Ecommerce Trends to Watch Out for in 2021

The recent wave of Coronavirus has driven people’s inclination more towards eCommerce. In the present scenario, online shopping has become more of a necessity than luxury. Possibly it is the most viable solution to keep business operating during these hard times. Numerous business owners and sellers who never considered operating their business online are now leveraging eCommerce development services to get their online store developed and make the most out of the situation.

As the industry is thriving like never before, and the whole world is persuading towards eCommerce, you should have a robust plan to ride in its tide. Though, eCommerce is an ever-changing space. Every year, several new ecommerce trends come up that can help your business expand and beat your competitors. As a business owner, if you are getting to start through eCommerce ventures in 2021, you should be updated with the ecommerce trends 2021to sort out expectations.

According to Statista, eCommerce sales by country shows Asia as the leader in eCommerce sales, followed by the US, and Western Europe

According to Adobe, Harvard Business School professor Gerald Zaltman says that 95% of purchase decisions are made in the subconscious. The huge shift to eCommerce is likely to continue. 160% is the expected future increase in eCommerce purchases from new or low-frequency users.

According to a recent study, in March 2020, 42% of the US population purchased their groceries online at least once a week, which reports an increase from 22 % just two years ago.

Ecommerce Trends to Embrace in 2021

Omnichannel Shopping Will Boost
Omnichannel retailing is a way to offer shoppers a smooth and steady experience across different devices and channels. As the acceptance of mobile devices and voice assistants is increasing at an extraordinary rate, the omnichannel customers will surely be increasing in the next year.

While using powerful data analytics tools, you can draw insights to better comprehend what your customers are looking for and offer them a seamless shopping experience. Analytics can also assist you know which products are in high demand, examine your profit and loss, and estimate customer loyalty.

As the use of eCommerce and omnichannel services has increased and is expected to stay post-pandemic, for an improved omnichannel experience, you can also optimize your website for mobile devices, develop a mobile application, personalize the customer experience and provide numerous purchase options.

Free Shipping Will Be The Ultimate Sales Maker
It is human nature that people overestimate things that they receive for “Free”. Numerous businesses have by now realized the role of free shipping as it can act as a definitive sales maker for online purchases. According to a research by Deloitte, 85% of consumers choose free shipping over fast shipping. Free shipping affects buyer’s decisions so much that the shopping cart desertion rate approaches 70% if shipping fees are added to their final bills.

However, in the post-COVID-19 world, when businesses are looking for prospects to sell globally, it is not viable to offer free shipping. In such a scenario, you can offer free shipping in your local areas.

Voice Commerce Is Set To Rise
More and more people are leveraging voice assistants such as Alexa and Google Assistant to complete their tasks. People are also making use of voice assistants to shop online. The ecommerce industry is growing fast, with market revenues projected at 15.6 billion U.S. dollars by 2020, and market revenue forecasts of 35.5 billion by 2025. Since people can also use these assistants at the ease of their regional languages, making it simple to shop, this has further led to the increasing demand for voice commerce.

Therefore, while setting up your ecommerce store, you can ask your eCommerce development company to optimize your ecommerce store for voice search. Even if you are already having an eCommerce store, you can still leverage this digital trend before your competitors leave you beside them. To make your site ready for voice queries you can optimize content in order to appear on voice searches and integrate voice-based navigation to your website or application.

AI and AR will Further Enhance Customer Experience
Would you believe that online sellers will be spending approximately $7.3 billion on Artificial Intelligence and more than 120,000 ecommerce stores will be implementing AR technologies to offer patrons a rich buying experience by 2022? Technologies such as AI and AR are totally revolutionizing the eCommerce market space. With AI, you can provide your customers personalized references based on their buying history and browsing behavior. It can also aid businesses connect data with real-time insights to enhance the overall shopping experience.

Likewise, augmented reality (AR) aids the shoppers to see how a specific product would look like. Even before the customers buy a product, they can get a clue about how the product would look like that allows them to make a buying decision fast. Particularly in the post-COVID-19 emergency where people are avoiding going to physical stores, ecommerce stores can make the most of the situation by employing AI and AR in your eCommerce store. Above all, by having these technologies implemented, you will possibly see an increase in conversions and a decline in the return rate remarkably!

Mobile Commerce Will Increase
As projected by Statista, it is foreseen that by the end of 2021, 73% of eCommerce sales will be through mobile devices, also, 30% of online buyers are expected to abandon their carts in the mid of shopping if they find out that an ecommerce website is not mobile-friendly or responsive.

Keeping this in mind, while you hire professional eCommerce development services, you should be asking to develop a responsive design for your ecommerce store. This will guarantee that the customers can shop effortlessly through their mobile devices just as they do on desktops.

Chatbots Will Remain To Enhance The Shopping Experience
Chatbots are not new any longer. Several online businesses are already making use of chatbots to enhance concurrently while ensuring that each of them gets personal attention and offers the right references as per their question. According to a study, more than 60% of the patrons prefer having websites, apps, or chatbots answer their simple inquiries.

Experts predict that almost 80% of businesses will be using chatbots in 2020. Even in the coming years, chatbots are sure to witness a significant rise. One of the major reasons for the increasing use of chatbots is because of the faster response time in solving user queries. In addition to just increasing usage number, it is also estimated that there are a number of ways bots will keep evolving in the coming years to solve even the complex user queries.

Integration Of Multiple Payment Gateways
Customers are now trying to find their preferred payment methods while shopping online. Within the current scenario, most of the eCommerce stores accept digital wallets including Google Pay, PayPal, etc. Customers expect more & better payment options. As an example, customers are easier using their local payment provider while they’re shopping from a foreign business provider.

Big online retailers like Amazon and Walmart win the heart of their customers due to the convenience of shopping as they save the customers’ billing and shipping information once they shop. This makes the whole checkout process fast and easy without tons of data entry. Even within the coming year, eCommerce stores are going to be accepting more digital wallets aside from debit and credit cards. In 2021, we’d witness more eCommerce businesses to start out accepting cryptocurrencies like Bitcoins for transactions.

Headless and API driven eCommerce Will Rise
Headless commerce means the parting of the front end and back end of an eCommerce application. It lets your ecommerce store be entirely decoupled from the frontend presentation layer. This can help you enhance your store with efficient SEO practices, content marketing, and digital experience. This year we have already experienced a rise in headless frontend solutions like IoT and PWAs, where 2021 may see augmented adoption of headless even by small businesses.

Video Streaming Will Increase Conversion Rates
The importance of videos cannot be understated as they can increase conversion rates notably. Short video content lets the buyers showcase your brand’s product and services even better than images. As an ever changing trend, customers now like watching videos of the product other than reading just reviews. For online retailers who are not taking benefit of this, 2021 could be a great year to start. As you get your eCommerce website designed and developed, you can stream exciting videos on your homepage that draws customers’ attention.

Include Social Media In Your Strategy
The power of social media cannot be undervalued. Nowadays, social media has advanced as a crucial marketing tool for eCommerce plans. As per a research by Deloitte, clienteles who get influenced by social media are four times more likely to make online purchases. However, several eCommerce stores already are leaving no stone unturned to find more ways to involve their audiences through social media. According to a research, online stores with social media presence have 32% higher sales than those that don’t.

Making use of content, influencers, visuals, and promotional campaigns, etc. on social media has the power of influencing consumer behavior like no other plan. In the years to come, businesses are sure to take advantage of more on social media for driving value for your business.

These are some of the ecommerce trends to embrace in 2021. So, wait no more, start your 2021 by rolling out your impressive eCommerce store and make the best of the current situation.