A Brief B2C eCommerce Guide to Get More Customers (2024)

eCommerce is a rapidly growing market, with approximately 2.71 billion online shoppers worldwide.

Over 20% of 2024’s retail purchases will happen online, expected to hit 22.6% in 2027. We’re talking about a market valued at $6.3 trillion, so your business wants a piece of the pie. That starts with staying up-to-date on B2C eCommerce trends.

Fostering B2C eCommerce market growth isn’t always an easy road, as you have to remain updated on trends and adopt innovative strategies to stay ahead of the competition and ensure business success.

That’s why I put together this guide. In this blog post, we will assess B2C eCommerce trends, technologies, and strategies to propel your business further this year.

Table of Contents

Emerging Trends in B2C eCommerce

Business-to-consumer, or B2C, is a malleable market shaped by emergent trends, business models, and technologies.

Let’s review the biggest trends to crop up across the 2020s.

Sustainable practices and eco-friendly solutions

I’m sure I don’t have to tell you this, but the planet is in trouble. April 2024 was the hottest since NOAA began recording monthly weather data 175 years ago. There’s even been talk that 2024 could be the hottest year yet.

So, what can your eCommerce business do about it? Besides reducing, reusing, and recycling, focusing on eco-friendly, sustainable products and business measures is the new trend.

A Nielsen study revealed that nearly 80% of consumers believe sustainability matters, and your eCommerce business must do what it can to go green.

If you’re struggling with ideas, I have plenty for you!

Work with suppliers, manufacturers, and distributors nearer to your eCommerce business. This will reduce shipping costs, make customers happy, and require less fuel to get the order to the customer.
Partake in online initiatives dedicated to going greener.
Focus on producing eco-friendly products.
Switch to recyclable packaging.
As much as possible, cut out single-use plastics in your production and distribution processes.
Partner with suppliers and distributors committed to improving the world by creating an eco-friendly supply chain.
Offer carbon-neutral shipping to lessen emissions.

Augmented reality integration

AR is all the rage these days. I still remember the days of Pokémon Go, an early AR experience, and it’s fun to see how far we’ve come since then.

If you’re unfamiliar with AR, it combines computer graphics with the real world, usually through wearing AR glasses. However, your computer and phone can also create AR experiences through software and apps.

So, what does this have to do with your eCommerce business, you ask? Everything!

AR has opened the door for easier, more efficient shopping experiences. For example, customers can “try” your item without you having to ship it to them and possibly contend with returns later.

Rather than try on a new pair of glasses or a lipstick shade on a 3D model, they can use their face to preview what the product would look like on them. This also applies to clothes and shoes, which makes shopping a heck of a lot easier.

Besides clothing and beauty brands, home décor companies have gotten in on AR, too. Customers can preview what that new vase or entertainment center would look like in their home before they purchase it.

Embracing AR comes with the benefit of improving shopping confidence and lessening returns.

Voice search optimization

Voice searching is on the rise, with almost 94% of search queries in 2024 using a voice search assistant. It’s hard not to lean on this technology, as it’s so much easier, faster, and more convenient than picking up your phone or tablet and typing in your request.

I’m sure you’ve used voice search before, from Cortana by Microsoft to Alexa by Amazon and Siri by Apple. This tech is built into most products from these big brands by default.

Again, I can hear you asking what this has to do with B2C eCommerce, and the answer is once again a lot.

Your website must answer the demands of the average consumer, and one of those demands is being voice-search-friendly.

You may have to delete a few of your current keywords or revise them to be more conversational. The thing about conversational keywords is they’re not focused on SEO but answering a person’s search query.

After all, the average person doesn’t know a thing about SEO if it’s not their job.

Besides shifting your keyword focus, revise your website to structure the data more. The clearer the layout of your site to a search engine crawler, the more likely the site is to get recommended in voice search results. You’ll be more visible and have better engagement.

Advanced personalization through AI

Ah, AI. Some people hate it, and others embrace it for what it is. And one of the things that AI is capable of is personalization.

If you want to personalize an email or ad, feed the AI some of your audience data and then see what it can write. You may be surprised; that’s fine if you’re not exactly impressed.

You can always edit the content yourself or ask for a rewrite.

Customer data can also help AI tools recommend strategies to connect more meaningfully, but that’s still not all. AI can parse through large quantities of data without making mistakes, and from that data, it can make predictions that can help your company prioritize specific products or augment segments.

You can even make more sound financial decisions using AI’s predictive analytics, which can save your skin if your eCommerce store is new or has little capital.

AI has even found its place in customer service. It can sit in for a customer service rep, answering basic questions while the rep handles more complex queries. You can teach the AI precisely how to respond to all sorts of sample questions through machine learning.

Key Technologies Shaping B2C eCommerce

Beyond trends, many technologies drive today’s B2C eCommerce market, paving the way for rapid advancements that will make order fulfillment, personalization, and customer satisfaction even more effortless.

