Top Online Shopping Trends for 2024: What Shoppers Are Looking For

Online shopping has seen tremendous growth over the past few years and 2024 is shaping up to be another big year for e-commerce. As consumers continue to embrace digital alternatives for meeting their shopping needs, retailers and brands are innovating to stay ahead of the curve. Here are CouponXoo's predictions of some top online shopping trends to watch out for in 2024 that will influence both shopper and retailer behaviors.

Livestream Shopping Gains Momentum

Livestream shopping took off in China in recent years and saw increased adoption globally in 2022. It is estimated that livestream shopping sales worldwide could reach $25 billion by 2023. This interactive format that blends content, community and commerce is expected to see further momentum in 2024.

Major retailers like Walmart, Amazon and Instagram are doubling down on live video capabilities to court livestream sellers and influencers. Shoppers find the social and entertaining experience engaging. It also helps build trust as they can directly engage with the sellers. Look for more innovations like integration of augmented reality try-on tools in live videos.

Hyper-Personalization Goes Deeper

Technology has given rise to personalized product recommendations and targeted marketing. But hyper-personalization will go deeper in 2024 with artificial intelligence analyzing multiple data sources to understand individual shoppers on a more nuanced level. Expected advances include computer vision powered smart shopping mirrors that recognize outfits and offer style suggestions.

Conversational AI will have more human-like interactions to better understand preferences. Personal shoppers are getting virtual with AI avatars tailored to individual needs. While privacy remains a key concern, personalized experiences that delight shoppers are driving this next wave of online shopping trends.

Mobile Commerce Reigns Supreme

Mobile commerce has been growing rapidly but truly comes to the fore in 2024. Statistics indicate that global mCommerce sales will reach $6.6 trillion by 2024. Smartphones are becoming the primary and often sole device used for many online activities including shopping.

Expect mobile-first and mobile-optimized strategies across the board. Features like buy buttons will become ubiquitous on all digital Touchpoints from social posts to search. Apps will incorporate AR extensively for tasks like virtual try-ons and assembly guides. 5G proliferation will make for faster, lower latency mobile commerce. Overall, the mobile shopping experience comes into its own to shape the future of digital spending.

Sustainability Consciousness Rises

Sustainability has been a talking point for some time now but in 2024 it transforms into action as awareness grows through cultural movements like FridaysForFuture. Shoppers will increasingly consider brands' ethical and environment-friendly values before purchasing. Related trends like slow fashion, repair and rental will feature strongly. Retailers need transparent policies disclosing production processes and materials used.

Strategies incorporating areas like green packaging, reduction of single-use plastic and carbon neutral shipping gain shopper goodwill. Startups bring innovative sustainable solutions while giants step up emission targets. Conscious consumerism thus influences online buying in many positive ways.

AR/VR Enhances Virtual Browsing

VR and AR retail initiatives that were more novelty before 2020 have matured over the past few years. Moving into 2024, they will become integral to enhancing online shopping journeys. Virtual fitting rooms using AR body scanning let shoppers visualize exactly how apparel looks on them without physical samples. VR showrooms transport buyers to experiential brand environments worldwide.

Visual search and match AI using computer vision advance product matching and recommendations. Immersive 3D configurators help customize everything from cars to furniture in virtual reality. These spatial computing technologies level up immersive shopping and have great potential to improve conversion rates.

Social Shopping Trend Accelerates

Social commerce has been growing as shoppers discover product links embedded across major social media platforms including Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and TikTok. But the intersection of social networks and e-tailing will see explosive growth in 2024. Popular creators are able to monetize by curating shoppable live videos and Stories.

Social feeds become personalized storefronts as influencers leverage affiliate marketing strategies. Brands up their collaborations with creators to ride social trends. Livestream shopping parties especially gain momentum globally. Social commerce is set to account for over 20% of all digital spending by 2024, making social networks an indispensable marketing channel.

Hyperlocal Delivery Booms

Propelled by rapid delivery promises, hyperlocal e-grocery services where orders are delivered within 2 hours took off amid the pandemic. This fast-growing segment will dominate delivery dynamics in 2024.

Major D2C startups aggressively expand their 30-minute and under delivery capabilities for a wide variety of products across more cities. Q-commerce moves to the suburbs beyond just metros. Established retailers enhance their fulfilment centres and last-mile networks to be speedier. Delivery drones and bots come closer to commercialization, augmenting existing fleets. Micro-fulfillment centres become ubiquitous to ensure ultraspeedy dispatch. Shoppers want convenience like never before.

Buy Now Pay Later Trend Heats Up

Buy now pay later or BNPL services empowering interest-free installment payments for online orders emerged as a popular alternative to credit cards. With their seamless checkout experience letting shoppers break purchases into flexible installments, major players like Klarna, Afterpay and Affirm saw tremendous growth. 2024 will see these "pay in 4" services become a mainstream payment choice globally with innovative product features.

More merchants accept them as card networks look to launch competitive offerings. Players also leverage POS capabilities offline. Shoppers feel reassured without interest charges and merchants see increased sale conversion and order values.

eCommerce Beyond Borders Evolves

Breaking geographic barriers, cross-border e-commerce has been consistently rising and the trend will continue strongly in 2024. Global shoppers regularly buy goods and services from around the world. As cross-cultural exchange increases, more platforms emerge to bridge international shopping journeys by addressing challenges like duties/tariffs calculation, language barrier, returns and refund policies across regions.

Technologies enabling localization of marketing and experiences have also supported expansion. Simultaneously, export opportunities open up for niche brands and SMBs globally to reach new customers abroad. Digital trade thus transforms positively.

In Conclusion

In CouponXoo's expert opinion,Online shopping continues evolving at a tremendous pace as both consumer demands and enabling technologies advance rapidly. 2024 will be shaped by the trends outlined here like live commerce, hyper-personalization, social selling and acceleration of payment innovations. Convenient delivery solutions will gain more ground supported by automated fulfillment. Experiential technologies AR and VR further augment immersive digital experiences. Sustainability also rises in priority for conscious buyers.

Overall, online retail stands to witness its biggest year yet in 2024 by addressing rapidly changing customer preferences through continuous innovation.