Ecommerce Trends in 2018 (+147 Statistics About Online Shopping)

Top 19 Ecommerce Trends of 2018

Here are the top 19 ecommerce trends and growth strategies recommended by Internet Retailer 1000 brands and the experts that advise them, in order of priority.

  1. Localization, Personalization & CX.
  2. Community Building, Customer Engagement & CRM.
  3. New Content Types & SEO.
  4. Mobile Optimization.
  5. Social Media Advertising, Campaigns & Retargeting.
  6. CRO & Data-Driven Optimizations.
  7. Technology.
  8. Email Marketing, Automation & AOV.
  9. Influencer Marketing.
  10. Omni-Channel Management.
  11. Payment Solutions.
  12. Branding.
  13. International.
  14. Customer Lifetime Value & Referral Programs.
  15. Catalog Extension.
  16. PR.
  17. Shipping + Fulfillment Optimization.
  18. Sales Tax Liability.
  19. Pricing.

To help keep you focused on these priorities, I’ve broken down the top 10 below, and looked at:

  • What it means
  • Why it’s so important
  • Materials you can use now to brush up on the topic
  • Brands already doing it well so you can mimic their approach, and alter it for your specific audience.

This is your ultimate checklist for what you should be focusing on, in order of priority, for 2018.

Källa: Ecommerce Trends in 2018 (+147 Statistics About Online Shopping)

Dags att haka på nästa marknadsföringstrend – upplevelsemarknadsföring

I takt med att allt färre tittar på tv och fler installerar reklamblockerare krävs det nya sätt för att nå ut till konsumenterna. Det senaste kallas upplevelsemarknadsföring, och går ut på att skapa upplevelser som kunderna vill ta del av, och som de sedan berättar om på sociala medier.

Enligt Raja Rajamannar, marknadschef på Mastercard, har det blivit allt svårare att nå ut till konsumenterna. Dessutom har uppmärksamhetsspannet sjunkit till ca 6 sekunder, så det är svårt att både fånga och hålla konsumenternas uppmärksamhet tillräckligt länge för att hinna prata med dem. Traditionell marknadsföring har dessutom varit fokuserad på att berätta för konsumenterna vad de ska köpa, tycka och tänka, istället för att fråga dem vad de vill ha och sedan lyssna på svaret menar Michael Curmi, varumärkeschef för Jaguar Land Rover North America.

Genom upplevelsemarknadsföring är det enklare att möta kunden öga mot öga, och dessutom inleda en dialog istället för att föra en monolog. Det är därför inte förvånande att en studie som upplevelsebyrån Freeman gjorde tillsammans med mätföretaget SSI visade att en tredjedel av alla marknadschefer planerar att flytta över 21-50 % av marknadsbudgeten till upplevelsemarknadsföring de närmaste 3-5 åren.

Men vad innebär då upplevelsemarknadsföring? Som namnet antyder handlar det om att skapa upplevelser, men inte vilka upplevelser som helst. Jaguar skapade exempelvis en VR-film i form av en biljakt där kunden är föraren, medan M&M gjorde en AR-app som förvandlade hela Times Square till ett interaktivt arkadspel för att marknadsföra sin nya smak på M&M. Swarovski å sin sida gjorde en kampanj tillsammans med Mastercard för att sänka tröskeln för att genomföra ett köp. I ett par VR-glasögon kunde konsumenten se hur Swarovskis ljusstakar såg ut i olika miljöer, och genom Masterpass från Mastercard gick det sedan att genomföra köpet direkt i glasögonen.

Företag idag ser dessutom till att upplevelserna har en tydlig koppling till sociala medier. Tidigare hoppades man mer på att aktiviteten skulle få viral spridning, medan man idag ser till att ha färdiga hashtags och material som lämpar sig att dela redan från början. Ofta kan det dessutom finnas ytterligare material eller vinster att ta del av för de som delar vidare företagets kampanj. På så sätt blir det även lättare att följa hur kampanjen presterar och vilken spridning den faktiskt får. Eller som Andy Pharoah, chef för företagsaffärer och strategiska initiativ på M&Ms moderföretag mars säger ”Upplevelser utan någon form av förstärkning i sociala medier skulle inte vara värt det för oss”. Något som utan tvekan tyder på den starka koppling som idag måste finnas mellan ett företags kampanjer i den fysiska världen och dess motsvarighet i den digitala världen.