Here’s an overview.

AI and machine learning

Let’s chat more about machine learning, shall we?

This is one of AI’s greatest assets. An AI model will learn and improve according to your feed data. For example, training AI on your brand voice will replicate your brand based on what it’s taught.

It will learn even more as it continues, improving at representing your brand.

AI also has natural language processing, allowing it to learn more than words but how they’re strung together to create phrases. In conjunction with machine learning, NLP makes AI a powerful tool for an eCommerce business.

Just check out these ways your company can use AI to improve B2C customer service and satisfaction:

Segment your audience to personalize your marketing and advertising campaigns.
Add personalized elements to your marketing materials, such as the customer’s name and recent shopping and browsing habits.
Answer questions as a live chatbot when your eCommerce business is closed, keeping customers in the know.
Generate email subject lines and body content.
Go through customer data to make insights and recommendations.
Produce social media posts and blog copy.
Find fake reviews that can hurt your company’s reputation.
Make sales forecasts to shape your future business decisions.
Assist with selecting prices for your eCommerce products.

Headless and composable commerce

No, headless eCommerce isn’t a typo.

It refers to architecture that separates the back and front ends, hence the name headless. The greatest advantage of the architecture is that if you want to change the back end, the front end doesn’t have to be impacted, and vice-versa.

If you haven’t heard of headless eCommerce, you’d be forgiven. It’s an up-and-coming strategy that more eCommerce businesses have latched onto, especially in the B2C industry, because it offers unmitigated flexibility.

Likewise, composable commerce has been embraced by many eCommerce businesses because of how it works. You can cherry-pick the components of the eCommerce model that most suit your brand and business, then make them into your custom system.

Like headless eCommerce, composable commerce makes the system work for you rather than the other way around. The result is more time savings and a personalized methodology for different areas of your business.

Marketing Strategies for B2C eCommerce

Marketing is more important than ever, especially for new B2C eCommerce brands eager to get their foot in the door. These tailored strategies will gear you up to confidently conquer the new frontier.

Mobile-first approach

With almost five billion smartphone users in 2024, you can bet that most people who go online do so from their phones. You don’t have to bet anything; upwards of 96% of people surf the web using their mobile devices.

More so than optimizing your website, you need to build it primarily for mobile visitors. Here are some can’t-miss strategies to help you do that:

Improve the site loading speed to two to three seconds.
Test your site for mobile optimization before it goes live.
Design the site for smaller screens.
Improve responsivity with custom CSS.
Include calls to action above the fold.
Improve responsiveness with themes and plug-ins.
Make the navigation clear and easy to use on smaller screens.
Create mobile-friendly website pop-ups.

Content marketing focused on brand values

Another way to drive SEO and user experience goals is to produce content centered around your eCommerce store’s brand values, such as loyalty and customer alignment.

Your content should be varied, including blog posts, eBooks, videos, podcasts, webinars, checklists, infographics, and guest posts. Build an editorial calendar to help you plan when and where your content will go live.

For example, you’ll want to post on your blog at least weekly (perhaps even several times a week if your audience is receptive), your social media accounts daily, and your email lists at least once a week.

The key to producing good content is focusing on value.

Perform keyword research and learn about what kind of content your competitors have published, then consider what kind of different angle you can use to approach the same ideas.

Another element of content is keeping it fresh. Periodically, go through your content library and update it so it’s current. This can drive new traffic to old posts.

Email marketing

Grow your eCommerce brand by connecting meaningfully with your B2C audience through email. The average email conversion rate for B2C businesses is 2.8%, while only 2.4% for B2B companies. That’s a nice little boost!

The higher conversion rate puts you in a unique position, as you can surely benefit from email marketing, growing your leads and conversions.

But you have to do it right, so check out these best practices:

Write subject lines designed to grab attention and inspire email opens. (We have a lot of resources for doing this here on the blog.) However, don’t be misleading or sensationalistic; you will lose subscribers.
Host a contest to obtain contacts, requiring participants to sign up via email. Make one of your best-selling products the prize. Before you know it, you’ll have ballooned your email list.
Use audience segmentation (AI is great for this) and personalization to speak to your customer’s pain points and needs throughout the sales funnel.
Rely on email automation software to schedule timely emails, such as follow-ups, welcome emails, missed cart emails, and order confirmations.
Determine the right email frequency based on your audience’s preferences, but plan to send an email at least weekly.
Allow people to unsubscribe from your email list easily so they don’t feel inclined to report you for spam to get off your list instead.
Build a referral program through email and reward users who get the most referrals with awesome prizes.

Paid advertising

Using paid ads to build your eCommerce business is a viable strategy in 2024.

You can’t go wrong with PPC ads; paying a publisher for every click the ad accumulates. You’re usually only paying cents per click, making PPC cost-effective for eCommerce companies on a budget.

