Top Ecommerce Trends in 2021
Ecommerce has been on the rise since online selling has been a thing. It flourished, even more, when the pandemic occurred because of the changes in consumers’ needs and spending habits. This year, 2021 there are new trends in e-commerce that you should know especially if you are a business owner or a marketer.
Selling through Social Media
It is a no-brainer for any business to get on with selling through social media. It is a quick and efficient way to reach new customers and promote your products and services. With the number of people on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, they are already captive audiences waiting to be warmed up and prepared to purchase. This is a huge platform that all businesses must maximize because it is a free market.
Different platforms have provided different tools or avenues for businesses to sell their products. There is a Facebook Marketplace and Instagram Shop. These examples have different features that you can explore to enhance the display of your products and services.
Also, advertisements play an important role in generating impressions as well as warming up your audience so that they know that your business has an online presence.
The Growing Importance of User-Generated Content
In relation to selling through social media, your business must not only try to sell through your pages but also utilize the engagement that is available online. Having user-generated content makes your brand more appealing and therefore people will follow and easily warm up to your brand. This will also help widen your scope or reach and promote your products and services to a more diverse demographic.
Nowadays, customers do not want to see posts that are purely commercial or pages that are just trying to sell them products and services. Customers want to see posts that are beneficial to them even without making a purchase. For example, if you are a kitchen equipment store or a grocery, you can create posts suggesting recipes that would utilize the products you are selling.
The Need for Mobile E-commerce Sites or application
Websites are a must for any business wanting to have an online address or presence. It helps with sales and your customers will have an address to go to whenever they are surfing the net. This makes your business look and feel more reliable and trustworthy that helps with customer loyalty.
But nowadays, people are more glued to their phones rather than their computers or laptops. That is why you should maximize this potential and turn your customers’ attention to your mobile e-commerce sites. Making sure your existing website has a mobile counterpart or even better a mobile application.
The difference is that once you have a mobile application your customers will perceive your brand even more trustworthy and you will always have a presence on their phones. Mobile apps can also utilize notifications to constantly remind your customers that you have an ongoing sale or promotions and luring them to scroll through your site.
Using Chatbots to Improve Customer Service and Sales
More and more online businesses now are incorporating chatbots into their online customer service. Chatbots serve as an automated stand-in for a customer service representative or sales associate. They help man your business’ online chat 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, which makes your chat very responsive, which customers appreciate as their inquiries are answered.
It was projected that 80% of businesses would be using some form of chatbot by 2020. It’s safe to assume that it has mostly come to pass, especially with more businesses going online during that year. And now, chatbots are being tapped for more than just customer service. They’re now also being used for sales, and this application has been growing.
With a well-designed chatbot, customers can order products through chat. This gives them one more convenient option to buy from your business, especially with chatbots becoming intuitive over time. Soon enough, ordering through chat will become a norm, and it will make e-commerce even more ubiquitous.
More Ways to Pay
Every customer is different, including their needs. If a customer can’t pay for your products with how they usually pay for other online purchases, they’ll likely cancel their order. Therefore, offering a wide variety of payment methods is a good way to increase conversion rates, especially for mobile users.
That’s even better if you allow customers to save their payment information on your site so they don’t have to re-enter them for their next purchase. This can help foster customer loyalty for your business. You want to make every part of the customer experience as seamless and convenient as possible, and that goes double for the checkout and payment process.
Customers Respond to Video
Video remains a fantastic way to engage customers. If you’re able to do it, creating videos for your business helps grab the attention of customers and inform them about your products and services. The power of video can’t be understated as you’re able to give a real-time look at your products and services, as well as exercise your authority in your niche.
You can start off with short-form videos and gauge interest along the way. You can then build up to more long-form videos once you’re able to build more interest in your content. You can then diversify to other types of content like podcasts to get more people interested.
On-Site Personalization for Individualized Experiences
Customers are into personalized online shopping experiences. They like seeing product recommendations that are tailored to their preferences and buying history. It’s a good thing to make customers feel like your business has an idea of what they want.
Giving personalized experiences on your e-commerce website can have a strong effect on sales. A study found that revenue increases by 10% when an online store offers basic personalization and up to 25% when an online store offers advanced personalization capabilities.
With more data and AI technology, you can leverage that power by using it to personalize your business’ customer experience.