Top 10 Ecommerce Trends in 2021

⏱ Reading Time: 8 minutes

Changes happen every year in the business world and you know what? ECommerce is a big part of business world so it gets affected too! The ECommerce market is expanding constantly. That is why it is important to keep up with the changes, follow the trends and implement those that can work well with your page. 

🚀Read Ecommerce Guide – Introduction & How to Start an Ecommerce Business? 🚀

We have created the list of the top 10 eCommerce trends to help you maintain a successful eCommerce business. So let’s scroll through together!

1. Personalization

A huge trend among businesses over the past couple of years is eCommerce personalization.  Customer expectations of personalization constantly increase, and it is clear that personalization should and will become an eCommerce standard. 

Shopify wrote well what good eCommerce personalization should do:

• Meet users needs
• Avoid turning visitors off with poor recommendations
• Be used only where the potential return justifies your investment

Statistics say that customers spend 48% more when their experience is personalized. And let’s take personalized emails as an example. According to research, personalized emails generate 6x higher transaction rates and convert better than cold emails.

So, personalizing the online shopping experience is the key to customer satisfaction. By offering a personalized customer experience, you will deliver both an excellent shopping experience and connect with your customers more. Customers love seeing businesses that care about them and in this day and age, your business should do just that! Remember, you can not thrive in any area if you do not have customers supporting you so do your best and treat them right! 

2. Ecommerce Trends Go Green

With numerous global movements for the protection of the environment in the last year, doing business sustainably and actively promoting ethically produced items has become a must. Meaning – if you haven’t started, you should take into consideration what your company is doing to protect the environment and use it as a selling point.

If you are not convinced, check these stats – 81% of people think that companies should help the environment, and no less than 68% of online shoppers admit that they are more inclined to buying sustainable products. So if you want to board the “green” train – think about what kind of an effort your company can make to make Mother Earth happy.

It can be an overwhelming thing to do but remember, any small thing counts! Do you offer only plastic packaging? Try finding an eco-friendly solution! Take one step at a time and surely it will be noticeable in the greater scheme. Here are some tips you can surely incorporate in any field of business (and life in general).

Picture 1. Consumer awareness is rising

3. Role of Social Media in Ecommerce

It is no news that social media changed our daily lives. And that also includes the way we buy things. The role of social media in eCommerce is something companies and brands need to look into more closely to improve their position on social media channels. If you want to get discovered, there isn’t a better channel than social media to target your consumers, because this is where they spend most of their time.

With Instagram Checkout and Facebook Buy button, it is clear to say that social media have a great role in the eCommerce world. And it will only increase. Also, these two platforms, but others as well, have constant updates because their goal is to meet the needs of online buyers. 

It is important for brands to adopt a shopping focused approach to their social strategy. Just make sure you are always thinking about your customers and how to make their hectic life a bit easier. With social media integration, you are making the most of the customer experience. Social media platforms are a well known structures for your customers and that really counts!

4. Rise of Voice Commerce

One of the most notable eCommerce trends is definitely the use of voice in the searching and purchasing process. Voice commerce is the term used to describe any transaction with a business that happens when using a voice device. 

Wonder when did this trend get popular for the first time? It was way back in 2014 when Amazon first launched its smart speaker called Echo. And now it’s on the rise. The number of customers indicating they research items with voice-assisted devices such as Amazon Echo and Google Home has increased 83% year over year according to new research. So right now, Amazon Echo and Google Home are the fastest growing customer technology since the smartphone.

Also, TechCrunch says that by the end of this year, voice commerce will generate more than $40 billion in sales in the US alone.

Picture 2. Smart speaker Echo

5. Chatbots Are Here to Stay

Chatbots have changed the customer experience lately for the better, and that will only continue. More than 60% of all end-users consider chatbots as their first choice for customer service inquiries. Companies use a chatbot for improving customer service, providing quicker and better responses, and gathering more data so they can create a more enjoyable customer experience next time around. So, by developing chatbots and integrating them into your business system, you will surely benefit from them. They also have marketing benefits for eCommerce websites such as search engine rankings. Above all, your customers will get a personalized and quick service, which is something a successful company should strive for. 

