According to a European e-commerce report, business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce turnover rose to €887bn in 2023.
Staying up-to-date with the latest e-commerce trends can help business owners optimise their websites and sales channels to capture a larger share of this market. Unfortunately, it can be challenging to keep up with recent trends, but a few methods can help.
Changes to e-commerce trends can dictate entire strategies. They can help businesses determine what's working and what should be altered. Some of the best ways to keep track of the latest trends include:
Google Trends
An excellent method of keeping up with trends is using the Google Trends platform to analyse how interest in particular terms/topics has risen or fallen across a specific period. It's even possible to compare two or more topics to determine relative interest between multiple trends.
A robust method for tracking e-commerce trends is to set up Google Alerts for relevant keywords like 'payment processing' or 'e-commerce'. Google Trends can then be used to analyse interest in specific keywords, find related topics, and gauge importance within their target countries.
For example, Google Trends shows that Barbados is interested in crypto payment gateway solutions. This data indicates that people and businesses within the country are seeking a seamless way to use and accept crypto, likely due to its ease of cross-border payments and currency conversions.
Follow industry leaders
Another popular way of tracking e-commerce trends is to follow industry leaders on platforms like X, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook. These people often share personal business anecdotes or research reports they find relevant, curating the most valuable content and delivering it to their followers.
It's advisable to create new accounts to keep track of trends because it will prevent irrelevant content from being displayed and will not impact your personal algorithm.
Following people who are prominent in industries like e-commerce, business, marketing, advertising, and web development can yield interesting trend data.
Monitor e-commerce research reports
It's common for research or market trend analysis firms to periodically release reports on topics like e-commerce, buyer trends, or digital payments. These reports are invaluable as they're produced by experts and provide data-driven analysis to assist with decision-making.
For example, the J.P. Morgan Global E-Commerce Trends Report provides detailed insights breaking down e-commerce trends by country. Reports like this can help businesses better cater to their most significant customer bases and better understand what to prioritise, depending on the market.
Some of the top sources for research reports include EuroCommerce, J.P. Morgan, McKinsey & Company, and Nielsen Norman Group. Some businesses also release reports derived from their own data, which can provide helpful and highly specific insights.
Conclusion
E-commerce trends can provide actionable insights into consumer behaviour that people can use to optimise their businesses.
While e-commerce trends can be challenging to follow, tracking search queries, learning from industry professionals, and reading reports from research firms are excellent methods of locating and curating data that can provide actionable insights.