Fortfarande finns det dock inget bra sätt att mäta effekterna av upplevelsebaserad marknadsföring. Såväl vilka mätmetoder och mätvärden som är viktiga, som hur kundupplevelsen faktiskt ska värderas är frågor som branschen just nu brottas med. Många menar att den känslomässiga upplevelsen hos kunden är viktigast, medan andra pekar på att det i slutänden handlar om konvertering, hur många som faktiskt köper dig produkt som en följd av din marknadsföring. I nuläget är det fortfarande upp till varje företag att avgöra vad de värderar när de genomför sina kampanjer, men i framtiden kanske vi kommer att få se mer av standardiserade mätvärden från tredjepartsaktörer såsom Nielsen som bedömer värdet av upplevelsemarknadsföringen.
Källa: Dags att haka på nästa marknadsföringstrend – upplevelsemarknadsföring | Dagensanalys.se

SparaSpara

Why Your Corporate Culture Matters | Daniel Burrus | Pulse | LinkedIn

Your Culture is Your Brand

As I travel around the world working with executives from a wide range of businesses, I find it very interesting that some understand the value of, and take great pride in, their corporate cultures, while others don’t give them much thought. I have also noticed that those who value them the most tend to do far better over time.

Corporate culture has been the subject of many articles and books for years—and with good reason. Organizations of all sizes and activities are reexamining the advantages a strong culture provides and are coming to embrace the value of a culture that everyone within an organization understands and supports.

But, from the perspective of an Anticipatory Organization, culture can mean more than it might to other companies and groups with less of a future focus. And, in terms of surviving and thriving, that can make all the difference.

Corporate Culture—Yours and Yours Alone

Although specifics may vary, corporate culture generally refers to the pervasive values, beliefs and mindset that characterize a company and, further, help shape and drive its practices. To a certain degree, culture may be defined by, or overlap somewhat with, an organization’s mission or vision statement. Culture may also refer to things such as physical environment, dress code, employment practices and any number of other areas.

Despite the fact that corporate culture may be defined differently, its value and application are much more straightforward.That’s because your corporate culture is singular to your organization, and is yours alone. Products, services and processes can all be copied or mimicked from one organization to another; but the competitive advantage that is shaped by your culture , especially if it is characterized by a shared mindset,  cannot be replicated.

Boiled down, it’s really your organization’s DNA. And the ramifications are widespread, from your ability to recruit and retain talented employees, to how consumers see your products or services.

Culture—As Seen by An Anticipatory Mindset

Corporate culture matters to every organization. But, in a sense, an Anticipatory Organization sees culture in a particularly broad context.

To begin with, an Anticipatory Organization has higher levels of certainty, and the confidence to make bold moves, because it knows how to separate the Hard Trends that will happen from the Soft Trends that might happen among other elements of my Anticipatory Organization Model™.  Using these and other principles, these organizations foster  cultures through which predictable problems, disruptions and new opportunities can be identified and addressed before they occur. In effect, it is part of their cultures to not only be agile, reacting faster than slower competitors to unpredictable events, but  to also know how to apply anticipatory principles to accelerate innovation and turn change into an advantage.

In addition, an Anticipatory Organization encourages people at all levels to employ anticipatory thinking—and, from there, build a culture of innovation in which everyone participates in innovation, rather than just a select few. Further,  it has a suitable rewards system in place to further acknowledge and encourage ongoing attention to innovation at all levels.

An Anticipatory Organization’s culture can also be defined by what I refer to as a shared Futureview. Futureview is your ability to place yourself in the future and then look back at your present position. Futureview is the picture you hold, for better or worse, of what you expect and believe about your future.

But Futureview’s impact isn’t limited to what you see coming in the months and years ahead. How you view the future shapes how you act in the present and how you act in the present shapes your future. Your Futureview determines the future you.

