By Gabrielle Diepenbrock, Account Coordinator

The ever-changing digital world has brought much upheaval to the e-commerce landscape for the last several decades — and this new year is no different. But while change is inevitable in the ecommerce industry, it’s also growing at a great speed, with experts predicting that worldwide sales will surpass $2 trillion in the next few years. Advertisers should pay special attention to ensure they know how to best market in this ever-changing and growing industry.

According to Internet Retailer, 79% of Americans have made an online purchase in 2016, which is a huge increase from a study done in 2002, when only 22% of Americans made purchases online.

While this increase is noteworthy in itself, what advertisers should pay special attention to are two growing avenues in which these purchases are being made — mobile and digital.

According to a Pew Research Center Study, 51% of Americans who made an online purchase, made it on mobile. Ready Cloud reported that mobile commerce accounted for 30% of all e-commerce in 2015, which was an increase of nearly 5% from 2014.

And according to Comscore, nearly 50% of digital media usage is via smartphone apps.

And mobile is not the only growing avenue of e-commerce purchases. Social media is also something advertisers should take note of. According to Ready Cloud, 5% of all online spending in 2015 came via social commerce. The top spending platforms were Facebook (38% of all social commerce), Pinterest (29%), and Twitter (22%). And not only is there a growing number of people making purchases on social, but they are also likely to share about their experience as well — giving earned media to brands. According to Internet Retailer, 39% of Americans have shared their experiences and/or feelings about a commercial transaction on a social media platform.

Sources:
https://www.internetretailer.com/2016/12/16/how-e-commerce-changes-79-americans-shop-online

https://www.readycloud.com/info/ecommerce-statistics-all-retailers-should-know

http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Presentations-and-Whitepapers/2016/2016-US-Cross-Platform-Future-in-Focus

Image Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/8-UX-Pitfalls-To-Avoid-In-Mobile-App-Design.jpg