11 Ecommerce Trends Shaping the Industry for 2024

It’s sort of a tradition for businesses in every industry to make predictions for the year ahead.  So, we also decided to share our take on ecommerce market trends for 2024, backed by data.  

So, which emerging changes and current tendencies will make their way into the new year?

Let’s dive in:

• Onsite marketing personalization is a top priority

• Buying on mobile will dominate the shopping experience

• AI is on the move to improve online shopping experience

• The subscription model remains a reliable way to boost retention

• Multichannel customer services is key to customer satisfaction

• Product videos remain the top preferred content type in ecommerce

• Sustainability becomes a crucial factor in decision-making

• More customers will buy from ethical businesses

• Social selling continues to surge

• Headless ecommerce brings better ROI

• Zero-party data strategy helps prepare for future data policies

1. Onsite marketing personalization is a top priority

With ad costs skyrocketing, ecommerce businesses will need to make sure they have the best chance to convert their existing traffic. Onsite ("on a website") personalization is one of the best ways to achieve that—it’s a strategy of creating relevant experiences for online shoppers based on data and targeting.

Onsite personalization includes:

• Dynamic content on web pages (any content that changes based on signals like browsing data)

• Product recommendations and upsell based on the visitors' browsing and purchasing history

• Personalized marketing offers (discounts and special deals) for every customer or customer group

Clearly, data such as buying history, browsing history, website behavior, and traffic source will become essential for creating personalized marketing campaigns:

Ecommerce popups are perfect for sharing personalized offers based on this data thanks to built-in audience targeting in popup apps (source: Wisepops):

...and the same could be said about page targeting options (showing personalized campaigns on specific store pages):

And ecommerce properties (Shopify properties in the below image) that allow creating personalized campaigns based on shopping cart content and customer data:

Let’s see a simple example of onsite personalization in action:

This website popup is shown to a visitor who viewed a couple of pages with casseroles but have not seen the variant of the product in the new color (Sea Salt):

This way, the store personalizes the shopper’s experience by showing relevant suggestions based on their browsing behavior. The result: a potential customer browses more pages and learn more about products.

2. Buying via mobile devices will dominate the shopping experience

Sixty percent. 

That's how many online sales are attributed to mobile shopping, says Statista.

Furthermore, the same source predicts that the mobile shopping experience will dominate the ecommerce market.

Just by looking at its yearly growth, from 56% market share in 2018 to a projected 62% in 2027, we can already tell that this trend will not go anywhere in 2024. 

Working with our users, we also observed that mobile popups bring more conversions compared to the desktop-only ones.

For instance, an ecommerce store Charlotte Bio followed this method and used Wisepops to integrate discount popups to the website’s desktop and mobile versions (see below) for the flash sale announcement campaign:

The mobile popup delivered particularly great results (in comparison to the desktop):

• 1,445 displays (290 for desktop);

• 734 clicks (137 for desktop);

• 50.8% CTR (47.2% for desktop).

3. AI is on the move to improve online shopping experience

AI has always been one of the most discussed topics. 

However, it really reached its peak in 2023. 

Just take a look at Google Trends—AI has and still remains at the top of everyone’s minds. 

In particular, online conversations often revolve around how AI can improve different fields, including ecommerce. 

Statista ran a survey to narrow down the possible ecommerce improvements contributed by AI, boiling down to these:

• Price comparison (50% of respondents);

• Finding deals (46% of respondents);

• Relevant offerings/products (41% of respondents);

• Personalized assistance (35%);

• Reviews (29%).

Given that so many people already expect brands to implement AI solutions to their functionality, you should make it one of your top priorities for 2024. 

Besides, many brands have already tapped into this ecommerce trend using ecommerce AI tools—

Decathlon Belgium, for example reached a 2.5 times increase in conversion rates, a 40% boost in the average order value, and a 224% uplift in the average revenue per user by implementing a personalized product discovery feature. 

This feature is powered by Syte’s Visual Discovery and Hyper-personalization AI-powered suites.

These suites are facilitated by tools that scan a customer’s current website session and offer the most suitable product options based on this data.

4. The subscription model remains a reliable way to boost retention

MeUndies, one of the fastest-growing online apparel brands, has sold 17 million pairs of underwear since 2011, relying only on its cash flow and credit facility to stay afloat. 