Take a moment to think how that element of your culture can affect your organization. For instance, some of your employees may have a very positive Futureview—they see a bright tomorrow for themselves and likely connect that optimism with their roles in your organization. As a result, they’re more committed to every element of what they do to help your organization grow and succeed.

By contrast, consider employees with negative Futureviews. For them, the outlook is decidedly less optimistic, and many would say the goodolddays are behind them. They don’t see positive futures for themselves, nor do they likely have upbeat views of your organization. As a result, their present performances suffer. They feel they have little to look forward to, so why put in the extra effort?

In the end, corporate culture is extremely important, but it can tilt in either direction. Which direction do you want your organization’s culture to follow?

Källa: Why Your Corporate Culture Matters | Daniel Burrus | Pulse | LinkedIn

Ledarskapsfällan

In the world of business, there are more clones than you might imagine. It is the rare organization that steps out of the herd to become remarkable. This illusion of safety creates apathy and mediocrity in most organizations while the leaders struggle to find excellence amidst the decay of the ordinary. As a student of organizational leadership, I analyze the similarities and special characteristics that differentiate one company from another. What makes one organization shine while others seem so content with remaining average? The most likely answer is fear. But the answer is, of course, much more complex. Fear of failure transcends the spectrum of our awareness. There is comfort and even safety in the mediocrity of our existence. Therefore, what it takes to leave the comfort of the pack becomes very rare.

If others are doing it a certain way, then that is the proven methodology.  Anything else seems too risky and we would much rather let another organization go first.  There might be an inordinate amount of benefit to taking the risk, but our comfort zone limits both our thinking and our actions.

These “Fatal 10” are some common trends that prevent organizations from shattering the limitations of the organizational comfort zone.  Most companies are affected by many but not necessarily all of the trends.  And, if you feel like this is describing your company, it is purely coincidental.  Following are these trends in no particular order:

1.     No focused internal marketing effort:  A common unifying message to clarify mission, vision, and values must be communicated to employees daily through at least five mediums.  The most common are email, text messages, internal video, posters, and message boards.  Be creative with this, as it takes a focused campaign to internally “sell” your team on the direction of your organization.  A message must be communicated over and over so that when a decision point occurs, the team will act in a way that supports the message of the organization.  Remember, decision making is easy when values are clear.

 

2.    Failure to “turn-over” key leadership positions:  Too often, leadership becomes complacent and comfortable with the status quo.  The safety of the present is intoxicating and limits the need to constantly fight for a position on the team.  Exceptional organizations understand that performance must remain the focus for existence on the team.  The need to feel threatened is a highly motivating factor.  No one has a right to a position and must earn that position through performance.  Anything else starts to creep toward entitlement.  An entitled organization becomes extremely weak over time, as the incentive to excel is slowly replaced with a tolerance for existence.

 

3.    Undervalue for learning and development:  Myopic organizations view training as a necessary evil rather than an opportunity to create a competitive advantage.  In these organizations, training is seen as an expense rather than an investment.  Ironically, when times are at their worst and training is needed the most, the budget is slashed or eliminated all together.  When people are asked to do more, they are not given the tools to be successful.  In today’s employment landscape, with an entering workforce that will not likely stay more than two years, training for competence is essential to get the most from each member before they decide to leave your organization.  Today’s dominant, younger workforce will be attracted to the “learning organization” simply because of the flow of information.  The alternative is a “dummying down” effect created by organizations that do not develop people.  A common excuse is that the employee may leave once they are developed.  The alternative is not developing them and keeping them.  The result is a dumber organization.

 

4.    Innovation is not a deliberate effort:  Innovation is often a conceptual idea that is relegated to the research and development function of an organization.  Simply put, most organizations stumble into innovation.  Making each employee change how they do what they do is a powerful incentive.  In others words, don’t rate them for how they do the job, rate them for how they change it.

 

5.    Candor is discouraged:  Do not ask me if you do not want an answer.  Many organizations are not good at accepting internal feedback and even worse at dealing with it.  Often, the employee voicing an opportunity to improve is label as a complainer.  Silence while we “tow the company line” is preferred to constructive criticism.  This creates an environment that promotes the passive-aggressive nature that can exist in all of us.  Unfortunately, the best solutions often exist with the employees doing the work.  When ideas for improvement are offered, they get filtered before they reach a level with the authority to make the changes.  As a result, many organizations pay consultants to tell them what they already know.  It takes skill to both deliver constructive feedback as well as deal with the suggestion.  If leaders are not taught “how” to handle opportunities for improvement, the flow of information will simply stop.

