Consumers are more likely than ever to grab their smartphones to browse retailer websites, making it essential for your ecommerce software to be functional and intuitive on any device. A recent survey by ShopVisible found that mobile site traffic accounted for 30 percent of all traffic in 2013, which was a large jump over previous years.

When you have a mobile site that works well, shoppers will be better able to browse your products and make purchases. Here are a few tips to keep in mind for setting up a mobile site:

Choose one approach. Practical Ecommerce pointed out that retailers can create a standalone mobile site, use adaptive web design that covers desktop, phone and tablet browsing, or opt for responsive web design that changes the site layout based on the size of the device. The third option tends to be the most popular, according to the source. You can customize layouts and content for various screen sizes, and the URL is the same no matter which platform your customers are using.

Since mobile screens are smaller than desktop monitors, you'll want to come up with a simpler presentation style. Trying to include too much information on a mobile site will only make it more confusing and difficult to use.

The end of 2013 might have seen a slight dip in the ecommerce market, but many retailers believe their online sales luck will change in 2014. A recent survey conducted by Create Ecommerce, an online platform provider for more than 10,000 merchants, revealed that 82 percent of surveyed sellers predicted growth in the online retail industry for 2014 in comparison to 2013. Only 3 percent felt there might be a decline in online sales this year.

Online merchants should not just sit around and wait for sales to pour in, however. Looking into retail customer trends can help retailers target their audience through email campaigns, sales, and other promotional tools. Entrepreneur.com recommended focusing your marketing strategies on the consumer rather than the business. This means blog posts, ads, newsletters and other written materials should target shoppers. Addressing them directly can help draw them in, whereas talking about the business alone might dissuade shoppers from visiting your site, let alone making a purchase.

Having a streamlined online shopping experience can go a long way toward winning over new customers. Everything from allowing shoppers to save items in their shopping carts for later to improving point of sale interactions can give shoppers confidence in their decisions to purchase goods from a particular online retailer.

Running an e-commerce store means shipping your products is a major focus of your business strategy, so it is especially important to make smart decisions about what you offer your customers. Retail customer trends indicate that your shipping options can make or break a sale.

A Pitney Bowes consumer survey released late last year found that shipping was a major factor for 80 percent of consumers when considering whether to make a purchase, and 49 percent actually changed their minds at the point of sale due to shipping costs.

Offering affordable shipping isn't always as simple as it seems, as there may be hidden fees for merchants when working with parcel shipping services. John Haber, founder and CEO of shipping and logistics consulting firm Spend Management Experts, told Practical Ecommerce that it's important to closely examine your invoices to determine if this is the case. He explained that this could be due to improperly manifesting a package, which will result in extra fees that will inevitably be passed on to the consumer.

To avoid overcharging customers, Ecommerce Times suggested integrating real-time rates that reflect the products being shipped rather than the cost of the items. In turn, this will encourage more shoppers to make purchases, driving up sales and increasing your profits. 

Technology has drastically changed the retail landscape, but the growth of ecommerce software and mobile tools is beginning to plateau as IT priorities shift to omnichannel integration. The most recent survey on the state of the retail industry by BDO USA revealed that fewer retailers were convinced e-commerce will continue to experience strong growth in 2014. Survey respondents didn't believe online and mobile retail would come to a halt or decline, but did predict slower growth rates in these areas. 

While 64 percent of respondents believed they would see growth in online sales, this was a 10 percent decline from the previous year, indicating some stagnancy. Another 34 percent felt that their online sales would remain consistent with the previous year's numbers, which was a 62 percent jump from 2013.

"After a banner year of e-commerce and m-commerce growth in 2013, retailers largely expect these platforms to keep delivering big returns in the year ahead," said Natalie Kotlyar, a partner in the Retail and Consumer Products practice at BDO USA. "But safeguarding this future growth requires retailers to invest across channels in order to deliver a safe, seamless and efficient experience for shoppers. All the moving parts – mobile apps, websites, supply chain IT systems, brick-and-mortar – need to be carefully coordinated for companies to hold their own in this fiercely competitive landscape."

Taking the focus off the niche
Rather than devoting all efforts to m-commerce or e-commerce in coming months, it is likely that the majority of retailers will be moving toward omnichannel strategies that will combine online and mobile marketing along with social media and other efforts to expand brand visibility. Marketing Land pointed out that though there are advantages to focusing on one sector of retail marketing, such as tracking cost efficiencies, paying attention to all avenues will be better in the long run.

