Analysts have predicted that in 2024, there’ll be roughly $6.3 trillion just from eCommerce sales alone, an increase from what the industry has recorded in 2023.Â
While this is good news for your eCommerce store, the market trends are also changing.Â
So before setting up an advertising strategy for 2024, refer and share this post with your advertising team.
Jump to:
Top eCommerce advertising statistics
Top eCommerce advertising trends you should be aware of
11 eCommerce advertising strategies you should implement to boost sales
Top eCommerce Advertising Statistics
You’ll be able to take advantage of market trends when you know certain eCommerce statistics. It’s also a great way to know how to connect to your audience and provide an enjoyable shopping experience.Â
Here are a few advertising stats you should keep in mind;
- The forecasted value of sales from social commerce channels like Instagram is projected to reach $2.9 trillion by 2026 - Statistia
- eCommerce stores typically spend anywhere between 5-12% of their gross revenue on online ads and marketing - Adobe Experience
- 20% of eCommerce merchants recorded a 250% increase in clicks after optimizing their ad titles - Data Feed Watch
- Online shoppers are expected to spend up to $334 billion on groceries by 2025 - Swiftterm
- The global online fashion market is expected to grow to $1.002 trillion by 2025 - Statistia
- Over 96 million people in the US shop on social media and it’s expected to increase by 18% in 2024 - Forbes
- 30% of shoppers confirm that what their influencers recommend or endorse affects their purchasing decisions - Oberlo
- Cart abandonment rate is higher on mobile at 80% compared to desktop at 69.75 - Shopify
- You can get up to a 181% increase in your returns on ad spend by simply removing your out-of-stock items from your shopping ads - Data Feed Watch
- 77% of shoppers check product reviews before deciding to purchase a product - Bright Local
- 49% of people worldwide frequently use digital payments for their online purchases. 99.9% of eCommerce sites accept Visa and MasterCard. Also, 72% of these online stores accept PayPal. - Search logistics
8 Top eCommerce Advertising TrendsÂ
Just as we saw the rise in AI-enabled searches and other trends in the eCommerce space in 2023, there have been a lot of new trends in advertising as well.
Some of the top advertising trends in the eCommerce industry today include;
1. The post-pandemic reality of physical shopping
It’s been three years since the pandemic and so many companies have been forced to adopt several global inflation strategies to stay relevant in the market.Â
This includes increasing advertising costs and being hyper-strategic with it. For example, 40% of consumers make an in-store purchase at least once a week.
So many brands that require in-person shopping have started nudging their customers to make a trip to their physical stores.Â
2. There’s been more investment in social commerceÂ
Social commerce is rapidly growing with the US market seeing a 34.4% growth in 2023.
And so marketers investing in social commerce have already started acquiring tons of shoppers for their businesses.
Here’s a classic example from Cluse;
This brand has managed to turn its Instagram page into a digital shop. Now users can come here to browse items and buy them using the link in the bio.
3. A new mix of marketing channels
Many eCommerce stores typically play it safe with ad channels. Usually, the popular go-to options are email marketing, affiliates, Google Ads and social media.Â
But, lately, brands have been mixing it up with more traditional forms of marketing.
For example, Amazon Prime recently advertised their Indian Festival Sale on Prime Video.
This was an excellent ad strategy mix because if you have a Prime Video subscription, you have an Amazon Prime account you can shop with.
4. Personalized ads through local languages and messaging
Lately, we’ve been seeing more personalized content in ads where brands have multiple versions of an ad for the same campaign.Â
A great example is H and M’s Sharing is Caring ad Campaign.
This version below is targeted at the Netherlands region. It focuses on a couple for the ad and the entire language is in Dutch making it very contextual.
For another region, the theme is friends and it’s in English but it’s still the same campaign.
Google makes it possible for you to have multiple versions of your ad page - especially when you’re dealing with several regions.Â
We strongly recommend this to avoid getting penalized for duplicate content across your pages.
You can do this via HTTP headers, a sitemap or HTML headers. Here’s a guide for more information.
5. Marketing a diversified payment option
Customers already have their preferred payment methods and they vary. 32% of millennials, for example, prefer to use PayPal when checking out.Â
That’s why you see multiple payment options even on eCommerce product pages.
