Three online marketing trends in 2019

1. stronger regulation in online retail 

At the G20 summit in Osaka in June, international government representatives decided to increase the regulation of online trade. German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke of the need for international regulations for digitalization. In September, the implementation of PSD2 will also begin, which will bring a number of innovations for online shoppers and make payment processes more secure, but will also create more complexity.

The German Ministry of the Environment is planning to make it more difficult by law to destroy returns. Online retailers therefore face a number of challenges if they want to offer their customers the same pleasant shopping experience as before. This also includes providing customers with the most relevant information possible in the store.

Authentic user-generated content in particular - including ratings and reviews - helps consumers to better assess goods before purchasing and thus also reduce returns.

2. shopping in social networks

From photo filters and a network for images, Instagram has now become a comprehensive social platform that offers promising opportunities for marketing and sales. This not only includes "classic" influencer marketing, but the Shop Now button has also been available for some time, allowing users to purchase featured products with a single click. In future, online retail will take place even more outside of traditional online stores.

Nevertheless, brands must ensure that they do not lose sight of their customers despite the multitude of channels. Consumers also like to interact with their favorite brands on the various channels, which creates interesting content for companies. With innovative platform solutions, marketers can easily integrate this into their own online presence.

3. artificial intelligence in e-commerce 

Presumably every consumer has been annoyed by completely irrelevant and therefore annoying advertising. By using artificial intelligence, it will be possible in future to analyze customer data much more precisely and show consumers product recommendations that really interest them.

Personalized approaches instead of the watering can principle are already a long-standing trend in online marketing, but the use of AI-supported software will take this to a whole new level. The basis for such analyses is an extensive database. E-commerce networks, which have a wealth of information about other companies and consumers, can help here.