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The seven ecommerce trends that matter most in 2023 are personalized email segmentation, SMS marketing, omnichannel selling, mobile-first store design, social commerce on Instagram and TikTok, AI for recommendations and support, and a comeback of direct mail. Ignore any of the seven and you will lose share to competitors who are already using them.
In this Family First Friday episode of the My Wife Quit Her Job podcast, I walk through each of these shifts using real numbers from my own seven-figure handkerchief store at Bumblebee Linens. You will see the exact customer buckets I use to segment my email list, the SMS engagement numbers I am seeing right now, and the specific AI tools that already run pieces of my store on autopilot.
Below is the full playbook, with every trend, the data behind it, and how I actually use it in my own business.
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Table of Contents
Key takeaways
- Segment your email list into four customer buckets and treat each one differently. Getting a second sale is 65% easier than getting the first.
- SMS marketing has 98% open rates and 36% click rates. My store gets 10x the engagement over email.
- Sell in as many places as possible. 70% of Amazon shoppers Google the brand before they buy, so you still need your own website.
- Design your store mobile-first. On Bumblebee Linens, 76% of traffic is mobile.
- Social commerce is real revenue. 35% of Instagram users will buy on the platform this year and one seller I know does millions selling katana swords on TikTok.
- AI can automate 70% of your customer service calls, personalize recommendations, optimize inventory, and run your ads through Google Performance Max.
- Direct mail is back. Response rates are 5x to 9x higher than other channels, and my last postcard campaign returned 16.47x on ad spend.
How personalized email segmentation works for ecommerce in 2023
Personalized email marketing means splitting your customer list into buckets based on purchase behavior, then sending each bucket a different message at a different discount level. At Bumblebee Linens I use four buckets: never-buyers, one-time buyers, brand enthusiasts, and whales.
Never-buyers get the deepest discounts because the goal is a first purchase at any size. Once someone buys once, they are 65% more likely to buy again, so I stop discounting hard and start cross-selling and offering loyalty perks.
Brand enthusiasts, who buy semi-regularly but at small basket sizes, get more frequent emails, curated bundles, and cross-sell suggestions based on what they already own. Whales, the top spenders, get a dedicated rep who calls them on the phone and custom-sourced products on request.
Which ecommerce tool automates email segmentation
Klaviyo is the tool I use to automate this entire segmentation flow because it tracks which products a customer viewed, what they bought, their purchase frequency, and their predicted lifetime value. Once you build your segments and email sequences one time, the whole system runs on autopilot.
A concrete example from my store: I sell matching cocktail, tea, and dinner napkins. If a customer buys cocktail napkins but not the matching dinner size, Klaviyo automatically emails them to complete the set.
Same for hankies. If a customer buys a specific style, Klaviyo recommends similar hankies without me touching anything. That kind of automation is where the personalization trend actually gets its return.
Why SMS marketing is the highest-ROI channel for ecommerce right now
SMS marketing beats every other channel on engagement because 98% of texts get opened and 36% get clicked. Last year 62% of consumers subscribed to receive texts from businesses, and that number is growing 12% year over year.
On my own store I see click-through rates between 15% and 20% on SMS, which is roughly 10 times what my email list delivers. Most consumers are already subscribed to one to five business text lists for shipping notifications, promo codes, and reservation reminders.
Only 55% of businesses use SMS today, but adoption is growing at 27% year over year. If you are not on it yet, the window to grab attention before the channel gets saturated is closing.
Why omnichannel selling is non-negotiable in 2023
Omnichannel selling means listing your products in every place a customer might look for them, because different shoppers have permanent preferences you cannot control. Some people only buy on Amazon, some prefer Etsy, some go to their favorite boutique, and some Google directly.
Do not design a channel strategy based on where you personally shop. Sell on Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and your own site, and use plugins that push your Shopify catalog to Amazon, eBay, and Walmart with synced inventory at the push of a button.
Also, 70% of Amazon shoppers will Google the brand before they buy, because Amazon has become a breeding ground for counterfeits and cheap Chinese junk. If they cannot find a real brand website behind the Amazon listing, they will bounce.
Why your own website still matters when you sell on Amazon
Your own website matters because it is the only property you own, the only place you collect customer data, and the trust signal Amazon shoppers now expect before they hit buy. Selling only on Amazon, eBay, or Etsy is easy in the beginning, which is exactly why it attracts fierce competition and race-to-the-bottom pricing.
The counterintuitive rule of ecommerce is that easy paths get commoditized fast. Anything hard, like operating your own store, running your own email list, and shipping internationally, has a smaller field and higher margins.
Do not stop selling on marketplaces. Add your own store on top, and consider offering internationally, because products that are hyper-competitive in the US often sell easily in Canada or Australia, and Australian buyers tend not to blink at high shipping costs.