Creating an overall brand experience
With omnichannel strategies, retailers can customize their brand across Web platforms, from their presence on sites like Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook to their mobile apps and in-store experiences. Retailers should focus on the consumer experience from start to finish, making it important to track customer behavior through each of these channels. Retail technology like CRM can aid in tracking and making sense of this data, according to Marketing Land.

Retailers use ecommerce software to establish an online presence and give shoppers options to buy online. Having a site is one thing, however, and having an effective site is another thing altogether. According to the Baymard Institute, nearly 70 percent of online shopping carts are abandoned. While some of this has to do with how customers use ecommerce technology to browse online, website design flaws can also cause shoppers to give up before they check out.

Here are a few tips to create a more successful checkout process:

1. Offer free shipping. Customers are often swayed more by free shipping than discounts, even if a reduced item price would be a better deal, according to the University of Pennsylvania.
2. Make prices visible, but not prominent. Studies have shown that using smaller fonts and excluding dollar signs can encourage buyers, Copyblogger reported.
3. Pre-populate and eliminate redundant fields. Asking customers to enter the same information twice can cause frustration.
4. Avoid ambiguity. Makes sure buttons and fields are labeled with clear descriptors that don't have double meanings, like "Continue."
5. Provide a status indicator. Show shoppers where they are in the process and how many steps are left, Betaout advised.
6. Include trust factors. To reassure consumers at the most important moment, put security logos near credit card fields.
7. Give a guest option. According to Betaout, offering the option to continue as a guest rather than registering is one of the top conversion strategies.
8. Let them go back. Make sure there's a working back button so shoppers can check or adjust their entries rather than forcing them to start over.
9. Use in-line error validation. Luke Wroblewski, CEO and co-founder of Input Factory, Inc., explained that showing errors right after users complete a field can increase satisfaction and reduce the time it takes to fill out a form.
10. Display complete payment summary. Surprising customers with shipping and transaction fees can cause them to drop out at the last minute.
11. Streamline the process. Eliminate unnecessary steps and avoid making customers leave the main checkout path in order to register or add information.
12. Show the goods. Remind customers of the products they're buying. For example, include pictures of some of the items in the cart, Betaout suggested.

These tips can help retailers optimize their ecommerce websites. They should also pay attention to retail customer trends and analyze web traffic data to identify successful strategies. Customer preferences are constantly evolving, so it's important to update websites in order to keep a competitive edge.

As ecommerce software provides greater security and more robust features, shoppers are increasingly trusting the channel and turning to online resources to complete transactions. According to a recent Javelin Strategy & Research report, the vast majority of consumers have shopped online, with 9 out of 10 having made a purchase in the last year. Only 7 percent indicated they had never shopped on the Internet, down from 22 percent in 2009.

As merchants bolster their online retail marketing strategies, customers are coming to expect greater service and convenience across platforms. 

"Ecommerce shoppers want convenience, they want speed, and they want security, and it is up to e-commerce platform vendors to provide merchants the tools to allow these wishes to be fulfilled in order for e-retailers to stay competitive," said Nick Holland, senior analyst, payments at Javelin Strategy & Research.

Tech Cocktail noted that the key trends for ecommerce this year include mobile, personalization, simplicity, speed, availability and enhanced experiences. Merchants rely on sophisticated ecommerce technology and well-planned marketing strategies to effectively engage shoppers and drive sales. To stay competitive, retailers should consider incorporating recent innovations into their online offerings, such as broader payment options like Google Wallet and MasterCard's MasterPass, Javelin advised.

Retail marketing has embraced a number of strategies to take advantage of the popularity of mobile devices. From mobile apps to location-based advertising to payment options, merchants can offer their customers convenient resources through their personal gadgets to seek information and complete transactions. Recent studies have shown the while consumers in the United Kingdom frequently turn to their smartphones while shopping, retailers could do more to capitalize on mobile opportunities.

According to Cheil Worldwide's 2014 Agile Consumer report, over 50 percent of smartphone owners in the UK take out their devices while shopping in physical stores, eMarketer reported. Much of this activity is aimed at researching more information about products, checking prices or taking pictures of items they are thinking of buying, the source explained. However, only 17 percent of the survey respondents admitted to finding the product on another retailer's website and buying it there.

Although respondents indicated that they are likely to return to a store if it sent personalized promotions to their phones, another study showed that UK retailers haven't focused on optimizing their mobile strategies. As Retail Gazette explained, a Forsee survey revealed that mobile sites tend to lag behind their desktop counterparts in terms of user experience. Retailers with ecommerce software should prioritize their mobile engagement resources to address growing smartphone use.