eCommerce Trends

I've just got back to my desk from the eCommerce Expo at Olympia. It was a bit of a bunfight (which means success in exhibition organiser language). I could'nt fight my way in to any of the seminars but I spoke to quite a few exhibitors. Quite illuminating to keep on hearing the same things from everybody. What are the main takaways?

1. eCommerce means social commerce. That can be anything from reviews on your site or your own shop on Facebook. Whatever, eCommerce without some level of social media integration just won't cut the mustard.

2. Mobile offerings abound. Without necessarily being bundled in to everyone's solutions, it is a standard part of the pitch in a way it wasn't a year ago.

3. Making it easy for the customer to manage their online shop without any in-house technical knowledge is a running theme. Easy user interface for website managers including clean url's and meta tags is standard. Talking to the vendors, although clients don't necessarily understand the questions they ask they do know what they need to ask and this has upped the offering right across the board.

4. "Easy" set up template options are growing. I spoke to one supplier who had launched 2000 sites in 18 months with their out of the box eCommerce website offering. I can see the appeal from a price point of view but I do wonder how many of these people have survived and prospered.

If you're thinking of going to eCommerce Expo tomorrow, keep in mind the demand for seats in the seminar halls way exceeds supply. Allow 45 minutes queuing time to guarantee entry.