Why every ecommerce store must be designed mobile-first
Every ecommerce store must be designed mobile-first because that is where the majority of shopping traffic now lives. On Bumblebee Linens, 76% of visitors come from a mobile phone, and my number is actually low because a large chunk of my customers are over 55.
On this blog, 68% of visits come from mobile. Despite the numbers being obvious for years, most sellers still design for desktop first, then squeeze the layout onto phones as an afterthought.
Two quick fixes make a big difference. Test your checkout on your own phone regularly, because most sellers never do. And use services like PayPal that auto-import the customer’s address so they can check out in one tap, because typing on a phone is where a huge share of mobile carts get abandoned.
How social commerce on Instagram and TikTok drives real ecommerce sales
Social commerce is the act of selling directly inside Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Amazon Live rather than driving traffic back to your website, and it is producing real revenue for ecommerce sellers today. 35% of Instagram users will make a purchase on the platform this year.
TikTok is even more effective. Two out of three users are likely to buy something while on the platform, 50% have bought something after watching a TikTok live, and TikTok users are twice as likely as users of traditional social platforms to recommend a product they discovered on the app.
Concrete examples: a colleague of mine sells millions of dollars a year in katana swords on TikTok alone. My friend Tiffany Ivanovski of Emma Lou’s Boutique does tens of millions per year selling live on Facebook, going live every single day. Amazon Live is doing the same thing inside Amazon.
How ecommerce sellers are using AI in 2023
Ecommerce sellers are using AI in five specific ways in 2023: personalized product recommendations, customer-service chatbots, inventory demand forecasting, dynamic pricing, and automated ad campaigns like Google Performance Max and Facebook Advantage+ Shopping. Each one takes work off your plate.
On my store the chatbot alone handles about 70% of inbound customer questions because the top two questions (“where is my order?” and “when will it ship?”) are perfectly suited to a bot querying our database. AI also predicts demand for our imports, which helps me plan two- to four-month sourcing lead times without being naturally organized.
For ads, I am running Google Performance Max campaigns where I feed Google my product feed and Google’s models decide who sees which product. I have been getting a 3x return on ad spend on Facebook Advantage+ Shopping campaigns without refreshing creative constantly.
Why direct mail marketing is making a comeback for ecommerce
Direct mail marketing is making a comeback because email and paid ads have both saturated, while postcards feel personal and get cut through. 70% of consumers say direct mail feels more personal than online advertising, 54% actively want mail from brands they like, and 42% read or scan every piece they receive.
Direct mail response rates run 5 to 9 times higher than other advertising channels, and 62% of consumers who react to a piece of direct mail end up making a purchase. Those numbers are dramatically better than the industry averages you see on paid social.
At Bumblebee Linens we recently ran a postcard campaign that returned 16.47x on ad spend. If you have a customer list and you are only reaching them by email, adding one printed postcard cycle per year is one of the highest-ROI moves you can make.
Frequently asked questions
What are the biggest ecommerce trends for 2023?
The biggest ecommerce trends for 2023 are personalized email segmentation, SMS marketing, omnichannel selling across your own site plus marketplaces, mobile-first store design, social commerce on Instagram and TikTok, AI for recommendations and support, and a comeback of direct mail marketing.
How much lift does SMS marketing give ecommerce stores?
SMS marketing gets 98% open rates and 36% click-through rates, roughly 10 times the engagement of email in my own store’s data. Business SMS adoption is growing at 27% year over year and consumer opt-ins are growing 12% year over year.
Do I really need my own website if I sell on Amazon?
Yes, because 70% of Amazon shoppers Google the brand before they buy, and Amazon hides your customer data. Your own site is the only property you own, the only place you build a real email list, and the trust signal that stops brand-conscious buyers from bouncing.
What percentage of ecommerce traffic is mobile?
On Bumblebee Linens, 76% of traffic comes from a mobile phone, and my number is on the low side because a big share of my customers are over 55. On the My Wife Quit Her Job blog, 68% of visits come from mobile.
How are ecommerce sellers using AI right now?
Sellers are using AI for personalized product recommendations, customer-service chatbots that handle 70% of common questions, demand forecasting for inventory, dynamic price testing, and automated ad campaigns like Google Performance Max and Facebook Advantage+ Shopping.
Is direct mail marketing worth it for ecommerce in 2023?
Yes. Direct mail response rates run 5 to 9 times higher than digital advertising channels, 62% of consumers who react to a piece of direct mail end up buying, and my last postcard campaign at Bumblebee Linens returned 16.47x on ad spend.
What is the best tool for automating ecommerce email segmentation?
Klaviyo is the tool I use at Bumblebee Linens because it tracks browsing behavior, purchase history, order frequency, and predicted lifetime value, then triggers automated flows like cross-sell reminders and lapsed-buyer wins. Once your segments and flows are built one time, the system runs on autopilot.
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