Top Trends in Ecommerce Marketing Agencies for 2024

6 min readAug 28, 2024

The ecommerce industry is booming, with online sales continuing to grow at a rapid pace year after year. As more and more businesses shift their operations online, the need for specialized ecommerce marketing agencies has also risen. Ecommerce marketing agencies help brands build, manage, and optimize their online stores and campaigns to maximize sales and growth.

In 2024, ecommerce marketing agencies will need to stay on top of the latest trends and technologies impacting the industry. By understanding the top trends shaping their field, agencies can better serve their clients and remain competitive. This article will examine the key trends and innovations ecommerce marketing agencies should prepare for in 2024 and beyond.

Move Towards Headless Commerce and Decoupled Architecture

One of the biggest shifts happening in ecommerce is the move towards headless commerce and decoupled architectures. Headless commerce refers to the separation of the front-end and back-end of an ecommerce platform. In traditional ecommerce platforms, the front-end and back end are bundled together. With headless commerce, the front-end and back-end are decoupled, allowing for more flexibility.

Many businesses are adopting headless commerce and decoupled architectures for several key reasons:

Flexibility to use any front-end framework or content management system. This allows brands to use the ideal tools for their unique needs.
Due to the front-end and back-end separation, pages load faster, which leads to better SEO and user experience.
Easier to customize and optimize user experiences across different devices and touchpoints.
Continuous integration and updates since the front-end is separated from the back-end ecommerce platform.

As this architectural shift continues, ecommerce agencies will need the technical expertise to implement and manage headless and decoupled systems for clients. Agencies should start preparing now by training staff and expanding capabilities as needed.

Growth of Mobile and App Commerce

Mobile commerce already accounts for over half of all ecommerce sales and is projected to make up nearly 75% of sales by 2025. As such, having a robust mobile ecommerce strategy will remain crucial.

Ecommerce agencies will need to prioritize and optimize the mobile experience, including:

Creating responsive, mobile-friendly ecommerce sites and apps.
Developing mobile marketing campaigns tailored to smartphones and tablets.
Leveraging technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning to personalize and enhance mobile apps.
Expanding options for mobile payment integration.
Testing different initiatives like branded mobile wallets and mini-apps within popular platforms.

App commerce will also gain more relevance as consumers increasingly use apps for activities like shopping, banking, and more. E-commerce agencies should look to build out their app development capabilities to capitalize on this growing trend.

Focus on Delivering Hyper-Personalized Experiences

Today’s consumers expect personalized, relevant experiences whenever they interact with a brand. To deliver this, brands need help leveraging their customer data to create tailored messaging and offers.

Ecommerce marketing agencies will need to expand their capabilities to provide hyper-personalized experiences such as:

Custom product recommendations based on individual user behavior and preferences.
Personalized search results pages and category pages for each user.
Email, push notification, and ad campaigns targeted to customer segments.
Individualized on-site experiences and journey automation flows for each user.
Lookalike modeling to find new customers that match current high-value users.

Agencies that invest in technologies and strategies to provide personalized omnichannel experiences will be poised for success in 2024 and beyond.

Leverage Ecommerce-Focused SEO Strategies

SEO remains critical for driving organic traffic to ecommerce stores. In 2024, ecommerce SEO strategies will need to focus on enhancing on-site search, improving mobile optimization, generating more high-quality content, earning links/mentions, and expanding local SEO initiatives.

Specific areas agencies should emphasize include:

Optimizing on-site search with AI and machine learning to better match user intent.
Structured data markup for product listings like schema.org.
Mobile-first indexing preparation and responsive design.
Long-form blog and video content to engage shoppers.
Securing backlinks and quality mentions from relevant ecommerce sites.
Optimizing Google Business Profile and local listings for multi-location retailers.

By leveraging the latest ecommerce SEO best practices, agencies can increase organic visibility and traffic for their clients’ stores.

Expanded Usage of Live Video and Shoppable Content

The usage of live video and shoppable content will continue rising across ecommerce sites and apps. Streaming video commerce platforms have also emerged, blending entertainment with shopping.