 

6.    Undervalue the human element:  Some organizations have become extremely cynical when it comes to the human contribution.  The perceptive value of people has become so low that they are like interchangeable parts.   Accountability has been replaced by blame in a self-fulfilling prophecy that good people are simply not out there.  The willingness to settle for underperformers begets more underperformers and slowly the collective talent is very low for the organization.  Employees become tired of working next to someone who makes just as much or more than they do but do not do anything.

 

7.    Focus is on management not leadership:  When the line becomes blurred between the two concepts, organizations will struggle to find a sense of direction.  Management is a title bestowed upon the individual by the organization.  While leadership is a title bestowed upon the individual by the follower.  In other words someone must want to follow another in order for leadership to exist.  Most companies manage the activity of others, while remarkable organizations inspire others to act in a way they might never have before.  Managers operate in a black and white world where there is no gray area.  Leaders understand that life and opportunity usually exists within the gray area.  Leaders understand that risk equals return.  Mediocrity is following a policy blindly.  Excellence is when we understanding exactly how to apply that policy to a particular situation.

 

8.    Failure is a bad thing:  Honest mistakes must truly be accepted if people are expected to perform at a higher level.  When failure is viewed as a negative event, mediocrity becomes the result.  People afraid to fail will not execute at the highest level.  Honest mistakes are characterized as people attempting to do the “right” thing and something bad happening.  Discouraging this failure only leads to apathy and inaction.  Both are extremely limiting for an organization.  Repeated failures or failure as a result of poor judgment are not synonymous with honest mistakes.  We must learn from our mistakes and be attempting to do the right thing when we fail.  This creates a learning opportunity and makes the organization stronger.

 

9.    Work is not a fun place:  The ability to become strengthened by our environment is powerful for each of us.  I am convinced that some organizations have had the “fun” surgically removed.  We spend most of our waking lives in the jobs we utilize to earn a living or feed our economic engine.  When the work environment is negative, collective morale becomes low and productivity drops.  People are simply more productive when they are happy.  Yet, some companies seem to do everything in their power to reduce morale.  They cannot see that people will work harder, give more time, and do better work when they are happy on the job.  Sadly, morale is irrelevant in the minds of the struggling managers among us.

 

10. Individual effort is not appreciated.  We must recognize the effort that leads to results.  In other words, successful organizations tend to focus on leading indicators rather than trailing indicators.  Rewarding effort leads to more results.  Rewarding results may be rewarding those that simply got lucky.  Inadvertently, we can actually punish and reward the wrong people when we focus on trailing indicators.  People need to be appreciated for their efforts in order to keep exerting the very same effort.  Without sincere appreciation, most people will exert only the minimum effort required to get the job done.

 

In large organizations these fatal trends are more likely to be departmental rather than organizational.  Thus, they may be hidden from collective view.  Developing the ability to evaluate each of these with some quantitative measure allows organizations to improve over time.  Culture change takes time and deliberate effort.  Change by implication is required for improvement to take place.  We cannot improve without changing.  You cannot keep doing the same things and expect different results.  Your organization’s ability to adapt to change is the key to excellence.

Källa: John Grubbs, ”The Fatal 10”

The One Quality Every Successful Person Needs | Jeff Haden | LinkedIn

Anyone can succeed without capital, without a business plan, without a mentor, and even without a great idea.But no one can succeed without one essential ingredient. There is one trait every successful person possesses:Irrational optimism.Why? To be successful you must embrace belief, which means pushing aside all those self-doubts: Feeling you aren’t smart enough, dedicated enough, adaptable enough, or simply that, in spite of your best intentions and best efforts, you won’t succeed.Often other people make it even harder to maintain that belief. Family and friends tend to shoot multiple

Källa: The One Quality Every Successful Person Needs | Jeff Haden | LinkedIn