14 E-commerce Trends in 2023: The Future of Online Shopping

Entrepreneurs must stay curious about what's trending.

Thousands of users check LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook daily to learn about what's happening worldwide. If you are in the loop with the latest industry news and changes, it can get easier to identify opportunities and stay competitive. Especially for online businesses, staying on top of e-commerce trends is no longer an option but a necessity.

With the rise in the number of e-commerce platforms in the online world, the stakes are higher than ever to make it big. According to a report from PipeCandy, there are 2-3 million e-commerce developments worldwide (not including China) and the USA and Canada make up over 1.3 million of those companies.

So, if you are a business owner afraid of running out of ideas, here is a compilation of the best trends in online shopping heard from industry experts.

E-Commerce trends to look out for in 2023

Did you know that nearly two-thirds of Americans have bought something from Amazon?

Amazon statistics like this show how big the e-commerce industry is. People no longer go into physical stores as often to buy things. Instead, they browse online until they find something to their liking. Since this is a relatively new concept, e-commerce professionals need to learn from each other to improve their businesses.

Exploring these trends will help you do just that.

1. Sustainable packaging

"One e-commerce trend that isn't always touched upon is the growing awareness over packaging materials and the waste it creates. With the rise of online shopping, excessive packaging and packaging that isn't easily recycled is affecting our environment. For instance, 40 percent of plastics are used just once, and what's the largest market for plastics? Packaging.

More and more consumers, as well as business owners, are becoming aware of this and are seeking eco-friendly and sustainable options. The more we demand sustainable alternatives, the better our environmental impact. E-commerce will only continue to grow, so we should seek opportunities that provide long-term benefits in multiple ways."

- Saloni Doshi, CEO at EcoEnclose

2. Mobile purchasing

"One of the biggest e-commerce trends is mobile purchasing (also known as m-commerce). As people become overwhelmingly reliant on their phones, they also use them more for their buying needs.

Amazon is one of the platforms that’s growing without any indication of slowing down. Aside from their great prices and shipping, the Amazon app is built into many smartphones, so people can’t get away from it.

E-commerce developments can keep up with the current trend by making their products easily accessible on cell phones. And investing in targeted ads is a great way for a company to reach its target audience.”

- Nate Masterson, CMO at Maple Holistics

3. Special offers

"Sales funnels help guide a potential customer from a landing page to a sale. So you don't just drive traffic to an e-commerce website and hope they buy one of your products. You take them to a specific page that only discusses a product that interests them.

What the special offer does here is that when you direct them to your page, you make an irresistible benefit, like giving a free eBook to get their email address (for re-marketing). After that, you ask them to buy a small product, then up-sell them to buy a more extensive product (always complimentary)."

- Khris Steven, Owner of Khris Digital

4. Online experience and quick delivery

"From now until 2025, we will see significant steps toward how we, as e-commerce owners or advertisers, showcase and deliver products to consumers on behalf of brands.

Innovation has already begun through increased delivery speed and virtual product interaction. Brands like Ray-Ban allow you to virtually see how you'd look with your phone camera as it places your favorite frame on your face. Most recently, Shopify announced that it would begin to build or purchase warehouses across the states and eventually abroad to reduce costs and time to get products to consumers faster. One thing is for sure: things will only become more efficient, whether virtual or physical.

If you're going to stay ahead in this game, you must be attending masterminds or mentor groups. Too much content is being created daily, and without a peer group to bounce ideas or validate what to tackle first, you'll be left spinning!"

- Nick Shackelford, Co-founder of Structured Social

5. Omnichannel

"Today, only a few online and offline retailers are genuinely omnichannel. As consumers become even more connected to their devices and the technology around them, it will be increasingly important for e-commerce retailers to serve customers on individual channels and provide a seamless customer experience from channel to channel.

That's why we can expect the future of e-commerce to be cross-platform, cross-channel, and completely frictionless. E-commerce will no longer be limited to digital storefronts. Instead, it will be embedded in every consumer touchpoint and become an extension of daily consumer habits."

- Bart Mroz, Co-founder, and CEO of SUMO Heavy

6. Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality

"One of the biggest trends for retailers is the growing role of AR (augmented reality) and VR (virtual reality) in online shopping. We are seeing more and more brands now, allowing you to picture and interact with products as you want them.

It may be a couch you want to purchase and see in your living room. Perhaps it is a piece of jewelry, and you would like to see it on your finger. This technology is adopted more by big brand websites as of now. You won't see smaller businesses practicing it for years to come due to the expense."

