The Future of Online Shopping
Christopher Tompkins
CEO of The Go! Agency (Digital Marketing), Author, Forbes Council Thought Leader, Entrepreneur Magazine Contributor, Biz Journals Leadership Trust, Fast Company Board Member, Podcast Host, National Business Mentor
The NEW Reality - The Future of Online Shopping
For the first time ever, it was entirely possible to stay home and participate in Black Friday this year. Through the power of virtual and augmented reality features that various social media platforms are beginning to provide, no massive deals had to be missed!
What does that mean for the future of the social media, eCommerce, and IRL commerce landscapes?
READ MORE:?Black Friday, but make it epic: Shopify merchants break records with $2.9 billion in sales.
According to a survey from InvespCRO, over 60 percent of online shoppers prefer to buy from sites that have an augmented reality feature. This makes sense, especially for clothing where it’s always wise to try before you buy.
But even companies like Volkswagen have been incorporating VR into their social media strategies, recently partnering up with Pinterest to offer virtual reality test drives.
Correlated but not necessarily caused by the sudden boom in VR capabilities in online shopping, in-store shopping hit an all-time low this year, dipping by 28 percent from 2020. There are a number of reasons for this: of course, the ongoing pandemic but also, with the ease of online shopping now people are feeling less pressure to line up for doorbuster sales at 4 am.
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The winner in this season’s VR wars was undoubtedly Snapchat, whose “Snap Holiday Market” made full use of the new technology to astounding effect. And, where success grows, competitors follow. Expect next year to see Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and others duplicating this.
What’s your take? Did you shop virtually this year or were you among the still considerable crowds lining up outside your favorite stores?
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