In 2020, the brand finally reached $100K in profit, although it initially took them five years to see the first surplus. 

How did they stay afloat?

MeUndies follows a direct-to-customer (DTC) subscription model. 

Here’s how it works. 

A customer subscribes to a monthly or quarterly membership and gets new pairs of underwear. 

Also, since the brand started selling its products without a subscription, those who are members can buy their items for a cheaper price. 

Why will the subscription model remain among the top future trends in ecommerce?

High retention rates. 

Think about it—a subscription is a kind of commitment that a customer can only make if they are fully satisfied with a product and want more of it without having to shop for it again. 

Besides, the available data says it all. 

Take a look at these retention rates from 2020 sourced by product category. 

All of them are either over an average ecommerce retention rate (28.2%) or only 1% below it. 

So, we can safely assume that subscriptions will remain among ecommerce retail trends, given the data and the fact that retaining a customer is much cheaper than getting a new one. 

5. Multichannel customer services is key to customer satisfaction

Dear reader,

How do you prefer to contact a brand’s customer service?

Stats say email dominated the game in June 2022, but will it remain so in 2024?

We bet it won’t, and the data indicates the same. 

HubSpot’s data reveals that the number of consumers who reached out to brands through social media increased by 27% in 2023 compared to 2022—more proof in favor of multichannel customer service. 

Obviously, this trend is not new but a well-forgotten old that is very likely to make the top digital commerce trends in 2024. 

Customers still expect you to create an integrated customer support ecosystem, which can include the following channels:

• Phone;

• Email;

• Live chat;

• Chatbots;

• Self-service (learning base);

• Social media (DMs);

• Forums and communities;

• SMS messages. 

The key here is to make navigating this ecosystem seamless—let your customers jump from one channel to another uninterrupted.

Let’s move on to the next ecommerce trend.

6. Product videos remain the top preferred content type in ecommerce

Images can showcase your product just fine. 

But do they offer a full product view?

Hardly. 

55% of consumers use videos to make purchase decisions, so give them what they seek this year as well. 

There are some other reasons that speak in favor of product videos:

In other words, video does a better job presenting your product and educating a customer; that’s why so many consumers want more of this content type. 

One important stipulation here. 

Your videos should be branded, i.e., created by you and carrying your brand’s unique style code. 

Unfortunately, today’s ecommerce market is saturated with fake brands that steal other companies’ content and pass it off as theirs. 

Recently, a YouTuber, Safiya Nygaard, uncovered a scam of several brands stealing UGC videos created for the brand called LarRobe. 

The copycat dresses they sent were either of lower quality or a different design. Some brands just took the money and disappeared. 

Furthermore, with a growing movement against scams on social media, which will continue well into 2024, more and more such situations will come to the surface.

7. Sustainability becomes a crucial factor in decision-making

Sustainability in ecommerce has long been at the forefront of everyone’s attention. 

However, brands still seem to be failing at implementing this initiative in their operations. 

Take the CO2 emissions from international shipping alone. 

According to the Net Zero scenario (cutting greenhouse gasses as close to zero as possible), we’re not even on track to reach 605 mt CO2 per year. 

So, what can you do to contribute to the ecommerce sustainability trend in 2024?

• Invest in sustainable packaging. Even though it costs more, 82% of consumers expressed willingness to pay for it.

• Ship in bulk. When possible, such shipments result in lower emissions. 

• Ask customers to reuse or send back product containers. This will save you costs on the new ones and reduce the amount of plastic being thrown out. 

• Implement paperless invoicing email-only receipts. Most shipping companies already work with this approach, helping prevent global deforestation. 

The next commerce trend on our list is related to this one. 

8. More customers will buy from ethical businesses

Users worldwide prefer to buy from highly ethical and sustainable brands. 

For instance, in the UK, consumers of all age groups confirmed they are more likely to buy from such companies.

The question is—

What is an ethical brand?

And does being ethical equal being sustainable?

Turns out, sustainability is a part of an ethical approach to ecommerce. 

An ethical brand does not employ any marketing manipulation tactics or unsustainable business practices and facilitates positive change in ecommerce. 

Why is an ethical approach among the current trends in ecommerce?

We’d say it’s an answer to problems that have taken on a mass character, such as:

• Online piracy;

• Vulnerable data lakes (store large amounts of raw data);

• Email spamming;

• Web tracking;

• Price gouging;

• Greenwashing.

