Top 10 E-Commerce Trends in the post-COVID-19

COVID-19 has drastically affected our lives for a whole long year. Moreover, it has also changed the way economics works. In particular, the pandemic urges everything goes digitalize, resulting in significant eCommerce trends.

E-commerce revenue is predicted to reach $6.54 trillion by 2022, up from $3.53 trillion in 2019. Therefore, to keep up with this fast-growing pace, businesses should update E-Commerce trends post-COVID-19. By doing so, enterprises can ensure business growth and outdo competitors in the same field. Here are the top 10 online commerce trends post-COVID-19.

Trend #1: Growth of online marketplace

During the pandemic, we have observed mass disruption in many economic sectors. This has led to an unsurprising reliance on eCommerce.

Online marketplace, which includes Prime Day and Singles Day, has almost generated double their revenue. By utilizing the right logistical and visibility tools, such as customer relationship management systems, progressive web apps, cognitive supply chain management, and subscription services, experienced sellers can continue to target a cross-border market. This potential market is expected to reach a significant growth of 27%, nearly equal to $5 trillion by 2026.

Trend #2: Convenience over prices

COVID-19 has made the digital store more acquainting to many people. During quarantine time, people cannot buy things like they used to. With no other alternative, consumers turned to E-commerce to get everything necessary for their daily lives. Hence, shopping online quickly proved convenient for customers.

Customers are developing new habits that affect how people purchase essential products, fresh foods, and beverages. They expect their online shopping experience to be more convenient than traditional methods regarding options, payment, and delivery. These criteria have outgrown the importance of pricing in some way.

Therefore, to stand out in the digital commerce field, enterprises should consider the convenience of customers’ buying experience first, then comes the price.

Trend #3: Online buying will not be limited to B2C products

With E-Commerce becoming increasingly common, necessities like food, fashion, and gadgets weren’t the only things people could purchase online. The category of online shopping for online items has extended. Many new items, such as groceries, furniture, vehicle parts, etc., have also been added to online stores.

The shift of online commerce from something people became dependent on rather than a simple convenience will not happen suddenly, but it definitely will slightly impact businesses. Therefore, brands must adapt their strategies to this trend to keep up with the market’s changes.

Trend #4: Make use of social media

Social media has grown significantly throughout recent years, especially during quarantine. According to Digital Growth Initiator Eduard Klein:

“Zoomers spend hours scrolling TikTok and Instagram feeds. Merchants are in seventh heaven; video is the perfect channel for reaching the curious young target audience. Gen-Z can make buying decisions literally from their social media feed, and videos let them shop straight away.”

So to make great use of social media, brands should take the next step in social media selling, which is advertising in different ways on channels such as TikTok and Instagram. In particular, brands should input links to buy products or links that lead to their online store in video ads that run on social media platforms.

Trend #5: Influencers will become helpful

Along with the rise of social media, influencers, and KOLs have also been supportive assistants for brands to leverage their vast audiences. It is very common to see brands work with KOLs in many marketing contents on social media, from Facebook ads to Youtube branding videos.

Influencers, with a deep understanding of their audiences, are really great content creators that brands can collaborate with.

With the help of influencers, brands can advertise their product or their promotion campaign more effectively. Just take a look at how many digital commerce platforms, such as Tiki, Shopee, and Lazada, have successfully made use of influencers to really leverage their brand and revenue within the last 2 years.

Trend #6: Wider range of customers

In the past, E-Commerce was only popular with Gen Y and Gen Z, which is the generation that uses the internet for every activity in their daily life. However, the pandemic has brought online shopping to a wider range of customers: the elderly.

The elderly population is considered vulnerable to COVID-19, which means that they have to stay in quarantine much longer than others. Therefore, to safely get the products and services they need, many of them are turning to eCommerce.

By knowing these shifting eCommerce trends, businesses can develop a better marketing plan to meet a wider range of customers. Moreover, brands that target the elderly should also consider going digitalized to ensure their revenue.

Trend #7: Changes in customers’ buying demands.

As the range of customers gets wider, the taste of the market has also been shifting. A recent survey by Nielsen identified many consumer behaviorisms. The following five trends are especially interesting as a result of the pandemic:

1. Buying health and wellness products
2. Buying preventive health products such as masks and sanitizers
3. Stockpiling on pantry items
4. Buying in bulk
5. Fewer shopping trips

This means that there will be an increased demand for specific groups/categories of products, including health products, grocery products with long shelf-life, and preventive safety gear. Therefore, businesses should focus on aligning business goals with these new consumer behavior trends.

Trend #8: The importance of fast delivery

Changes in consumer behavior towards quick, efficient, and easy delivery times have set the standard for merchandisers. Lengthy online delivery times affect sales, with over a third of online shoppers citing long delivery times as one of the key reasons to shop in-store.

Therefore, in the roasting tournament amongst online stores, fast delivery plays a decisive role in adding competitiveness.

One-day delivery with a reasonable shipping fee has become the ultimate goal for brands.

However, logistics is a big puzzle for online sellers to solve, especially with cross-border stores. With hidden fees, high exchange rates, and pricey tax conversion costs associated with cross-border E-Commerce platforms, sellers will need to take the time to consider the right shipping solutions and international supply chains.

Trend #9: Diversify supply chains

E-Commerce stores should evaluate and rethink global supply chain plans when COVID-19 interfered with the world’s factories’ operations. Businesses stopped, orders were canceled, shipping became expensive, and workforce shortages are the risks of relying on components from one single market.

To prevent this, digital commerce sellers should map areas that are most vulnerable to further disruption and determine which areas to diversify. Online merchants should also find some regions that can produce a similar service or grade of product that a seller is accustomed to. With the right network, cross-border sellers will have better knowledge of international markets for further predictions.

Trend #10: Make use of AI and AR

AI and AR will be helpful online in-store assistants for your eCommerce store. Artificial intelligence (AI) uses shoppers’ past purchase history and browsing behavior to show them products they are more likely to purchase. Augmented reality (AR) lets customers see how a certain product would look on them even before they buy it.

Implementing AI and AR in your online store can really upgrade customers’ buying experience. AI can recommend what customers should purchase next based on their history. This technology can also help solve inventory problems by assisting on the backend to make inventory predictions.

Please feel free to contact us for a free consultation: AI and Machine Learning Development Services

In summary, eCommerce sellers should keep a close update because COVID-19 has caused major changes to the global economy. Following these top 10 eCommerce trends post-COVID-19, we suggested ensuring a competitive place in the market.