With no signs of eCommerce growth slowing down, Pallet Truck Shop, one of the longest-standing online businesses in the UK, has explored the online retail trends for 2017/18, highlighting how being ‘in the know’ can help online agents succeed.
The first trend the experts have noted is the increasing importance of social media. Not simply a tool for communicating with one another, social media is becoming a commercial force to be reckoned with more than ever before. An emerging powerhouse, Facebook is now making it easier than ever before for brands to sell their products on the platform with the Facebook Shop. Enabling consumers to purchase goods through Shopify, they don’t even have to leave Facebook to get their dream item delivered to their door.
Speaking about social media’s importance to e-retail, Phil Chesworth, Managing Director at Pallet Truck Shop, said, “Social media is an incredibly powerful tool for selling items, and to overlook it could spell tragedy. Although some sectors will do better selling this way than others, it’s a cost-effective way to test the market for all businesses.”
The next trend that’s emerging is the focus on rapid delivery time. More ecommerce businesses than ever before are now offering same-day shipping. And even if consumers have to pay an additional fee for this, for the added convenience, it is usually not an issue. As a result, online businesses must up their game if they want to remain competitive and not be left behind by this ever-changing trend.
The final movement, according to the experts, is the rise of 24/7 access to information. Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft have all released updates to their chatbots over the last couple of months, and other companies are set to follow suit. Taking over the customer service aspect of consumer queries and problems, the company is certain these will play a large role in ecommerce, dealing with complaints, follow-ups, and queries in order to make the whole experience faster and more efficient.
Pallet Truck Shop provides quality equipment, such as pallet trucks and table trucks, for ecommerce companies to allow them to meet the needs and expectations of customers – every single time.