Ecommerce trends according to Nordic experts

For years we hear that mobile commerce is really breaking through now. And that cross-border ecommerce will become even more important. But what are the specific ecommerce trends for this year? Three CEOs from leading Nordic ecommerce companies share their thoughts.

Christoffer Tyrefors is the CEO of Cykelkraft, Sweden’s largest online bicycle store. This ecommerce site is owned by Nordic Etail. This company’s CEO, Marcus Frederiksson, thinks – together with Tyrefors – that customer experience will gain an even more important role in the ecommerce industry this year. “The ecommerce players understand that the purchase doesn’t end with the payment; delivery and after sales must be of highest class.”

Customer driven business
That’s also why they bet on customer driven business being a key ecommerce trends. The modern customer assumes more power and controls more of the ecommerce store: it influences its range, its content (in the form of reviews, Q&As or Instagram images) and also the presentation of the website, with for example the popular products being offered first.

Another key trend according to these CEOs is the smartphone. Of course, many ecommerce site have already been adapted to mobile visitors, but now these websites should all be adapted to mobile payments such as Square, PayPal and Klarna, with notifications et al. “Typical mobile communication, i.e. text messages and push notifications, are trending”, they say.

Personalization, omni-channel and a saturated price race
Torkel Hallander, who is the CEO of online tire and rim shop Bythjul, thinks 2016 will be all about personalization, omni-channel and a saturated price race. “Websites, e-mailings and other forms of digital marketing are becoming more than ever targeted”, he says. And while omni-channel is nothing new, it’s still strengthening, Hallander thinks. “Consumers are interested in physical contact with the products on offer. Virtual and physical stores supplement each other and strengthen the brand.” Also, Hallander thinks when the price isn’t the most important factor for consumers, other things will become more important. “For commodities with easy distribution, which can be easily compared with each other and without the need for physical connection, the transparency will create a ‘winner takes it all’ situation.”

Continuous technologic development
Sven Hammer, CEO of Apica System, bets on the continuous technological development with multiple choices. “Players in ecommerce today have far more choices of infrastructure for their digital market places, with migration to the cloud and especially hybrid platforms. Customers are becoming more discerning and do not accept technically substandard or slow sites.” He also foresees new opportunities with APIs. “They create new opportunities for ecommerce businesses to generate new revenue streams by improving the performance of the platform and provides customers with a more complete site with multiple products and services based on individualized data”, he explains.