7. Guided selling

"Guided selling helps humanize the user experience by quickly engaging the website visitors. It is constructive for expensive or complex products like smartphones or laptops.

It works like a salesperson who quickly approaches customers and asks what they want. The system recommends one or more products based on their answers. It creates a more personalized experience, and first-time consumers feel more confident buying these products."

- Sadi Khan, Digital Manager at Run Repeat

8. Buy now, pay later

"Buy now, pay later is a new payment method that e-commerce stores should consider. It is similar to credit cards, excluding interest or fees. Customers can buy and pay for the product over a certain number of installments."

9. Artificial intelligence

“Retailers of the future will master the art of blending online and offline shopping. This means seamlessly linking user behavior in the digital world with the physical world.

Predictive analytics and AI are the best way to make the most out of every marketing dollar while also providing the end customer with the best experience and product selection that they are looking for. A personalized offering on a mass scale that is available on-demand is the trifecta of retail perfection of the future.”

- Slisha Kankariya, CMO at With Clarity

10. Voice search

"Voice search is all the rage right now, with various experts making their predictions. To keep up with the trends, companies need to optimize for rich snippets for text search, which also bodes well in showing the first results for voice search.

The buy now buttons on websites and social media sites such as Instagram have proved popular. You can register your bank card and bank details on your cell phone and home devices like Google Home, Alexa & Amazon. After a voice search, you can purchase and order delivery with a simple buy now vocal command. Game changer for e-commerce."

11. FOMO

"Fewer sales, more FOMO (fear of missing out). Sales are a big part of e-commerce, but many brands need to leverage the opportunity correctly. We entice customers to act quickly on our sales by offering them for a minimal time (usually only 24 hours) and tapping into the customers' FOMO.

Running sales only occasionally and for a short period encourages customers to move fast when a deal is active. Still, the sales are infrequent enough that customers aren't encouraged to wait for a discount when a product catches their attention."

- Elad Burko, Founder and CEO of Paperwallet 

12. Death of conventional financing

"Alternative financing has gained a lot of popularity among e-commerce companies. Instead of taking out loans or practicing equity financing for investors' money, many businesses now prefer other means. As a result, a broad range of financial instruments tailored to the needs of new-age companies has emerged over the past decade. E-commerce owners ought to make themselves familiar with these financing solutions.

For instance, funding is not repaid in fixed installments in revenue-based financing. Instead, these platforms share a fixed percentage of a company's revenue until the sum is fully repaid.

On the plus side, repayment is flexible. Yet, your business must have recurring revenue to use revenue-based financing. These are some aspects to consider before choosing a financing solution for your company."

- Percy Hung, Cofounder, and CEO of Choco Up

13. Customer-focused product strategy

"With all the e-commerce tools available now, it's possible to target a highly segmented audience. First, define who that is, and then send specific and relevant messages to the right people at the right time. Once you deeply understand your customers' wants and needs, you can make your messaging relevant. Include it in your value proposition, and weave it into your store marketing in email campaigns, ads, and social media activity, to help boost sales.

The most customer-focused e-commerce businesses also provide the best user experience. They know what their customers want from when they first land at the website to their first purchase and how to entice them back for more.

They are also marketing their businesses on social media. They're active on social platforms and have built a large and engaging following. These communities become their best ambassadors. An excellent reputation (just like a bad reputation) spreads like wildfire, and the most successful businesses know this. So they also monitor what people say and engage with positive and negative feedback to manage their reputations."

- Giles Thomas, Founder of AcquireConvert and Whole Design Studios

14. Nurture long-term relationships

“E-commerce businesses that were based solely on acquiring new traffic to increase sales will need to shift their strategy to the retention and increasing customer lifetime value (CLTV).

The return on investment (ROI) on a single purchase from a new buyer is in the red, which strengthens the need to make the customer base loyal by providing new offerings and complementary sales. The tools to support this trend will see a significant rise in popularity and increased complexity to deliver the results.”

- Cezary Kożon - CEO of Spyrosoft

What the future holds

The future of e-commerce is bright and promising. Staying on top of these e-commerce trends will help you be aware of where the future of e-commerce is heading and give you a chance to be part of its massive growth.  Apply these trends to your current work model, and you’ll be sure to rise above the noise.

Want to learn about getting started as an e-commerce company? Learn how to build an e-commerce website and sell products online with our comprehensive guide.

 This article was originally published in 2019. It has been updated with new information.