The SaaS guide eCommerce trends shaping the tech in 2020

General, Price-monitoring, eCommerce-trends, SaaS  · 

As the holiday season comes to its end, and we all enjoyed all the non-working days that we could take, it’s time to get ourselves back to our working routine. But, before your obligations take the full swing, be sure to take some time for quality preparation. This means that you need a well-structured plan which again requires being informed about all the important aspects of your eCommerce business. If you are in SaaS business the situation might seem even more complex. There is so much (justified?) internet fuss around different eCommerce trends, such as AI, new retail, single view of the customer - take your pick. Although a lot of these trends can fluctuate, the only thing that is constantly on a rise is the customer’s expectations. How much of an eCommerce pie will you get depends mainly on the fact of how successful you are in meeting the customers’ expectations. 

In this post, we are going to look at some eCommerce trends that will definitely shape the tech industry in 2020. These trends will hopefully make you see your business taking a bigger slice of that pie.

More automation

Annual spending on marketing automation tools is expected to reach $25.1 billion by 2023. As the main purpose of having automated processes is to save time, it’s normal that SaaS users are expecting different automation features - from CRM to email marketing and accounting systems. Therefore, one of the main challenges for 2020 will be creating a stronger connection between customer relationship management and the automation process. Synchronization between tools and processes is the key to obtaining a properly integrated data and great results.

AI becomes one of the key players

With the progression of technology and all the perks that AI has shown, not using it in eCommerce would for sure be a mistake.Every day more and more organizations become aware of the importance that AI has and which business aspects can take over. Retailers were among the first ones to recognize the benefits of including AI in their business strategies. The main benefit that AI can bring is to automate the manual tasks for your company so your efforts can be focused somewhere else. For example, it can facilitate your support teams’ work by providing a chat box with some automated answers for the most common questions. That means that sometimes your customers can find the needed answer without reaching a support team member. 

Also, Raj Balasundaram,(SVP Artificial Intelligence, Emarsys) in an interview for Econsultancy said: “Apart from basic “machine learning’ algorithms, collaborative AI technologies will become table stakes. Ecommerce AI algorithms will be working hand in hand with other AI algorithms from CRM and ERP.”

AI
AI

Micro SaaS

The number of IT freelancers or companies run only by one person is a trend that is constantly on a rise, and certainly, this trend will continue throughout the 2020 year. Everything that you already know about running a SaaS company now you can implement into creating a micro SaaS environment. Micro SaaS is dedicated to a smaller, but very precise user base, so creating a niche is a must. If you think that you will lack customers if you promote your product as a micro SaaS, you don’t necessarily need to be right. There are ways in which you can implement your micro SaaS product into a bigger one. One of the best examples could be Grammarly.

Micro SaaS can at the same time work as a Vertical SaaS. Vertical SaaS can be a solution that is created only for a specified industry. Think about it - maybe you already have clients from some industries that are often approaching you with the same requests or problems. If you manage to create a unique solution for their needs, the market share of your company will hugely increase regardless of your company size.

Ecommerce on the go

If there is a trend for which we can say that raised the dust in the eCommerce world, then it would definitely be the augmented reality (AR). Customers have been completely taken over by the opportunity to enhance their experience. If nothing, they will start this process of pure curiosity, just to see how it works, and that often results in making a purchase decision. AR provides a totally new way of shopping - it overcomes all the obstacles that online shopping has. Augmented reality offers your customers the possibility of trying the product online before making the purchase. That way they can, for example, see how the sofa that they wanted to buy compliments the rooms’ aesthetics or how that wanted piece of jewelry looks on them. This helps the users to make more accurate decisions while having an interactive experience. On the other hand, it can be used as a way of customer support - your support team will not receive so many inquiries about the products if the customers have the opportunity to virtually try them.

But, what if you are a SaaS company? You might think that this is not so useful in your case, but you would be wrong. If you were asked about the main hustle in your business, the majority would say that it is explaining to the customer how the product works. Even something boring as reading a manual can be solved by AR. AR user manual shows the process of reading a manual of appliances in an interactive way with a step-by-step virtual guide. This way customers can easily install the product/app and even more important, they will be more confident while doing it because there is a very slim chance for them to make some mistake.

augmented reality
augmented reality

Go Vocal

Even if we don’t want to admit it, with the constant development of technology, we have become lazier. We want everything available now and if possible, without much struggle. The smart tech now allows people to turn on and off their home appliances, and your eCommerce store could benefit as well. It is possible to create a function of a voice search for your store which will result in an increment in sales. However, it’s not just about laziness - if a customer is busy, or if he is in some situation where he can’t spend too much time on the phone, the vocal search will allow him to use your store and make a purchase. 

SaaS influencer marketing

There is even no need to point out how important and useful influencer marketing is. But, often do SaaS businesses think that this kind of marketing can’t be implemented in their case. That is an enormous mistake. There are so many tech influencers whose opinion is very highly-valued in business circles, and you can only benefit from following from time to time what do they have to say. Some of the ones that we love to keep up with are: 

When you think of influencers, video content is probably what comes first to your mind. According to Statista “As of the fourth quarter of 2018, 27 percent of internet users worldwide accessed YouTube at least once per day. In the United States, 57 percent of YouTube users stated that they accessed the platform on a daily basis in order to follow celebrities, brands, and keep up with societal topics”. When knowing this it is clear how effective video can be for your business. It can be used mostly in the form of a tutorial. Used like this, a video is a far more personal way of presenting a product to the customer. That helps with creating a sense of engagement that is usually connected with brick-and-mortar stores and not so within the online world.

influencer marketing
influencer marketing

Conclusion

So, there you have it - some of the most important this year’s trends in one place. You can decide if you want to introduce all of them to your business, or maybe just a few, but in any case, the important thing is to be aware of them. Only when you have the accurate information you are in the position of making the right decisions and become prepared for every possible outcome. And as we in Price2Spy love to say “victory loves preparation”. 

Would you like to add some other trends to our list? Feel free to share it in the comments below.