As 2020 comes to an end, everyone is keeping close eyes on what 2021 would bring to them, mostly online retailers. As pandemic has devastated the traditional business model, everyone had to shift to the E-commerce business.
There has been a lot of clamour in retailing this year, in terms of technology, economy, social concerns, and shopping habits of the people with brand registration online playing a crucial to build strong associations. 2021 looks more promising to E-commerce businesses more than ever.
To keep your E-commerce business ahead in the game, here are the seven E-commerce trends to watch out for in 2021.
- Re-commerce.
Give it a name as you please, second-hand, re-commerce, thrift but selling previously owned items or resale shows exponential rise recently. As per one prediction, online resale growth would be soared 414% by 2024 from what it was in 2019. The resale trend was high in 2019, but we saw an even more significant rise in the resale last year.
Some experts have to say that this is occurring because of the pandemic's cash crunch, as per the thredUP. More than 88% of the customers have inculcated the prudent hobby this year such as gardening, mending clothing as a one way to save money and two out of three people who have never sold clothes before are now willing to sell them to make money.
They would have to lower the prices to stay in the game with a heavy E-commerce market for online retailers. Or at least join them if you cannot beat them, but you will have to figure out how to get good deals on the pre-owned products before doing that.
- Inclusiveness.
Another trend that we are likely to see in E-commerce is inclusiveness in the retail business. As per Accenture, nearly 41% of the shoppers switch business away from the retailers, especially those who do not reflect diversity and inclusiveness, with 29% eager to shift wholly if the inclusiveness is scant. Such data increase with minority shoppers.
It means bringing more diversity in your media, videos, product photos, blog content, social media posts, etc. Especially in the beauty and fashion industries, customers intend to see more diverse representations with the inclusion of beauty products for males.
- Accommodative pricing.
While E-commerce has been multiplying, you are likely to see more competition. The market will be flooded with new players and products, and that could change the game, and here, one rising trend is of dynamic pricing of products or change in the price at the moment in the specific channel to dampen competition.
Automatic reprisal tools help set the dynamic pricing and other monitor rivals and update your prices accordingly. And such a cool tool makes it a technological trend. Nonetheless, as we explicate in comparing dynamic pricing VS price parity, you might detach loyal customers if you provide a better deal on channels that they did not heed.
- Classy private label.
One concern with the traditional private label products is that people perceive them as poor-quality than name brands. And yet, as per the Nielsen company, private labels have scored more than doubled the compound annual growth rate of name brands, a 2.5% CAGR vs. 1% of brand name (over 4 years). That is of premium/classy private labels which is expensive and better-quality form of personal label products. It has opened up a new door and has already been put in place in stores like Bed Bath & Beyond and Wholefoods.
The general private labels that we were used to, the less priced substitute to huge brands, remain in a grey area. While Nielsen's score has declined in dollar share of the discount tier private label products, eagerness among the millennials is raised, especially for those who have less penny to spend, as we saw last year.
- Environmental-friendly.
Eco-friendly is the trend that never weathers away, and it would continue to do so in 2021 with full force. To put it simply, every customer is anxious about the environmental issues and tends to shop the products that would help in doing so to keep the ecological degradation lower while not defacing the earth.
Generally, these products would come in two categories: those made up of sustainable materials and methods or designed to be reused (as others are disposed of after usage). Many retail brands have earned respect for doing their charity work as well, where some portion of the profit goes to environmental causes.
- Better visuals.
Every year your customers anticipate seeing your website look better. Online retailers should keep their visuals up to date. If you do not want to revamp the whole website, how can you make a small change to keep it look better? Or what if someone is restrained by one's channel, such as Shopify or Amazon?
This question has no easy answers. But improving the quality of your product photos would be a good start. And you are providing a 360-degree view of your products, which can enhance the experience and conversion rate. You can do so with a small budget as well.
- Allowing the new payment options.
Trends for 2021 would not be complete without mentioning the new payment options by which customers can make a payment. Initially, we had used digital wallets, then came cryptocurrency, and the time is right to bring 'purchase now pay later' apps.
This would help customers purchase online easily and instantaneously, where they can pay the amount later in instalments. Ensure that the tax is computed automatically so customers will not need to pay more than advertised as businesses can now file GST returns online, making it a seamless transaction. The good part for you is retailers get paid in advance and fully while the payment company manages the I.O.U if you are planning to add this to your checkout, popular brands such as Zippay, Afterpay, and Klarna.
The way forward – old ones are still new.
It is essential to carry along the old trends as well as the new ones. Because both can work efficiently for you. And older ones are still relevant as well.
- Shoppable social media – pages on social media that take to sales pages to reduce checkout steps and enhance conversions.
- Voice search SEO – with the popularity of voice assistance, SEO must now incorporate keyword phrases that people have been using while speaking and not when they type.
- VR and AR – both of them are likely to be the game-changers for E-commerce in providing the best visuality.
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Mobile experience – if mobile E-commerce takes over the
desktop in 2021, then be ready to change the embrace accordingly.
