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After a year filled with epic ecommerce stories, it’s hard to imagine what 2012 has in store.

Fortunately I’ve got a crystal ball full of exciting breakthroughs for the next 12 months, all of which will have a major impact on your online store. Check out today’s episode of Two Minute Tuesday for bold ecommerce predictions you won’t find anywhere else.

Happy selling!
-Matt Winn, Social Media Manager, Volusion

Here’s the transcript if you’d like to read along:

Hi everybody! My name is Matt and I’m the Social Media Manager here at Volusion. Welcome to Two Minute Tuesdays, where we give you two minutes of ecommerce advice to bolster your online success.

As we move into the New Year, I’ve been reading a lot of ecommerce predictions, and quite frankly, they’re boring and don’t tell us much. Thankfully, I’m not afraid to step up to the plate and share my five fearless ecommerce predictions for 2012. Ready? Let’s get started.

First, mobile commerce explodes. Truthfully, mobile has already exploded, but it’s slated to become even more important in 2012. With the increased adaptation of tablets like iPads, you’re going to see a lot more traffic coming to your site from mobile devices, so be prepared for that.

Second, the social bubble will finally burst. We’ve been taking about Facebook and Twitter for a very long time, and while those channels aren’t going anywhere, the social market is becoming more saturated. Thus, in 2012, you’re going to start to see more of the smaller players begin to die off, so keep close tabs on traffic that comes from various social sites. This will be a good indicator to see which parts of the bubble are popping.

My third prediction is that video takes charge. Keep in mind that YouTube is the number two search engine in the world, which poignantly demonstrates the power of video. In 2012, this power is only going to grow – so if you’re not working with video yet, it’s time to get started. Whether you create product videos, educational videos or even customer testimonials, remember that people don’t like to read anymore, so why not give them something to watch instead?

Fourth, the internet sales tax debate ignites. If you haven’t been paying attention yet, we’re facing a growing deficit problem in the US, both on the federal and state levels. To help remedy this issue, a lot of members of Congress and state governments are looking to impose an internet sales tax. While the prospect of this tax remained relatively quiet in 2011, there’s now a legitimate bill in Congress. Even more, states are aggressively pursuing companies like Amazon to start paying up for their internet sales tax, so pay close attention to this as it might affect you moving into 2012.

Last, but not least, retail begins to crack. Ecommerce has been eating away at retail’s market share for a very long time. In other words, the percentage of ecommerce sales are going up while the percentage of retail sales are decreasing. Expect this to continue, especially as costs rise for retail providers. Fortunately, overhead for ecommerce companies isn’t as high our retail counterparts, so the pickings are ripe for us to take an even bigger slice of their pie.

Hopefully this is an exciting way for you started off for 2012. If you have any questions about ecommerce, we’re always happy to help.

From me to you, happy selling!