2023 is predicted to be a fruitful year for the eCommerce and wholesale industries. With several incredible wholesale shopping platforms being made available today, such as GoBiz USA, more and more people want to buy wholesale, whether for their individual needs or business needs. Not only this, but these platforms, GoBiz USA for one, are offering more exciting perks for members than ever before. You can check out the GoBiz USA FREE Business Member Registration. Let’s work on our crystal balls without further ado and discover the biggest trends in wholesale shopping and eCommerce in 2023. We are thrilled you have you in this discussion.
Biggest Trends In Wholesale Shopping And eCommerce In 2023
1. B2B Personalization For Wholesale Distributors
With the unprecedented rise of eCommerce, the increasing use of mobile devices, and quick access to information, today’s B2B buyer is vastly distinct from that of the years past. They have more expectations. Today’s B2B customer expects the company they purchase from to have a keen understanding of their individual needs and preferences. Personalization has shifted from just an add-on to a requirement in B2B sales. A study by Forrester found that 52 percent of marketing leaders are looking into investing in personalization.
In 2023, wholesale distributors are predicted to provide tailored customer experiences through:
- Communicating with buyers on their preferred channels, thus providing them with a unified experience
- Offering pricing, discounts, and rebates that are customized
- Boosting experience management as a mantra and discipline in the organization
- Actively governing the segment of one
2. Eco-Friendly Shopping Choices Among Consumers
Another study by IBM discovered that one in two consumers state they are willing to pay a premium if they get a sustainable experience. On the other hand, four in five consumers in 2022 said benefits from sustainability are crucial when choosing a brand to patronize. This has brought more and more sellers to invest in sustainability initiatives. Renowned tech giant Apple is pledging to be carbon neutral by the year 2030.
Companies are increasingly trudging the competitive landscape with sustainability and eco-friendliness in mind. If they wish to stay ahead of the competition, they should start with these steps:
- Assessing their current operations
- Pacing themselves
- Acquiring environmental certifications
- Adapting and being more accountable
3. Standing Out In The Competition
With the market becoming intensely competitive day by day, wholesale distributors cannot afford just to stand still. They should stand out. They should innovate.
There are four major ways wholesale distributors are transforming their business to meet customers’ changing needs and gain a competitive advantage. First is offering high-value services. The standard product catalog does not work anymore. Wholesalers need to offer services around their goods based on the needs of their customers.
The second is perfecting delivery. By streamlining logistics and warehouse operations and adding digital channels, wholesale distributors can provide the convenience and speed customers are looking for today. Third is becoming trusted advisors. Distributors can gain a competitive edge by collaborating with customers to build more trust.
Lastly, optimizing business operations. With the use of automation and smart technologies, these distributors can reduce manual tasks in order to increase efficiency.
Breaking out from the old ways of managing the business by investing in innovations will help distributors differentiate themselves, gain more customers, look for more revenue streams, and boost customer loyalty.
4. Brand Marketing On TikTok
Do we sound biased here? We might, and for the right reasons. TikTok is a huge social media platform that millennials and older people use.
According to statistics, TikTok was the most downloaded app anywhere in the world in 2021. It is also the first app to surpass three billion downloads since Facebook. TikTok is great for social commerce and brand marketing campaigns, and more and more eCommerce businesses are joining the bandwagon.
Here are three ways in which you can promote your eCommerce business on TikTok:
- Influencer partnerships
- Paid advertising
- Organic brand content
5. Keeping Up With The Rapid Tech Evolution
For the tech industry, there is no way but to go up. With innovation as the primary priority, wholesale distributors will have to keep up with tech trends and treat them as a core part of their business models.
The cloud, automation, eCommerce, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and the like are transforming industries. Distributors can still anchor on tradition but should be ready to make changes.
In 2023, it has been predicted that wholesale distributors will need to treat these as their priorities:
- Building up skill sets and expertise in new areas such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and machine learning
- Equalizing business processes and interfaces
- Establishing a change management habit and practice
6. Artificial Intelligence In Online Shopping
In the industry of eCommerce, artificial intelligence or AI is proving to be very useful in natural language processing, data mining, and machine learning.
The advantages of implementing AI in an eCommerce business are enormous:
First, by collecting customer data, AI can help generate customized content and recommendations depending on how customers want them. It can also predict shopper behavior based on a customer’s online browsing and search history. With this, businesses can optimize marketing campaigns personalized according to what customers really want.
In brick-and-mortar stores, customers usually approach staff with their questions and concerns. Online stores do not have this, so customers typically research the answers to their questions by themselves or leave them behind. AI chatbots and virtual assistants could help fill this gap. They can provide 24/7 assistance to customers, and the more they are used, the better they become at attending to your concerns and questions.
Finally, AI can help in inventory management and automation. Supply chains are volatile, storage space is limited, and consumer behavior usually fluctuates. AI can help in managing inventories by spotting possible issues with the supply chain, predicting patterns, automating packing and ordering processes, and more. All these can help streamline inventory management, helping avoid lost sales because of issues with inventory.
Takeaway
Successful wholesale distributors are known to invest in various technologies and innovations to ensure that every process from start to finish will be fluid. These distributors also embrace tools to help them keep track, analyze, and understand every customer touchpoint so that they can maximize the experience for them.
At this point in time, wholesale distributors are at a crossroads unlike any these individuals have ever faced. But, they have already taken great strides in adopting technologies to help them stay ahead of the competition. They will survive and thrive in the coming year and beyond by sustaining that momentum. At the same time, wholesale shopping customers are more than willing to invest in this kind of purchase.
