2022 seems to be opening with a familiar refrain, albeit not one as uplifting as Auld Lang Syne. Once again, a new mutation of the COVID-19 is crippling economies and threatening more stay-at-home protocols, sending people around the world into an exasperated frenzy. For many business sectors, projecting even a few weeks ahead seems foolhardy, but for the ecommerce industry, 2022 will be another year with tremendous growth and dynamic shifts in marketing strategies.

Before the Omicron variant outbreak, the 2022 global B2C ecommerce market was projected to reach $5.4 trillion USD. We believe that these projections will be exceeded, buoyed by a reliance on ecommerce during future high points of the pandemic. For business owners, this means that you can expect two things: a continuation of the strong ecommerce market growth trend that you’ve enjoyed over the past few years, and a more competitive marketplace.

In order to separate yourself from your competition and to keep your current customers coming back, you will need to stay abreast of ecommerce trends that will power the industry throughout the year and beyond. We’ve highlighted three trends that are going to shape the global marketplace, to help our customers form the best ecommerce strategies for 2022.

Provide Flexible Payment Options

‍

The world may seem like a giant place, but with increased options for affordable international shipping becoming available to sellers and retailers, the far-reaching corners of the globe have never been more accessible. Today, with the right ecommerce CRM, you can send products and receive payments from around the world.

But you may be wondering how that’s possible, given the vast number of different currencies and payment gateways used in different countries and regions of the world. An average customer has only a few payment methods they prefer to use, and if your platform cannot accept those payment options, they will be unable or unwilling to complete a purchase.

A significant number of customers abandon a purchase at checkout when the store doesn’t make their preferred payment method available to them. Without a breadth of flexible payment options, you run the risk of losing a valuable customer you worked hard to acquire.

Take the German ecommerce market as an example. The majority of ecommerce consumers in Germany are accustomed to paying via invoice or direct debit, as opposed to the more traditional credit/debit card transaction. Faced with only bank card payment options, many German customers will seek out a store that accepts their preferred payment methods.

That’s why we’ve outfitted 29 Next Payments with an abundance of payment methods. By offering over 100 international payment gateways and payment service providers, we support your brand’s global ambitions.

29 Next’s integration to Klarna Checkout makes offering these preferred local methods a snap. Your customer will breeze through their checkout, thus reducing your amount of abandoned carts. Looking ahead, with “Buy Now Pay Later” apps also grabbing market share, expect a further shift away from traditional payment methods in 2022.

Customize Marketing Angles

Along similar lines, how you market to a customer can be the deciding factor if they choose to visit your site and complete a purchase. The modern shopper has a plethora of options for where to buy similar products, meaning they are quite attuned to which brands are marketing to them as unique individuals, and which are simply marketing *at* them.

The most successful ecommerce brands place a greater emphasis on creating personalized and customized marketing campaigns that attract individuals, as opposed to simply broad digital campaigns aimed at brand and category awareness. We’ve seen this in the rise of influencer marketing, where followers feel a connection and a sense of trust that the influencer has their best interest in mind. Shoppers want to feel like they are unique and valued, making it a priority for marketers to find creative ways to reach them.

How you choose to market to your customers is up to you – you know your audience best – but you need an ecommerce CRM that supports personalized marketing automation and customized marketing funnels.

29 Next’s integration to marketing automation tool Omnisend enables brands to target customers in a highly personalized way, at any stage of the funnel. Gaia’s Choice, a boutique CBD brand from the UK, **achieved a 36% increase in repurchase conversions** after personalizing their communications to existing buyers. Rather than directing returning visitors back to their web store, they produced a series of custom, targeted funnels in 29 Next to guide customers through a purchase-focused flow. To reduce friction at checkout, their returning customer’s personal details were pre-populated in the checkout, so customers only had to click “Buy Now.”

In 2022, end-to-end highly personalized marketing flows will walk the customer right to the checkout, driving higher conversion rates for performance ecommerce brands.

Practice Product Specialization

Competition is the name of the game, and product specialization is how you dominate the ecommerce playing field. In a vast internet sea where hundreds of thousands of brands fight for air, those that invest in developing unique and specialized products more often than not rise to the surface.

Equipped with USPs and product knowledge, marketers need to organize and tailor their messaging in a way that both connects with individuals and that creates a direct connection between their brand and their signature product. Establishing such a deep, two-way link between a product and a brand forms an unbreakable relationship. For example, when you think of luxury watches, you think of Rolex, and vice-versa.

Product specialization requires addressing your customer’s needs and drawing attention to why your product - and your product only - can satisfy those needs. You must position your product as a solution, as opposed to just something a customer might buy if they are in the mood to spend, that way, whenever they consider buying your type of product, your brand is top of mind

‍

Modern performance ecommerce strategies open the door for specialized products targeted at niche audiences. When considering seasonal or viral products with a short window for interest, ecommerce sellers must strike while the iron is hot to capture dollar share, and thus need an ecommerce CRM that can act quickly. 29 Next is designed for just that: to get unique and timely products to market faster, and scale-up sales with no hurdles.

While digital marketing “offers” come and go, *brands* stay relevant for years, building off accumulated customer loyalty and network effects to perpetually grow sales. With an ecommerce CRM that can expand your reach to a global audience, you can position your product deeper into your niche while still growing your customer base horizontally.

‍