6. Role of AI in Ecommerce

According to Business Wire, Global retailer spending on Artificial Intelligence (AI) will reach $7.3 billion per annum by 2022, up from an estimated $2 billion in 2018. That is massive. 

The research shows us that retailers are willing to invest in tools that will help them improve their services. There are a lot of AI tools that can help your business,  from automated marketing platforms to chatbots that respond to customer queries immediately. 

So, the role of AI will only become stronger as retailers invest in improving areas such as customer service where AI can be very useful. Plus, it will allow online stores to provide an even more personalized experience for online shoppers.

Picture 3. AI as help to grow your online sales

7. Subscription Ecommerce

Did you know that the subscription eCommerce market has grown by more than 100 percent a year over the past five years? It is becoming an increasingly popular and fast-growing way of buying things online. And of one of the most popular eCommerce trends.

Subscription eCommerce is when customers receive the same products on a repeat purchase basis and it can include everyday items. If companies want customers to repeat purchases from stores, they need to ensure the quality of the products they offer and great user experience. Starting from website design to customer service. Developing a great and unique customer experience will help you accelerate both growth and profit. A great example is P&G (Gillette on Demand) who launched a new subscription business. 

Also, an important part of the subscription is personalization. Customers consider personalized subscription as a reason for continuing to subscribe, so don’t forget about that.

8. Mobile Shopping Is Growing

Mobile shopping is for sure growing. Business Insider predicts that 44% of e-commerce traffic by 2024 will be m-commerce generated! Jump on board- now would be the right time to optimize and improve your site for mobile shoppers.

If you improve the eCommerce experience for mobile customers you will open a whole new door with a lot of new opportunities. Especially because trust in online shopping is increasing, and consumers feel more comfortable shopping on mobile devices than before.

M-commerce experience should be highly important to any retailer who decides to provide an online store!

Picture 4. Mobile eCommerce statistics

9. Omnichannel Shopping

Omnichannel means being present at any moment to help your customers. It provides users the freedom of making decisions in a way they want to personalize their profiles, in order to receive targeting information. 

Nowadays 73% of customers are using multiple channels during their shopping journey. For eCommerce, omnichannel means to better understand how customers buy products and which channels they engage with. 

So, make sure you implement this trend and integrate your offline and online attributes into omnichannel shopping to create a better omnichannel customer experience.

Read: Omnichannel Retailing: What Is It and Why Is It Important?

Example of Omnichannel Customer Experience – Paldesk

If you need a powerful Live Chat and Help Desk tool, Paldesk is great for that. This software helps you improve your customer service through all channels of communication in the most effective way. Channels that are included are Web chat, Mobile Applications (SDK), WordPress, Facebook, Twitter, Viber, Email, Drupal, and Slack. Access to inquiries from all of those channels is connected in one appropriate dashboard. Simply, Paldesk provides customers better service together with faster problem solving and selling more products.

10. Augmented Reality (AR) Is a Game-Changer

The last but definitely not least important when we talk about eCommerce trends is Augmented reality (AR). One of the main concerns that people have when shopping online is the inability to see the product firsthand or try them. That’s why AR is here. Its technology enables online shoppers to better visualize the products that they are interested in.

„AR is filling the most difficult gap to bridge when comparing the shopping experience between brick-and-mortar and online.“ – Ben Froedge, head of content and marketing at Shopify Plus Partners Underwaterpistol

According to PR Newswire, by 2022 over 120,000 stores will be using Augmented Reality (AR) technologies, offering a better buying experience. Retail workers and internet shoppers will drive AR uptake in the industry. So, with the use of AR, customers will be able to better understand their needs.

Also, Ikea launched their AR Catalogue App where customers can see how certain pieces of furniture will fit in their homes.

Final Thoughts

With all technology advancement nowadays it would be a smart thing to keep up with these eCommerce trends for 2021. We hope you will adopt some of them in order to improve your customers’ shopping experience and that they will help your business grow. 

If you have any more questions or thoughts, leave them in the comments!