The Covid-19 pandemic has escalated people’s inclination towards e-commerce. Today, online shopping is not a luxury but a necessity. That being said, we do not mean e-commerce was absent during the pre-covid times, but it literally took a global pandemic to prove the inevitability of e-commerce. Retailers and sellers who were dicey about moving online have finally acknowledged that e-commerce is perhaps the most feasible solution to keep their businesses afloat during these testing times.
In fact, according to experts, Covid-19 has fast-forwarded e-commerce growth so much that online sales are expected to touch $4.5 trillion by 2021 (financesonline.com). Now, as the whole world tilts towards e-commerce, you should also prepare your ‘go-forward’ plan for riding its rising tide with confidence. For helping you out, we bring you a list of top e-commerce trends for 2021. Knowing what’s happening around can help you sort out expectations and preparations.
 So, brace yourself for some eye-opening facts and information!
Include social media in your strategy
Fading are those days when social media was used for connecting with people only. Today, it has evolved as an indispensable marketing tool, and as such your e-commerce strategy must be integrated with social media without fail. And anyone sceptical of this integration must know that online stores with social media presence have 32% higher sales than those who don’t. So, it is up to you in which category you want to belong to.
Comprising visual, content, influencers, and promotional campaigns, social media has the power of influencing consumer behaviour like no one else. As per a survey, customers who get impacted by social media are four times more likely to indulge in online purchases (deloitte.com). Imagine capitalising on this influence for driving value for your business!
Tap into the trend of mobile shopping
With smartphones in hand, online shopping is becoming even more feasible and easier for us every day. Being fascinated by this mobility, the world is experiencing a striking shift from e-commerce to m-commerce. It does not require a saying that you will have to stay prepared for this trend. In fact, any top mobile app development agency suggests you play safe by building a mobile app for your ecommerce shop.
With 72.9% of overall online retail sales expected to be coming from mobile shopping in 2021. The time for m-commerce has already arrived! And we know you are not ignorant enough to drop this cue and miss out on tremendous opportunities that await your business. After all, it is only by delivering a pleasant mobile shopping experience that you can increase conversions. A simple logic, right?
Add the power of AI to Ecommerce
As the ecommerce landscape gets more competitive, embracing AI becomes a must for driving better user engagement and cutting through the noise. And in the fashion e-commerce industry, the path to AI adoption has already been paved by Zara. The fashion brand is harnessing the technology to help customers pick the correct apparel size and customise their style preferences on its app. From personalisation and chatbots to voice search shopping and automated recommendations, go anywhere and you’ll find AI constantly influencing e-commerce. But wait, it is not over yet. AI-powered visual search is all set to become the next big thing in the e-commerce sector. While eBay and Houseology have debuted their visual search technologies, Walmart is still in the process of testing its system. Out of all innovations that you need leverage right now, it is AI. And there are no two ways about it!
Embrace omnichannel selling approach
As customers explore various paths to purchase, you’re soon going to understand the necessity of branching out. With an omnichannel marketing approach, you’ll have to go beyond your brand website and try different other selling channels like social media, e-commerce platforms, and comparison shopping engines. This diversification allows you to target customers at various stages of purchaser’s journey and improve sale opportunities.
Despite its potential, this marketing model is still in its infancy because most businesses find managing multiple inventories to be challenging. But, if you are a risk-taker, then the exercise needn’t be so overwhelming.
Using the power of AI, you can not only integrate multiple channels on a singular platform, but you will also be able to simplify the order fulfilment process for your customers. 50% of overall Amazon sales are already being generated from third-party sellers; so act soon if you want a slice of this cake.
Improve and secure the payment process
True that your ultimate objective is to turn the e-commerce website into a successful selling machine. But for that, you have to have in place a simple check-out process with multiple payment options for your customers. Understand that your customers have different payment preferences, and as a result, you need to consolidate all payment options on a single platform. Go beyond Mastercard and Visa and integrate alternative payment types of PayPal, Stripe, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and so on.
Branded and high-quality payment gateways are free of security vulnerabilities and trusted widely by the customers. Further, to improve other aspects of the check-out process, you may talk to the experts of ecommerce website development services. Be it fixing the navigational menu or optimizing the product pages, the professionals can reduce the shopping cart abandonment and improve the checkout conversions by taking the right steps.
Closing Thoughts
E-commerce has completely changed the way people purchase or sell goods and services. And as Covid-19 accelerates the pace of e-commerce growth, you need to adopt a change of approach. Moreover, with these above-discussed trends transforming the face of e-commerce, the industry is all ready to bridge the gap between online and in-store shopping experiences. Of course, you will have to work hard to keep up with these trends, but that’s going to be necessary if you want to thrive in this ecosystem. Now that you know the trends to watch out for, you can gear up for the big leap! So, join hands with professional experts to keep the cash flowing for your e-commerce business.
