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Content
eCommerce Industry Research: Trends and Marketing Insights by 2028
October 17, 2024
15 mins
The eCommerce landscape is booming globally as consumers prioritize convenience in their shopping experiences. Today, Promodo marketers outlined key trends for eCommerce to focus on in 2024 and beyond.
🛒 Global eCommerce sales have surpassed $6 trillion in 2024, with 24% of online retail purchases.
🛒 The eCommerce market is due to exceed $7.9 trillion by 2027.
🛒 2.71 billion people shop online, while the U.S. makes $1.256 trillion in eCommerce sales.
🛒 In 2024, the global eCommerce market volume will reach $1.47 trillion.
🛒 eCommerce revenue will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.49% from 2024 to 2029 and reach $6.48 trillion by 2029.
🛒 China enjoys a global lead with over $3 trillion in annual eCommerce sales, which accounts for over 50% of the world's online sales.
🛒 With 13.98 million eCommerce websites, the current number of US online shoppers of 280 million is about to grow by 288.20 million by 2026.
US retail sales are set to experience steady and moderate growth through 2028, with a notable shift favoring eCommerce is anticipated to expand at over four times the rate of in-store sales.
Major retailers are boosting their online sales channels in response to evolving consumer behaviors, particularly among Gen Zs increasingly driving digital commerce.
Emerging trends in product categories offer promising avenues for growth in the digital marketplace. To capitalize on these opportunities, retailers enhance their online strategies and align them with the preferences of today’s digital-savvy consumers.
According to eMarketer, in 2024, the US eCommerce will grow from $1.2 trillion to $2.0 trillion in sales by 2028.
AI is transforming the eCommerce landscape by offering personalized shopping experiences. Algorithms analyze customer data to recommend products that match preferences, creating more engaging and customized interactions that drive conversions.
Some 80% of retail and eCommerce businesses are utilizing AI chatbots or planning to implement them soon. Moreover, by 2030, AI is forecasted to manage 80% of all customer interactions. If you need a chatbot to boost customer retention, Promodo can help set up a chatbot for your eCommerce business across any messaging platform.
Generative AI directly impacts the customer journey in eCommerce. Here's how it can enhance various stages:
🛒 Generative AI refines the pre-purchase experience through targeted content and dynamic recommendation engines. By understanding customer behavior, retailers can offer highly personalized product suggestions, improving communication and driving conversions.
🛒 AI enhances delivery logistics through efficient route planning and real-time tracking updates. This not only streamlines operations for retailers but also boosts customer satisfaction with timely information.
🛒 AI-powered shopping assistants leverage advanced language models for natural, interactive dialogues with customers. This approach moves beyond traditional chatbots, creating a more engaging and responsive shopping experience that offers real-time product recommendations.
🛒 AI systems improve customer service by effectively handling complex queries, leading to greater accuracy and efficiency. This results in smoother interactions and higher satisfaction for customers seeking assistance.
🛒 By analyzing feedback and purchase history, AI generates personalized offers and content, fostering ongoing engagement and strengthening brand loyalty.
Statista (2024) emphasizes that voice assistants like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri are changing how people shop online.
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That’s why the increasing adoption of voice search means that eCommerce businesses need to optimize their content marketing strategy to ensure they appear in voice search results.
Augmented reality (AR) enhances customers' shopping experience by allowing them to visualize products in real-world settings before purchasing. AR features in online stores reduce return rates and help customers feel more confident in their buying decisions. For example, over 35% of U.S. respondents stated that they use augmented reality to visualize furniture or customize vehicles.
The convenience of mobile shopping continues to grow, with smarter mobile app features simplifying product discovery and checkout. Mobile commerce remains a crucial aspect of eCommerce, and businesses are increasingly optimizing for mobile to capture on-the-go buyers.
Find more insights on fashion mobile commerce in Promodo’s research 👇
Social eCommerce is booming, with platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok becoming vital sales channels. For example, according to Statista, 20.6% of respondents use Facebook for social commerce shopping. Integrating product catalogs and enabling seamless purchasing within social media apps creates new opportunities for brands to reach customers.