Social media advertising is also worth looking into.

You can advertise on all the major platforms, from Facebook to LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. However, if you’re on a tight budget, you should select a social media ads platform based on the number of active target users.

You must track campaign metrics, whether yours is a social media or PPC ads campaign. Besides the number of clicks on your ad, how else did it translate to your target market? Did you gain more website traffic? Email subscribers? Leads? Conversions and sales?

Those metrics help you measure success.

Retargeting

Customers can change their minds about your products for reasons you may never know.

Perhaps they researched your products further and decided they weren’t right for them, or maybe you sell products outside their price range. They could just be on the fence.

If you’ve had a decent rate of abandoned carts, it’s worth implementing a retargeting campaign. Through well-timed pop-ups, before a user leaves your site, emails imploring them to come back, and tracking pixels that cause your product ads to appear across the web, you might convert them yet.

Social media marketing

Did you know there are 5.17 billion social media users in 2024? Social media must be a huge part of your B2C eCommerce marketing plans.

Just as you did with social media advertising, you should target the platforms your audience is known to use. However, don’t only stick to one, especially since posting on social media is free.

One of the biggest mistakes you can make on social media is parroting your blog content on your socials.

The goal is to share engaging, valuable content that informs, entertains, and educates your audience. That can include content you produce for social media and third-party content from trusted sources. And yes, the occasional blog share.

Geographic Trends in B2C eCommerce

The trends in B2C eCommerce vary by geography. For instance, Asia leads the B2C market in 2024, with the biggest market share. Europe and North America, although not as large, still have healthy market presences.

According to the market research resource Grand View Research, the compound annual growth rate or CAGR of B2C eCommerce in North America is projected to reach 15.5% between 2024 and 2030.

Here are the CAGRs of other big market players in B2C eCommerce between 2024 and 2030, according to Grand View Research:

China – 18.2% CAGR
India – 23.8% CAGR
UK – 16.5% CAGR
Japan – 16.8% CAGR
Germany – 21.7% CAGR
Africa – 21.8% CAGR
France – 20.8% CAGR
Saudi Arabia – 23.5% CAGR
Middle East – 21.8% CAGR

Case Studies

When forging ahead on your B2C eCommerce journey, it’s sometimes helpful to see other businesses that have paved the way and how they’ve overcome their challenges.

Well, you’re in luck, as I have a few case studies to share with you.

Walmart Labs

One of the greatest examples of B2B eCommerce success comes from retail giant Walmart, specifically its Walmart Labs.

This division creates new and innovative ways to improve customer retention and satisfaction.

Walmart wanted to improve its omnichannel shopping experience and contacted Walmart Labs to help. The idea was to improve the popular Walmart app, making it more omnichannel, functional, and convenient.

Walmart Labs case study with Brafton — *Image courtesy of Brafton*

Azrieli

Israeli eCommerce marketplace Azrieli specializes in sports, cosmetics and beauty, baby items, electronics, home/garden, and clothing. Azrieli wished to improve its website experience to attract more users.

Azrieli added more colors to its site design to do this, made the interface easier and more enjoyable to use, and improved navigability.

Further, Azrieli implemented a customer loyalty points system, expanded its shipping options, and infused multi-source product feeds into its site design.

Mytheresa

One of the best-known eCommerce businesses, Mytheresa, once had issues with accurate promotion labels, data management, merchandising, and product staging.

By using queuing mechanisms, database optimization, and data unification software, Mytheresa better promoted its large stock of products, keeping up with consumer demand.

Conclusion

It’s important to embrace new trends and technologies in B2C eCommerce to grow your business and remain on the cutting edge (where your competition hopefully isn’t).

Always adapt and innovate to meet evolving consumer expectations and market conditions.

EngageBay is an all-in-one marketing, sales, and customer support software for small businesses, startups, and solopreneurs. You get email marketing, marketing automation, landing page and email templates, segmentation and personalization, sales pipelines, live chat, and more.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. What is B2C eCommerce?

B2C eCommerce is an area of retail where businesses like yours produce and promote products designed for the everyday consumer instead of other businesses.

2. How can AR technology improve online shopping experiences?

AR technology is a realistic preview of how items look in one’s home or body, allowing customers to “try on” items for online eCommerce brands.

3. Why is voice search optimization important for eCommerce sites?

Voice search is rising, so eCommerce sites must be ready to optimize for these conversational keywords. Otherwise, you risk missing out on a large market.

4. What are the benefits of sustainable eCommerce practices?

First and foremost, you preserve our ailing planet for future generations. You will also win stock in your audience for your commitment to going green and attracting new customers.

5. How does AI enhance the customer service experience in eCommerce?

AI can augment the customer service experience in many ways, such as reviewing customer insights for better personalization, offering campaign suggestions to improve marketing and advertising, and working in a chatbot position to answer real-time questions.