Across every industry, 2022 was quite an interesting year. Since 2020, we\u2019ve all listened to constant conversations about the impacts of the pandemic and returns to normal and questions of whether normal will ever exist again.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s no wonder that ecommerce saw such fluctuation. First, an astronomical rise, then what seemed to be sustained growth, followed by a downturn that has brought us to this current period \u2014 uncertainty for what\u2019s next.<\/p>\n
In my view, though, there\u2019s very little to be uncertain about. The acceleration of ecommerce in 2020 furthered a belief that businesses have held about online shopping for years: that to succeed, it\u2019s enough to simply stand up a store. And they were right about that in 2020, when consumers came online en masse. Shoppers were content with any online experience at the time because, frankly, they had no other choice. <\/p>\n
Now, that\u2019s changed. <\/p>\n
Bloomreach has believed for some time that while the first 20 years of digital commerce<\/a> were about standing up a store, the next 20 years are about standing out from the crowd. 2022 in particular has proven just how true that is. We of course have to account for the year\u2019s macroeconomic challenges and the stabilization that was inevitable after 2020\u2019s growth. But we also can\u2019t ignore the fact that many customers slowed their online shopping because they were simply unimpressed with what they found. When consumers have limitless choice available to them, when every company has the ability to become a direct-to-consumer brand, everything starts to look the same. So how do companies stand out?<\/p>\n It comes down to the experience. Building an ecommerce experience<\/a> that is personalized, relevant, and enjoyable becomes paramount in allowing businesses to engage \u2014 and retain \u2014 customers.<\/p>\n