Here are the 5 eCommerce trends destined to reshape the online shopping scenario in 2021
eCommerce trend 2021, or what are the trends of online commerce for the year that has just begun. To understand what to expect, let’s start with the evidence that the Covid-19 pandemic has expanded the eShopper pool by several orders of magnitude. The data from the B2C eCommerce Observatory of the Politecnico di Milano highlight how the penetration of online purchases on retail turnover has risen from 6% to 8% in a few months. The turnover in 2020 reached € 22.7 billion – up 26%. L ‘ eCommerce is considered, therefore, an integral part of the shopping habits of the Italians and also the retailers reluctant to put on land omnichannel strategies have had to think again. But what are the main eCommerce trends for 2021?
Experts have identified five:
Index of topics
- # 1 eCommerce giants and specialists
- # 3 Space for voice commerce
- # 4 Customer experience powered by augmented reality
# 1 eCommerce giants and specialists
The pandemic pushes towards a polarization of the market . On the one hand, in fact, the eCommerce giants such as Amazon (which saw turnover grow by 37% in the last quarter) and Zalando benefit from the new buying habits. On the other hand, however, a plethora of smaller sites with a highly specialized offer – such as Winelivery – and micro marketplaces with a glocal (global but local) footprint, which bring together in a single platform the offer of different retailers, done by expanding the concept of the proximity store online.
# 2 More space to the company
‘s social media is a powerful marketing tool, and more and more brands that use them as a sales channel . Instagram has recently extended the one click functionsto shopping in reels (short videos, lasting up to 15 seconds) while the Facebook Shops multiply. Among the eCommerce trends of 2021, many predict the consecration of the TikTok phenomenon, also thanks to the agreement signed with Shopify. The Chinese social network has worked very well to integrate the technological elements useful to encourage impulse purchases: buttons that allow you to click on a product advertised in a post and find yourself on the manufacturer’s eCommerce site, but also links in bio, fast checkout and integration with social payment platforms such as PayPal.
# 3 Space for voice commerce
They are called Amazon Echo, Google Home and Nest, Xiaomi My Smart Speaker, Huawei Sound … they are the voice assistants, who have invaded the homes of Italians in the last year and a half. Used primarily to research products, compare products and prices, many predicted an explosion in voice commerce as early as 2020. But this has not happened.. Now analysts speculate that over the course of the year users will become more familiar with these technologies and, in parallel, the complexity of the functions used will grow. Voice assistants are a powerful driver for impulse purchases because they are able to guarantee a truly fluid customer experience: the user who asks the smart speaker to explain a recipe, for example, can directly buy the ingredients by speaking. useful to achieve it.
# 4 Customer experience powered by augmented reality
According to experts, augmented reality will play an increasingly important role in the customer experience and therefore represents one of the main eCommerce trends of 2021. Augmented reality apps allow you to purchase a product from your smartphone by operating within a virtual environment. Sephora with Virtual Artist, and L’Oréal, with Makeup Genius, allow customers to view the rendering of lipsticks and blushes in “live” mode, simply by framing their face with the smartphone camera. This experience is even more realistic (and safer, which in times of pandemic is not bad) than the one in store, because the effect is that of the actual application, not the test on the hand. Apps like IKEA’s, which displays furniture and home accessories inside the rooms of your apartment, multiply the conversion rate.
# 5 Hyper personalization
The ability to offer the consumer what he is looking for , often before he even feels the need to buy it, is the key to a successful eCommerce. It is unequivocal and proven by the analysis that merchants are doing that consumers prefer to buy from a brand that creates personalized offers. Today, through AI and Machine Learning technologies it is possible to design even more intimate and memorable shopping experiences ( hyper-personalization is perhaps the main eCommerce trend for 2021), which adapt fluidly to the needs of the consumer.hitting the goal of converting and building loyalty in an extremely effective way. In this sense, even the research by images, until now marginal and not very much attention by the Fashion & Luxury brands, is evolving thanks to the use of mature technologies that allow to return more targeted and personalized results.