Unified commerce represents the pinnacle of retail strategy beyond conventional multichannel approaches to ensure seamless integration across all platforms. The strategy focuses on curating every customer interaction to foster loyalty through personalization.
Central to unified commerce is a Single Customer View (SCV), achieved by leveraging advanced data science, including machine learning and predictive analytics. This allows retailers to create detailed customer personas based on behaviors, preferences, and purchasing patterns beyond mere demographics.
With enhanced data analytics, customer segmentation now embraces behavioral and psychographic factors to enable more effective and personalized marketing strategies. This results in channel optimization, ensuring the right product reaches the right customer at the right time and place.
Furthermore, the SCV enables SKU-level customization, allowing retailers to anticipate customer needs and recommend relevant products precisely when they are most likely to convert. For marketers, this underscores the importance of data-driven insights for tailoring customer experiences and boosting conversion rates.
Trending Now: While omnichannel commerce aims to enhance customer experience across often disconnected channels, unified commerce integrates all business operations and channels into a single platform. For marketers, this highlights the importance of seamless integration to improve customer engagement and streamline operations. Unified commerce is the next step in omnichannel retailing, moving beyond mere integration of online and offline channels. It offers a cohesive customer experience by consolidating all retail processes into a single platform, ensuring seamless interactions across every channel and touchpoint. For marketers, this means creating a consistent and integrated strategy that enhances customer engagement and satisfaction.
Mobile phones lead the world in digital commerce, accounting for most website visits and online orders. In the first quarter of 2024, smartphones accounted for approximately 77% of global retail traffic and generated about two-thirds of all online shopping orders.
Statista (2024) reports a steady YoY increase in mobile eCommerce sales expected to grow to 3.4 billion by 2027 compared to 2.5 billion today.
Core reasons for the trend:
According to Adobe Experience Cloud (2024), desktops show an average CR of 3%, whereas smartphones reach 2%. This is because most shoppers primarily use smartphones to explore research purposes; nonetheless, they eventually purchase from their desktops or laptops.
Understanding consumer behavioral patterns is pivotal for eCommerce success. By analyzing customer preferences, browsing habits, and purchase triggers, businesses can adapt their strategies to meet user needs more effectively.
According to Growth Collective (2024):
🛒 84.3% of males are more likely to buy online than women.
🛒 Shoppers increasingly prefer online retailers for their speed, convenience, and variety of products, but over 50% still value in-person shopping, especially during events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2024.
🛒 30.94% of shoppers buy products on branded sites, 24.83% opt for marketplaces, 15.27 choose physical stores, 14.61% buy online, and 10.49% prefer social media.
🛒 61.82% trust online reviews on a retailer’s website, while 38.05% visit third-party review sites.
🛒 Almost 30% of shoppers prefer physical touch with the items they are about to purchase. The same amount of respondents trust their immediate word-of-mouth referrals.
🛒 18.79% prefer to buy now and pay later, while 15.74% rely on virtual chat assistance, Celigo, 2024 reports.
Celigo (2024) polled US citizens to explore buying behaviors. The data reveals how consumers make purchasing decisions online:
🛒 About 36.85% of shoppers compare prices across multiple sites, indicating that price competitiveness is a key factor.
🛒 21.85% trust online marketplaces as the best source of value, which proves the pivotal role of eCommerce platforms like Amazon in consumer trust.
🛒 20.45% prefer buying from trusted websites, which emphasizes brand credibility.
🛒 13.94% visit physical stores before buying online, reflecting a trend where consumers want to evaluate products in-person before making a digital purchase, combining both online and offline experiences.
Free delivery is a major way to increase conversions. 93% of shoppers are more inclined to make a purchase, and 90% think it’s the greatest benefit.
Payment flexibility is another important feature in purchasing decisions. According to a Merchant Payments Ecosystem survey by HubSpot (2024), if a customer's preferred payment option isn't available, half of them will back out of the transaction.
