2019 is the year of innovation and competitive designing. We all are already aware that the e-commerce market is not just vast, but also, there is a lot of intense competition in this saturated market. Every store owner wants that their e-commerce online store is the first and prime priority of the customers for their daily necessitates. But for this, you need proper placement of your website and products, unique selling proposition (USP) for every product you offer accompanied with value addition, in order to stay in the competition and have a competitive edge from that of your business rivals.

There is a need for basic yet revolutionizing e-commerce tools, which can turn the image of your online store upside down. There are certain essential tools that can provide an advantage to your online business this year.

Fast and Free Shipping

It is not just Amazon that is offering free shipping which delivers the ordered goods fast, but there are many online businesses who are either offering completely free shipping or minimum cost shipping rates such as $1 to $2 only. It is evident that many shoppers expect that the ordered product will reach to them as soon as possible. If you are inclined to get a competitive edge on your competitor, same day shipping is believed to break every sales record. With the reshaped dynamics of online shopping, now the expectations of online shoppers are increasing more.

Free shipping is believed as an incentive to the customers, therefore now, if your online business is lacking in free shipping on minimal shipping rates then your customer will immediately switch to that seller or shopping site that offers such offer. This is 2019, and all the shoppers who cannot stay in the competition will eventually be left behind, forever. One of the recommended ways is that to offer free shipping to a specific amount and if the order is less than that amount than the shopper is expected to pay a minimal amount for it.

Using QR Codes

In early 2018, Apple incorporated the automatic QR code detection for all its iOS devices, giving the ability to all the normal cameras to detect the QR codes without any hassle of installing a separate application for this. Similarly, Androids also came up with the same capability, helping in creating an advanced landscape giving the online shop owners an advantage of showrooming: a trend where all the users on the website can shop for a particular item in-person and later can complete the purchases online.

The expert’s report shows that more than 20% of customers are inclined to use QR codes for the safe shopping experience. With the influx of QR code to your shopping experience, the customer can easily get access to the desired product and can conveniently shop for the product he is looking for. It saves time and also provides a customized experience to every customer. With the QR codes, you can also turn a URL in QR code and help in easy tracking. All the e-commerce web development company are now trying to integrate QR code facility to your online store, helping in more customer engagement and interaction.

Subscription Service

As per the recent report by Forbes, more than 15% of people are using subscription-based services when it comes to online shopping. Though the number now is small, in 2019, there are chances in getting this number to a much bigger figure.

Curation-based subscription, where customers pay to get surprised by the content in the boxes each month has more than 55% of people utilizing it. More than 32% of people use fulfillment-based subscription where the products are spontaneously sent on the assumption module that it has run out of supply. Access subscription is where people are paying for some special access to the parts of the site for some premium privileges has 13% more inclination. The numbers are growing and are expected to grow more prominently in the coming years. Using a subscription model, customers are getting more engaged with the brand and are likely to stay with you throughout your online journey.