10 tips and trends for e-commerce in 2021

As everyone knows, 2020 was a year of exponential growth for online commerce. What was expected to take a few years was accomplished in half a dozen months.

Being a trade that takes place on the internet, the agility, quick return on investment and visibility of the product / service, are key factors. However, this same visibility can bring a great number of bad reviews, dissatisfaction and enlarge the returns and exchanges.

So, all companies that use online commerce as a sales tool, need to be aware of the customers’ needs and expectations.

In this article, we will focus 10 trends and factors that in our perspective will be quite relevant in 2021 and in the years to come:

1 - Physical and online presence. Make it quick and simple for the customer to purchase your products both in the physical store (if you have one) and in the online store. If you have a presence "in these two worlds", get a correct and updated management of stocks, orders and customers. Also take advantage of the physical store to publicize specific campaigns that take place online.

2 - Improve the checkout experience for the customer. Checkout is one of the most critical moments in e-commerce. It must be simple and quick. So, allow the customer to save their personal, billing and shipping data for future purchases. Another trend is eliminating the step of adding the products to the cart, enabling the customers to buy directly from the product page.

3 - Provide a 3D view of the products to show the shape, texture and details from any angle.

4 - Provide a virtual or video tour of the factory, office, or production line. The customers will certainly understand and internalize better your brand or product.

5 - Fast and free shipping. Most consumers in the USA, UK, China, Germany, France and Japan consider free shipping one of the most important factors on an online purchase. So, you must consider 3 relevant factors: speed of delivery; free shipping; transport tracking.

6 - Sustainable packaging. Three-quarters of American consumers are more likely to buy a sustainably packaged product. This is undoubtedly one of the biggest trends of 2021. Basically, the focus is zero waste packaging.

7 - Presence in Market Places. Almost half of all global e-commerce sales take place in market places, where consumers look for “solutions / products” instead of brands. So, if your brand is also in a market place, try to turn your product page into a rich and engaging experience for the consumer.

8 - Customer retention. While reaching new customers is important, the increasing competition for online attention has reinforced the value of retaining current customers. So, at this moment, retention exceeds acquisition.

9 - Loyalty and subscription campaigns. Implement loyalty campaigns to encourage repurchases. Monthly subscriptions can also increase retention and generate recurring revenue. To reduce the investment on advertising, you can communicate directly via email or text messages. Personalized email campaigns can generate 10 times more revenue and 80% of text messages are opened and read within 10 minutes after being sent.

10 - Know the customers' buying cycle. Mapping the customers' buying cycle journey becomes vital, as well as finding out how long it takes to make a second, third or fourth purchase and the typical order in which the items are purchased. This allows you to speed up new orders and cross sales.

The content in this article represents the current view of 4por4, on a subject as relevant nowadays as the optimization and usability in online stores. But we will always be available to receive and listen your contribution and opinion