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With an estimated 42.9% of online sales going through mobile by 2024, it’s key for business owners to give their customers a positive mobile shopping experience. Customer retention rates can drop drastically when customers have a negative experience on a mobile device — 40% of consumers with a poor mobile experience will go to the competition.

And yet many brands miss the opportunity. Instead of adjusting the mobile user experience to the needs of their customers, companies rely on an underperforming sales channel that heavily impacts conversions.

Here are some of the best practices a mobile-optimized online store should have:

• Quick checkout (no multiple screens and numerous data fields)
• Easy search option (always visible and accessible)
• Thumb-oriented interaction (place all important elements within the reach of a thumb)
• Fast and varied payment options (also consider adding financing solutions)
• Smart suggestions (content-based recommendation systems are scalable and specific to one user)
• Add interactivity to videos and images (zooming, maneuvering)

Omnichannel ecommerce stores use many channels to sell and interact with customers. These channels can include social media, a website, a mobile app, and a brick-and-mortar store. It’s estimated that over half of ecommerce businesses use the omnichannel model.

Having a presence and selling capacity across channels is not a new concept, the true opportunity of the omnichannel model lies in the aggregation and analytics of data generated by every channel. Because omnichannel is seen as the future of ecommerce, the approach requires a strategic approach to cross-channel management. An omnichannel platform helps integrate data sources into one place and make informed decisions for different customer segments.

The goal of omnichannel is to create a seamless communication and interaction experience for potential customers, making an efficient sales funnel regardless of the first contact channel. It’s critical for companies to reassess the omnichannel strategy regularly to spot and eliminate any inefficiencies.

Having integrated inventory management software can help automate processes and decrease inefficiencies connected with restocking. Inventory software keeps the supply chain healthy and stock levels predictable.

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) for ecommerce integrates many data sources to optimize operations across the whole organization. An ERP gives businesses a detailed view of daily business activities. ERPs can be used by different departments for supply chain operations, procurement, risk management, and inventory control.

Integrated payments systems help process payments and automate accounting from transactions financed through different payment options. Embedded into the EPR software, payment systems also give insight into all revenue streams, revealing underperforming channels or areas for improvement.

Every transaction, or even contact with a shop (e.g., a simple search query in a search engine), generates volumes of actionable data for online retailers. Business insights fueled by data sets from various sources give companies a detailed map of customer journeys. Data analytics lets retailers identify inefficiencies in the whole sales process, introduce fixes, and monitor the performance of the changes. Data is a core element of every customer-facing business because it offers a constant stream of possible opportunities. 

With a regular stream of data, artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms can create detailed predictions for different customer segments. It eliminates the guesswork from inventory planning and response to demand fluctuations.

Customers who don’t have the ability to try on the merchandise before buying can become lost opportunities. Augmented reality and virtual reality both let retailers bring all kinds of products closer to customers. Augmented reality ecommerce plugins help visualize the size, look, and feel of the item.

As augmented reality is getting more refined, allowing retailers to include more details in the 3D model, the technology can become a significant driver for conversions and a tool to combat cart abandonment. Virtual stores accessed through VR headsets can help retailers showcase even large products to customers in a convenient at-home setting.

As brands decrease the number of steps a customer has to take to make a purchase, shoppable ads and social commerce emerge as effective sales channels. Social commerce lets consumers who scroll through their feeds make a purchase directly from the social media platform.

Chatbots are an effective way to provide 24/7 customer support at every stage of the buying journey. Powered by AI, chatbots are increasingly smarter and can be used for a variety of tasks. For example, chatbots can help customers troubleshoot quickly, elaborate on product details, or advise on similar products.

Blockchain is a secure way to store customer data and prevent data breaches. Distributed ledger technology (DLT) is also a reliable transaction tracker with embedded verification. DLTs could help ecommerce with payment processing, inventory management, and transaction processing times.

The UWB technology is a modified version of Bluetooth Low Energy. Retailers can use UWB to deliver real-time offers to customers as they walk around shops. With enough data, UWB reveals important purchase patterns that are the foundation for personalized experiences. For example, a customer who had previously bought a product could be alerted about a special offer for it, or a similar product, as they visit the shop.