After 2020, the lockdown has become the new normal and the digital world has superseded the traditional methods in every aspect of industries and businesses. While product-oriented industries also tried to digitize their work, the service-based industries and especially e-commerce businesses had best utilized this opportunity to come at par with the pre-existing competitors. Consumers rushed towards online channels and companies responded to get a hold of the large customer base.
As the penetration rate of e-commerce services slowly increases year by year, the novel e-commerce trend will help attract a wave of new customers in all market segments, and provide companies and start-ups with more opportunities to provide services to a growing population.
Latest E-Commerce Trends Reinforcing Business Values
As people turn to devices to fill the social gap, consumers’ demand for personalized shopping has increased. Consumer expectations have influenced many of the e-commerce trends we can see in 2021.
- On-Site Gamification: E-commerce applied the concept of Gamification to motivate customers to take actions in certain ways in exchange for additional benefits. They usually have three strategies for different customers i.e For beginners they run some contests like the free giveaways in exchange for their Mail ID or any contact information.
- At the Intermediate level, where customers have provided contact information, they tend to move a step ahead of where they find “Spin-a-Win” like contests. In the very next stage when customers start spending, they are offered some incentive as gratitude from the company.
- Headless Commerce: This strategy decouples the front-end website from the back-end website making it easy to make changes when required without disturbing the other processes.
- Omnichannel Selling: It helps shoppers to shop through different channels while they are shopping and brings diversification of channel & data integration in the system.
Hence, understanding the latest retail trends, consumer expectations, design, and technology is essential to unlocking your ability to build brand loyalty and attract new customers.
Digital Readiness in E-Commerce to Adopt New Trends
Digital Readiness (DR) in e-commerce can be assessed through the organizational priorities, efforts of companies to adopt new changes with time. DX has been the hottest topic, especially in E-Commerce companies. According to UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade & Development), global e-commerce has reached $ 26.7 trillion post-covid-19.
For Digital Readiness certain practices and factors has to be considered:
- Put Customers at Center: Customer experience optimization is key to digital transformation, especially in the e-commerce sector. Knowing about your users’ end-to-end experience, their choices, etc. helps to create a more customer-centric system.
- Broaden your Channel: To resonate with users, companies need to gather information about customers from a variety of channels. The content deployment to various channels must be consistent and should be impactful.
- Agile Operations: The purpose of digital transformation isn’t fulfilled only by working at the customers’ end, there has to be agility in internal operations as well i.e., in logistics, inventory, product management, etc. With processes becoming fast and personalized with new e-commerce trends; the internal operation needs to be equally efficient.
Unlocking Potential Trends for Value Addition
Knowing about the e-commerce trend which is worth your time and effort is important. While some add tremendous value, others may not be connected to your specific audience, or your business costs might be too high to get a decent return on investment.
Personalization being the soul of goal attainment in e-commerce is a customer-driven approach that not only gives insight into the customer behavior but also helps customers to achieve their goal in each stage of their purchase journey. Though it is a popular strategy, most businesses are still struggling to utilize it fully. So for companies, it’s essential to make the right move and consider several factors before stepping ahead.
Some important e-commerce trends that can be of value to your business are mentioned here.