According to Growth Collective (2024), personalization has the power to transform, but only when executed well. Businesses that master personalization see revenue growth of 40% above their counterparts who don't. So far, increased conversions have led to ROI and revenue spikes by up to 223%.
To get more insights on personalization in eCommerce, read our recent blog posts on Dynamic Content and Automated Offers in Retention Marketing.
User-generated content (UGC) is a powerful conversion booster. Users who interact with UGC convert at a rate that is 102.4% greater than that of typical users. Conversion rates for eCommerce websites are currently between 1% and 4%, with an average of 2.58% for global rates and 2.57% for US rates:
To dig even deeper, ShipStation (2024) provides an in-depth overview of behavioral patterns featuring omnichannel shoppers:
🛒 Online-first flexers (33%) prefer to shop online rather than in physical stores. Nonetheless, they often opt for out-of-home delivery and returns options while shopping online. These are mainly urban residents who prefer expanded options and accessibility both online and offline.
🛒 Store-first flexors (21%) are older lower-income shoppers who buy in-store, though prefer to research items and prices online. With digital exploration and physical fulfillment, these shoppers match the online research and purchase offline (ROPO) effect.
🛒 Omnichannel maestros (19%) swing between bricks and clicks as well as home and out-of-home delivery. Their core focus is on ultimate convenience.
🛒 Online-only shoppers (16%) are browsing and purchasing online, emphasizing utter convenience and home delivery. These are mostly suburban Millennial (30-44) and GenX (45-59) customers with high spending power who avoid physical touchpoints.
🛒 Store loyalists (11%) are mainly in-store shoppers aged 65 and up who browse and purchase physically. They eagerly communicate with in-store staff and prefer the “try before you buy” experience.
To effectively compete in the highly saturated eCommerce market, businesses need a well-developed digital marketing strategy that includes different channels. Here are several key areas for you to prioritize based on the outlined eCommerce trends:
With most eCommerce traffic coming from mobile devices, it’s crucial to have a mobile-first approach. Ensure your website is mobile-friendly, fast, and easy to navigate to enhance user experience and conversion rates. Besides, invest in mobile app development as well as its promotion with ASO and paid user acquisition.
Invest in targeted PPC campaigns to reach customers actively searching for products. Platforms like Google Ads, Meta Ads, and TikTok Ads can effectively drive relevant traffic and boost brand visibility.
Our team recommends using PPC automation tools to maximize efficiency in your ad campaigns. For large eCommerce stores, using automation can streamline bidding, optimize ad placements, and improve overall performance. Promodo offers unique tools like G-MOS, FeedOptimizer, and AdsHub to help manage and enhance your PPC campaigns effectively, ensuring your business stays ahead in a competitive market.
SEO is a cornerstone of any successful eCommerce strategy, and Promodo has proven this through a wide range of client success stories. By focusing on strategic SEO practices, we’ve helped numerous online stores significantly increase organic traffic and boost qualified leads.
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Can you imagine that up to 70% of online shopping carts are being abandoned in the United States? Abandoned carts account for some $18 billion in sales revenue losses for eCommerce stores. What’s more, the higher the cost of products, the higher the cart abandonment rate.
According to Bigcommerce (2024), 7 in 10 online shoppers abandon their shopping carts after adding the products due to:
To decrease the shopping cart abandonment rate, Promodo offers the following digital marketing solutions:
At Promodo, we specialize in full-cycle digital marketing solutions for eCommerce to grow your brand awareness online, increase your sales, and retain your customers.
Our experienced team works across all digital channels—from SEO to PPC and social media—to help your brand succeed online.
Content Marketing Manager at Promodo
Taras has 16 years of hands-on copywriting experience overseas with 3000+ unique copies.
Accredited with Certificate of Proficiency in English (C2 level) by Cambridge University. Studied at Writing Launch Academy (United States) and owns an Academic Writing Certificate from Oregon University. Author of 12 dictionaries with Apriori Publishers.
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