Ecommerce Trends For 2021, What Did We Learn from The Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has revolutionised the way that we do business. Here we will understand the significance on the internet for the future.

In a post-pandemic world, we can expect to see changes in customer interaction strategies, sustainable practices, changes in payment strategies, along with the pattern of consumption, with business moving to this online world.

Keep reading to be given a more in-depth view of the business world after COVID-19.

Investing in your Customers

With the massive migration of business activity online, it is crucial to understand how this movement will affect customer satisfaction, and the way in which businesses can secure this. Nikhita Hyett, who is the Managing Director of BlueSnap quotes how she has seen that “customers have different comfort levels and preferences when it comes to how they receive goods that they purchase online, so expect omnichannel fulfilment options, such as ship from store”.

Therefore, we are beginning to see the impact of the pandemic on business operations, which have now been moved into this online setting. In this way, it is important for businesses to truly invest time into their customers to understand their preferences and allow them to target customer interests when receiving items for example.

Thus, retailers will need to begin communicating with their suppliers to implement the best possible strategies for this new marketplace online.

Changes in the Pattern of Consumption

Statistics demonstrated in the article show us how the pattern of consumption is likely to change for the upcoming business year. We can observe the reduction in experiences such as eating out at restaurants, likely as a result of the pandemic. Hence, places such as these have had to try to move their operations online, notably surviving throughout the pandemic by offering services such as takeaways to remain competitive. It is important to realise that this article refers to the significance and projected growth of online services. For example, businesses such as Amazon have grown significantly throughout the pandemic due to their ability to attract people using their services at such a dire time.

Despite the current situation appearing to ease slightly, it is expected that current fears are likely to remain for a long while, making it likely that businesses will need to renovate their services to move online and stay competitive in 2021.

The Growing Significance of Sustainability

Lucy Hawkes at OMG Transact had this to say about the projection for the significance of sustainability in 2021.

“2020 saw a shift in focus away from environmental matters to those of health, but in 2021 the spotlight will no doubt pivot to sustainability once again.”

Here we can see that, once the COVID-19 situation becomes a little bit clearer, that business professionals are projecting that by 2021, they will need to incorporate sustainability goals in order to attract a large customer base and successfully operate online in 2021.

She also uses the example of ASDA, who is beginning to develop sustainable initiatives into their core activities to promote sustainability and the protection of the environment during their operations. This has likely been done due to a projected response in the demand for this for the future, meaning that initiatives such as these are expected to grow for online markets and Ecommerce.

Statistics to Demonstrate the Projected Growth of Ecommerce

This GTM plus article uses some great statistical analysis from past outbreaks and their impact on business, and this allows us to make informed predictions on how it is likely to affect our future as well. It uses the example of China, where Chinese Alibaba grew by 50% during the 2003 SARS epidemic. This indicates the fast response of consumers to demand business online, and similar projections are being reported now due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is expected that Ecommerce will grow even further than this, due to the pandemic nature of the virus as opposed to the epidemic nature of it. The graph below demonstrates this idea quite successfully by projecting the global Ecommerce sales growth from 2017-2023, a graph that any business operating in 2021 should take heed of, notably the steep jump from 2020-2021, to truly indicate the significance of online platforms in the upcoming year. Whilst this is in dollars, it is easily translatable to the pound as well as it is crucial to understand that this projection is a global phenomenon in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and that these statistics demonstrate a future for the world as a whole.

A Change in Payment Methods

It is expected that the pandemic will allow for the introduction of more customer inclusive payment methods as a part of their operations as an Ecommerce entity. Online shopping will now be even more significant, and customers need to know that the business that they are shopping with can offer safe customer service, and this could come in the form of secure third-party payment options, along with other opportunities for paying, such as buy now pay later services such as Klarna. This is a massive projection for Ecommerce, especially among the youth, who seek to know that their payments are secure and trustworthy.

We can expect to see a drastic change in the operation of Ecommerce due to the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has changed business operation for the foreseeable future. This has been seen by the change in the way that customers pay for their goods and services, and how businesses need to respond appropriately to ensure that they are catering in the best way possible towards their customer’s needs. These businesses also need to ensure that they are operating sustainably in this movement online to demonstrate that they care about world ethics once again now that this focus on personal health is beginning to subside. This is supported by projections from professionals.

Scott Jones is the CEO of 123 Internet Group, a full service digital marketing agency with a head office in Milton Keynes and further locations in Northampton and London we support a national audience with web design and development, search engine marketing, social media management, hosting and email services.

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