It is a subtle ad technique to show that they cater for all preferences including installments like after-pay or Affirm.
6. Prioritizing excellent customer service in pitches
81% of customers only make a purchase when they know they’ll be getting great customer service.
And so, businesses have learnt to promote their experiences instead of products.Â
Some might be aggressive with this pitch by promoting their social bots.
Others would just strategically place convincing details across their website and ads.
Brokelinen for example, subtly emphasizes the quality of their service through a 365-day warranty and customer reviews.
7. More brand advocacy particularly for social issuesÂ
Customers want to be associated with brands that stand up for something. So we’ve seen more brands publicly advocate for issues that align with their brand.Â
Sometimes, it doesn’t exactly match their brand but it tells what they are passionate about.
For example, Kohl’s is an online clothing and beauty store that is passionate about the health of families.
Most of their advocacy borders on mental, physical and emotional health. So what is your business passionate about?
Do read our insightful piece: 33 Brilliant Ways To Improve Online Beauty Store Sales
8. Not just being an inclusive brand, but showing actionable inclusivityÂ
Inclusivity has pretty much become a buzzword. Brands like Dove have created a trend of showing relatable and more inclusive models in their ads.
eCommerce marketing strategies like this show customers that these brands actually walk the talk. They garner more customer trust which translates to more sales.
11 eCommerce Advertising Strategies for 2024
With many speculations for what advertising strategies will spring up in the coming year, here are those we recommend for your e-commerce business in 2024.
1. Follow the trendsÂ
It’s important to identify trends before they become trends and hop on them as fast as you can especially if they align with your brand.
When K-POP became more mainstream, we saw many makeup brands adopt new lines tailored to Korean makeup.
It’s also how Korean skincare penetrated the global market because of the results they produced.Â
Another great example is the Barbie movie.
Many brands including Fashion Nova, Forever 21, NYX cosmetics and even unlikely brands like Pinkberry hopped on the trend.Â
So collaborate with the most unlikely businesses and create a joint collection to increase your sales this year.Â
We recommend you to read: How To Increase eCommerce Sales: 23 Immediately Actionable Ideas
2. Focus on organic contentÂ
Focusing on ads is great but you still need to develop organic content to build a relationship with your users. That’s why we recommend focusing on your organic content too.Â
Since it takes time to get results here, post high-quality and relevant content. The best part is that your organic content doesn’t even have to be on popular platforms like TikTok.Â
Mejuri is a jewelry brand that has an entire Pinterest account dedicated to its ring collection.
Here, you’ll see hundreds of pictures of nails and rings to go with it. They’ve been so consistent that now, they are a verified merchant.
Be sure you also spend time responding to reviews, comments and questions people have about your brand.Â
Don't forget to check out: TikTok eCommerce: 40 Brilliant Ideas (With Examples) For 2024
3. Integrate Instagram eCommerce to your strategy
Instagram is great for creating awareness and educating your audience but it should be more.
You can create an Instagram Shop or use shopping tags to make it easy to purchase your products.Â
These tags allow people to get details about your products like the price and title. In one tap, they can be redirected to your website or Instagram shop.Â
Meow Meow does a great job at this;Â
You can also use these types of posts to run your Instagram ads. So while increasing your visibility, you also increase your sales potential.Â
4. Promote your best categories or products
When building your SEO strategy, search or display ad strategy for 2024, always prioritize your best-selling categories or products.
This is because Google focuses on how important your links are.
The more referring links a page has, the more Google will ascribe importance to it.
Since Google helps users find what they are looking for, it will prioritize the page with more referrals.Â
This is why we recommend linking your best-selling products on your home page, blog posts, newsletters, and other important content on your eCommerce website. It will increase your chances of ranking on Google.
Do check out: Grocery eCommerce Email Marketing: 28 Incredible Examples
5. Market your brand through customer reviews
49% of customers trust product reviews. So you should sell your products or services through quality and original user reviews.
A great way to do this is to encourage your users to leave detailed reviews.
This could include pictures and videos to verify the authenticity of their purchase.
You can also add a helpful button so other shoppers can rate how helpful that particular review has been.Â
This way, when users visit your review section, they can see points to compare, the benefits and drawbacks as well as what sets you apart from your competitors.