Customers expect businesses to introduce solutions to these issues for the sake of a safe online shopping experience, which is far from ideal now. 

That’s why an ethical approach will remain among the top online retail trends for 2024.

9. Social Selling Continues to Surge

Social selling is a strategy that allows brands to interact with prospects directly through social platforms. It belongs to lead generation tactics. 

Now, how does this interaction happen?

Essentially, you create hyper-personalized content targeting your core audience and publish it on your social media accounts or outsource it altogether to influencers. 

The key activity, however, is to interact with your audience, start conversations about current trends in your industry, promote your product, and reply to DMs. 

You may be asking yourself right now—

Isn’t social selling the same as social commerce? 

These terms are often confused, but there are distinct differences between them.

In other words, social selling is an ecommerce marketing trend, and social commerce is a sales tactic. 

And, given that brands plan to focus more on building relationships with consumers (at least across the EU), social selling will stay on top of the game in 2024, too.  

Now, which platforms will be at the top for social selling in 2024?

Last year, marketers worldwide listed Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter as their top social media channels. 

However, Semrush offers a bit different data, claiming that TikTok will overtake all other platforms in the near future. 

Here are their reasons:

• TikTok has surpassed 1 billion users;

• It’s among the top ten selling platforms for giants like Amazon, eBay, Walmart, and AliExpress;

• 35% of TikTok’s user base made a purchase via the platform. 

For most brands, TikTok is also an opportunity to build relationships with younger audiences and stay on top of the current social media trends to remain relevant. 

Now, let’s talk about one of the emerging ecommerce trends.

10. Headless ecommerce brings better ROI

Headless ecommerce refers to the separation of the frontend and backend of an ecommerce app. 

This method earned a place among the new trends in ecommerce because it allows for more flexibility in building storefront experiences not possible in unified platforms. 

Besides, headless ecommerce brings along various benefits, such as:

• Decreased website loading time because of the separation of frontend from backend;

• More control over the front “presentation” layer since it’s separated from the back layer;

• An opportunity to seamlessly integrate your ecommerce tools with other services. 

Apart from these benefits, recent data indicates that the headless approach will dominate the ecommerce business trends in 2024. 

Take a look at this. 

• 80% of brands that don’t have headless architecture plan to adopt it in the upcoming years. 

• Headless commerce saves time—68% of marketers say it takes them several months to introduce new app features. 

• Headless ecommerce provides seamless shopping experiences, bringing a projected 20% increase in revenue. 

So, you have your time-saving perk, FOMO factor, and revenue boost. 

But still, the question remains—

Is your brand ready for implementing headless ecommerce?

Here’s a quick checklist to help you figure out the answer:

Also, consider if you are financially prepared for this task. 

Going headless can cost hundreds to thousands of dollars, depending on the complexity of the existing architecture. 

Let’s move on to the last ecommerce trend on our list. 

11. Zero-party data strategy helps prepare for future data policies

Zero-party data refers to a data collection strategy that doesn’t involve third-party cookies. 

This strategy started gaining momentum after Apple and Google ended their support of third-party cookies in 2023. So, since it has already been picked up by major players like that, we should expect online brands to follow this online business trend in 2024. 

How do you collect zero-party data?

It’s easier than it may seem:

• Quizzes;

• Conversational popups;

• Post-purchase surveys;

• Visitor polls;

• Product onboarding;

• Giveaways;

• Account signups. 

Contests are a great idea, too.

Check out our latest article about seasonal campaign contests—it’s full of ideas for third-party data collection. 

Learn how one ecommerce business collects customer preferences and generates 5K leads every month:

Read Faguo case study (also available in French)

Wrapping Up 

If you thought 2023 was the year of pivotal changes in ecommerce, 2024 will definitely keep you on your toes. 

From the emerging role of AI and a surging need for better consumer data protection to mobile shopping and the demand to go ethical and sustainable, global ecommerce will definitely be reshaped in the years to come. 

And it’s a good thing—the latest ecommerce trends we listed create a hopeful picture of a hyper-personalized, well-optimized, and safe online shopping experience. 

Need a hand staying on top of these trends?

We can help you with the first one—on-site optimization!

See how you can grow with Wisepops