments. We thought it would be helpful for us to pick out the things that have us most excited, explain what they might mean for your business, and what are some next steps you can take to leverage the latest of what Shopify has to offer.

You’ve probably heard about non-fungible tokens (NFTs): digital tokens that prove ownership of one-of-a-kind digital assets including art, images, tweets, and videos. Some of the most notorious NFTs include characters in the Bored Ape Yacht Club and digital artist Beeple’s $69 million NFT titled “Everydays: The First 5,000 Days.”

eCommerce subscriptions continue to grow by leaps and bounds – it’s estimated that subscription sales increased by 41% in 2020 and that 2021 eCommerce subscription revenue was $10 billion higher than in 2019. 

Selling internationally can be a game-changer for your eCommerce business. About 75% of the world’s purchasing power and more than 95% of consumers are outside of the US. Global eCommerce sales are projected to grow from $4.9 trillion in 2021 to $7.4 trillion in 2025 – a 50% increase in just four years.

What does it mean to “earn” the customer? It means you have to put the work in. eCommerce brands must be strategic about delivering great customer experiences that keep customers coming back.