eCommerce trend in 2022 and beyond!
In the e-commerce industry, trends and technology are always changing and evolved over the years. To stay ahead of your rivals, e-commerce trends need to be observed all the time. You will always be under pressure to fall drastically behind if you don’t consider these trends in your overall e-commerce strategy. Statically it’s clear, We’ve passed a point, and e-commerce is now popular among people of all ages. As we move to 2022 here are some of the trends that are set to rise in 2022 and beyond.
Private Labelling: Direct to consumer (DTC) has recently gone viral and become relatively popular. Brands have direct access to consumers and higher revenues through direct to consumer method. For customers, it’s a direct pass to premium brands at an affordable price. If you associate d2c with cheaper products like affordable electronics and trending makeup, then you will need to prepare for a change. A private label can boost the trust and identity of a specific brand With the recent trend we have observed many premium private label brands has recorded phenomenal growth in terms of revenue and reshaping the overall D2C sector where customers are now looking into luxury private label brands for better products and superior shopping experiences.
Click and Mortar model: e-commerce is booming and rapidly catching up with the traditional high street and causing a serious dent in offline sales revenues. However, despite this fall in high street shopping, there has been a growing trend, where big tech is adventuring into a new format called click and mortar. One such prime example is Amazon. Amazon is making its presence in the physical world with shops like Amazon fresh (convenience stores) and Amazon 4-star stores( sell popular products rated by customers) across the globe. This brings the internet to real life. At this time it’s not clear how far this trend will go and time will be the real test for the success of this model.
Shoppable TV: Imagine you are watching your favorite show on Netflix and thinking of buying the same T-shirt as seen on screen with a click. There is something like this started by NBC in 2019, that connects different programs to a mobile phone app enabling viewers to purchase what is being shown on the tv at the time.
The day is not far when this technology will be soon incorporated in new smart television giving an altogether different experience to the viewers. The concept of shoppable TV will connect viewing and shopping into a unique experience that will benefit both buyer and seller. This is something that may become increasingly popular as more media houses are joining this bandwagon.
Product recommendations through AI: The industry is already leveraging AI for product recommendations. This helps key KPIs like average order value and conversion rate. It’s a win-win situation for both buyers and sellers as it helps buyers with complementing product recommendations and helps sellers analyze data and trends. With AI, advanced algorithms will be able to statistically identify the best channels, combos, and prices to list products on a real-time basis. This will help organizations and brands achieve higher profitability with minimum effort.
Reverse commerce: Re-commerce is the selling of second-hand goods. Based on the recent trends and studies second-hand market is set to get double in the next 5 years. This may sound similar to what websites like shpock, gumtree, eBay, and Craiglist are offering however this is a little different as more and more customers are becoming motivated by sustainability. Especially platforms like farfetch who are dealing in second-hand luxury brands and making significant profits and giving motivations to brands to step up their own re-commerce platform. Re-commerce is already a huge success in the automobile and electronics industry and with time it has the potential to take on retail as well.
Personalized or customized products: With the industrial revolution, bulk production replaced customized/tailored-made products. But brands like Nike, Vans, Jimmy Choo are taking one step ahead and adopting old-fashioned tactics like offering customized products to their customers. With the innovation of 3D printing and technology, the face of manufacturing and the entire fulfillment process is evolving. This is helping brands to offer customization at a reasonable cost within time.
Virtual Assistant technology: Technologies like Alexa and google home has been great for turning on the lights, playing your favorite music, stating weather forecast. But recent studies show that it holds strong within the e-commerce industry. Currently, 22% of customers are using voice assistants to order products which will set to rise by around $40 Billion by end of 2022 in the US alone. This represents an upward trend in the adoption of virtual assistance. With tremendous growth opportunities, top retailers like Bloomingdales, Walmart, and Dominos are already leading voice-activated shopping.
2020–21 are the years of unexpected and unknown where a lot of barriers and myths are busted, a lot of unexpected and unknown happened. However, the overall mood of e-commerce is high as we have seen technology and innovation take over the traditional ways of doing things. I hope this will give you my perspective of how e-commerce will look in 2022 and beyond!
