E-commerce Trends 2017: Online Shopping Statistics

by  Alina Bragina, Guest Contributor

Have you decided to create a winning e-commerce marketing strategy, haven’t you? Then you need to start planning now as customers become harder to win and their whirlwind visits are more problematic to hold.

A right way to start with is to scrape together a sufficient quantity of stats, analyze it and shape your e-commerce business development plan.  
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Online Shopping Statistics

​Hot Online Shopping Trends
The statistics you may find is of a global nature and requires precise integration into your business plans:

#1 Tendency: E-commerce Moves EastwardThe US was rightfully considered as the main driver in online e-commerce. Surprisingly, over the last 15 years China and other far eastern countries have caught up with the US:​​

According to the research results, about 19% of all retail sales occurred in China via the Internet. However, it made only about 6.7% in Japan, for instance.

Keynote: When analyzing the data pay attention to economic advancement and population in different countries instead of blind following the outcome. Spread your business geography and think about creating a new store view in Chinese.

#2 Tendency: Mobile Traffic Growth
There’s no need to say mobile devices now make up more than a half of global web traffic and continue gaining pace. Nevertheless, the majority of customers shopping via mobile devices are still dissatisfied with the performance quality of the process. Some of them find fault with security issues while the others prefer PCs for convenience. In line with the latest research, only 38% mobile shopping sessions out of 59% have made revenue.

Keynote: Merchants should raze out the difference between ‘mobile’ and ‘desktop’ users. You can make shopping experience convenient and secure without intending to be bound by a particular device choice.​

#3 Tendency: Increased Competition
More and more start-ups entering the sphere of online retail while taking seasoned webshops and brick and mortar brands back seat.

If the stats is something to go by, the number of customers shopping online will significantly raise and your task here as a merchant is to preserve a niche you have taken and rise to a new level.​

Keynote: Ramp up brand-new tools and extensions for making your website boast. Only running up-to-date solutions and staying on the same page allow for business advancement. ​​

#4 Tendency: Changes In Online/ In-store Shopping Preferences
Consumers prefer buying some products in brick and mortar stores, whereas other goods are normally sold online. The stats shows the percent of such virtual goods as books, video games, movies, music, as well as real-life toys normally overcomes the percent of the items in the same product category sold in brick and mortar stores:

Keynote: Having examined customer's preferences, you’ll manage to improve your inventory filling and correct stock load.​

#5 Tendency: Creativity Is Everywhere  
A current customer won’t be surprised with multicolored website skins and pop-up AJAX windows. The latest tendencies of the sphere signify we are moving towards AR apps that are to allow for maximum opening of online shopping to reality.

Keynote: Keep options open making up new and new creativity challenges for your team. Read industry articles and share your opinion with team and customers. Apply A/B testing to achieve more precise results.   
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Meet troubles halfway and remember the statistical results require professional marketing approach before being implemented.
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Author Bio:

Alina is a technical writer at Amasty who is keen to e-commerce and implementation of new solutions into the sphere. She believes self-enhancement and spot-on goal setting contribute to any project's success. Being a regular buyer of numerous online stores she wants to work a fine line between customer’s needs and merchant’s interest.