Ecommerce agencies should help clients test and adopt formats like:

Shoppable live streams on social media and ecommerce sites.
Interactive shoppable video ads.
Direct “buy now” functionality within streaming content.
Appointment shopping via live virtual consultations.
Influencer live streams featuring special promos and discounts.

Where applicable, agencies should also help brands build their own proprietary live streaming and shoppable video capabilities embedded into their ecommerce experience.

Testing Emerging Social Commerce Features

Social platforms like Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest are expanding their built-in shopping capabilities, introducing more ways for consumers to discover and buy products.

Ecommerce agencies should stay on top of emerging social commerce features and help clients test opportunities such as:

Shoppable pins on Pinterest to drive traffic to products.
Instagram’s native checkout and new storefront profiles.
Live shopping events on platforms like Instagram and TikTok.
Weaving shoppable content into short-form videos.
Using platforms like SnipFeed to create shoppable social content.
Collaborating with influencers on social commerce campaigns.

A strong understanding of evolving social commerce features will allow agencies to unlock new sales channels and growth opportunities.

Leveraging Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

AI and machine learning are radically changing what’s possible across ecommerce marketing, from predictive analytics to fully automated ads and product recommendations.

Ecommerce agencies should expand their capabilities to apply AI and ML across areas like:

Forecasting sales, inventory, and other business metrics.
Predicting customer lifetime value and propensity to purchase.
Automated ad testing and optimization.
Individualized product recommendations and search results.
Dynamic pricing optimizations.
Chatbots and virtual assistants on ecommerce sites.
Fraud prevention and risk mitigation.
Supply chain optimizations with AI.

Agencies that strategically leverage AI-powered solutions will be able to drive greater efficiency, personalization, and innovation for ecommerce clients.

Focus on Retention and Loyalty

With the rising cost of acquiring new customers, brands will increasingly focus on retaining and maximizing the value of existing ones. Ecommerce agencies should prepare retention-focused strategies such as:

Developing and optimizing loyalty and rewards programs.
Using data and machine learning to identify at-risk customers based on signals like falling purchase frequency.
Creating win-back and re-engagement campaigns for dormant customers.
Leveraging reviews, referrals, and community initiatives to foster loyalty.
Personalizing experiences, offers, and communications for VIP customers.
Providing subscription options, members-only access, and other benefits.

Retention initiatives will be crucial for sustaining growth, and agencies that can execute effective strategies will be highly valued by brands.

Prepare for Maturing Technologies Like Voice Commerce

Certain emerging technologies, like voice commerce via smart speakers, have yet to fully hit the mainstream, but they hold huge potential.

Agencies should start exploring maturing tech by:

Testing voice/AI assistants as a new ecommerce interface.
Optimizing product listings for voice search discovery.
Developing engaging voice app experiences with personalized recommendations and conversation.
Experimenting with different voice commerce business models.

Though it is still early days, preparing for technologies like voice commerce today will give agencies an advantage in the long run when adoption accelerates.

Data-Driven Approach Across All Initiatives

In an increasingly data-driven landscape, ecommerce agencies must adopt a data-first approach throughout their strategies. Agencies should focus on:

Building scalable data pipelines to inform decisions.
Unifying data across channels for holistic analysis.
Developing in-house technical and analytical expertise.
Leveraging tools like BigQuery and Looker for deeper analysis.
Building AI/ML models to act on real-time data signals.
Constantly testing and optimizing based on performance data.

A relentless focus on leveraging data, metrics, and insights will enable agencies to deliver superior results as an extension of their clients’ teams.

Conclusion

These emerging trends represent just a sample of what ecommerce agencies should prepare for in the coming years. Although the fast pace of change provides challenges, it also creates significant opportunities for agencies to deliver more value than ever before. By combining strategy, creativity, and technological expertise across these key trend areas, agencies can help brands accomplish their ecommerce objectives and maintain a competitive edge. The winners will be agencies that start building capabilities early across the trends poised to shape the future of the ecommerce experience. Companies like IoVista Inc. exemplify this forward-thinking approach, positioning themselves to lead in the evolving ecommerce landscape.

Name: IoVista Inc.

Address: 5220 Spring Valley Rd Suite 568, Dallas, TX, 75254

Phone No: 214–239–0143