All from another customer’s perspective.
The image above shows how Temu excellently sells its products through user reviews on the product page.Â
6. Collaborate with ‘niche’ influencers
Influencers and content creators will still be a huge part of the advertising space this year.Â
However, you want to only partner with people who are known for a particular thing. Preferably linked to what you plan to advertise.
This way you resonate with your audience better.Â
Tentree recently launched a men’s winter collection in partnership with Rodney - an adventure lifestyle creator based in Canada.
Since he’s always in the cold mountains, he makes the perfect niche creator to work with for this ad.
So think about your brand.
Are there any unconventional creators you want to work with?
They could even be streamers. Just make sure they have a niche.
You'll love reading: Maximize Your Canada Day eCommerce Sales: 15 Winning Marketing Ideas (+25 Email Subject Lines)
7. Make an impact with short video ads
TikTok no longer monopolizes the short video marketplace.Â
Meta saw the potential of the medium and introduced Instagram Reels, Snapchat added Spotlight, and YouTube added YouTube Shorts.Â
There is also Triller which is particularly popular as a TikTok substitute in parts of the world like India.
A lot of brands like Olipop, a low-sugar soda alternative eCommerce store, regularly post on Instagram Reels to widen their reach.
Don’t just focus on Tiktok in your strategy.
Repurpose short videos for other social channels, particularly those where you have a strong audience.
If YouTube shorts are giving you more traction, it might be time to focus solely on it.Â
8. Create personalized ads with first-party data
Google is phasing out third-party data which means you can only run personalized ads using the information you already have about your audience (first-party data)
If you’ve been collecting user information directly from your customers, it's time to use them to your advantage.
But if you haven’t, you need to start sending out surveys, streamlining your registration process, or using tracking tools where you can ask for permission first.
It is important to always be transparent about what and why you are collecting this data.
Since these types of data are more accurate, you know who targets and what type of paid ad campaigns will appeal best to them.
You can always test and retest to find out what works.
9. Make your employees part of the promotion strategy
Influencers shouldn’t be the only face of your brand.
Putting your employees in the spotlight not only shows a human side of your brand but also tells people that you have a great workplace culture.
In your next ad, find creative ways to incorporate your employees into it. It could be telling a deep story or just being funny.
A great example is the Blogigates fitness Zara model challenge.Â
They show just how fit their employees are (including the CEO) while selling their clothing line (POPFlex).
And all they had to do was strike funny poses for a TikTok video. It’s humorous, subtle and inclusive.
You might also like: 23 Secrets to Running Successful Facebook Ads (For eCommerce Stores)
10. Take advantage of WhatsApp marketingÂ
Create targeted Whatsapp ads to increase your customer engagement and order value.
Since it’s pretty easy to set up on Facebook Ad Manager, all you need to do is properly segment your audience before you start.
You can even use WhatsApp as the primary channel to run campaigns for your social contests or product launches.
One great example was Absolut’s Unique Access campaign. To get invited to this exclusive list, you had to bypass a fake bouncer ‘Sven’ on WhatsApp.
Maggi is also another excellent example. They used WhatsApp to build a community of culinary lovers by sharing virtual cooking guides.Â
These classes were hosted by Kim - a WhatsApp virtual assistant who shared recipes, answered questions and provided guided assistance.Â
You can try a similar approach or, use WhatsApp for other things like;
- Sending order receipts
- Following up with customer orders
- Sharing new updates about your products or brands
- Prompting them to complete their abandoned cart
And so much more.
11. Use a mix of retargeting strategies
Mixing up your retargeting strategies and channels will help you provide a well-rounded experience.
In addition to running paid ads, you want to contact your customers on other channels they are likely to use.Â
For example, you can create an ad with different copy variations for awareness retargeting and send a follow-up email with a conversion retargeting strategy.Â
The ad could be about getting a new collection, or guide and the email could then be about free shipping, same-day delivery, free returns or even a discount code.Â
Your retargeting mix can even be the other way around - a reminder email first and then a discovery ad afterwards. Very similar to Klarna's ad below;
Whatever mix you choose to work with, ensure that your copy is heavily focused on the tangible benefits of choosing your brand.
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