eCommerce trends to look out for in 2021
With the pandemic threatening to rage on throughout 2021, eCommerce has become one of the main ways many retailers can continue selling.
Over the past year we’ve seen brick and mortar retailers open and shut depending on local or national restrictions. With this, many retailers had to become digital businesses practically overnight to adjust to the new way of living.
Discussed in this blog are some of the main eCommerce trends we’re currently seeing and how they’re going to alter the online shopping experience of the next year.
More Ways to Pay
Reliance on basic credit/debit card payments as the only option doesn’t quite cut it anymore. Digital wallets are becoming increasingly popular, especially with stock apps on phones such as Apple Pay, Google Pay & Samsung Pay integrated with the operating systems.
With mobile shopping becoming more common, more options must be provided at the digital checkout. Letting customers pay the way they want, when they want and on the device they want will ultimately provide a more flexible shopping experience and remove any payment barriers.
API driven initiatives
As discussed in our previous blog post, the API economy is booming. With newer, innovative ways of implementing APIs with eCommerce websites, we’re seeing API-driven microservices allowing marketers and developers to easily update specific front-end elements of eCommerce websites.
With APIs becoming more common, organisations don’t need to reinvent the wheel each time they roll out a new feature, resulting in quicker reactions to the market and faster turnaround on development projects.
With home deliveries being one of the main ways of shopping, an API solution such as DirectAddress can be integrated with your eCommerce website, ensuring an Eircode or address is validated prior to an order being processed.
Mobile shopping
Shopping online should be as convenient as possible for the consumer. Mobile eCommerce websites give shoppers freedom to browse and buy wherever they are as long as they have an internet connection.
It’s even estimated that by the end of 2021, 73% of all eCommerce sales will happen on mobile devices.
Ensuring your mobile version of the desktop site (either through an app or website) has the same features results in a consistent shopping experience across all platforms.
Not only does a fast and reliable mobile website improve the shopping experience, but Google has also indicated that site speed is one of the variables used by its algorithm to rank pages in search results. The more mobile friendly your website is on mobile devices, the higher it can rank.
Tools such as Google’s PageSpeed Insights displays your website speed scores and provides information on how to make improvements.
Video
With in-person sales becoming rarer due to the pandemic, video consultations for more specialised goods are becoming more common. WhatsApp for Business allows for sales teams to easily organise sales video calls through a platform familiar to many in Ireland.
Video will also continue to dominate social media newsfeeds on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Buying decisions can be made from the newsfeed as video tags send users to straight to product pages.
Video-based initiatives such as Facebook launching Instagram Shops and TikTok partnering with Shopify will continue to increase eCommerce activity through the major social media platforms.
Dynamic shopping
This is trend is becoming increasingly more common as the technology improves. Products and services can be dynamic priced using software for eCommerce retailers with massive amounts of data available for analysis. Prices can be determined in real time based on whether a product is in high or low demand.
Similarly, the software can use data to determine if a price adjustment will result in an uptick in sales.
Are you preparing to alter your eCommerce customer experience in 2021? If so, contact us today on +353 1 8041298, or click on the link below to be brought to our contact form.
