According to a study carried out by OpinionWay in August 2021, 3 out of 4 consumers regularly use e-commerce sites. If buying online was already becoming a reflex for consumers before the pandemic, it is now firmly rooted in their consumption habits.
However, e-commerce is accompanied by constant changes on the part of consumers: new expectations, new preferences, new priorities… Brands must continuously adapt to it and anticipate the dynamics of the sector to face these new challenges and respond correctly to new requests from their customers. In 2022, six major trends will constitute e-commerce.
JD.com opens two robotic stores in the Netherlands
Get started with niche markets
When building your business online, it can be difficult to stand out from the competition. This is particularly the case when entering a market that has already been explored by many players, who are sometimes very important, such as Amazon or Cdiscount. By specializing in a niche area, the levers used to make yourself known, such as natural referencing (SEO), will face less competition.
For this reason, it makes more sense to turn to niche markets, as did the Unbeatable Price e-commerce site, which specializes in the world of landscaping. Just choose a booming sector where competition is still weak.
Mobile shopping continues to grow
According to a study by Dynamic Yield, three out of four consumers now make their purchases on the phone for convenience and speed. Faced with the opportunities it holds, mobile is not to be neglected. It is essential to optimize your website for this type of transactions, which are more and more numerous. According to Statista data, 70.4% of e-commerce sales were executed on mobile in 2020. In 2021, it’s 72.9% of them. It should be said that these figures, which have been constantly increasing since 2016, have not stopped climbing. It is therefore essential to integrate mobile into its growth strategy.
E-commerce goes green
While the health crisis has pushed consumers to buy more regularly online, it has also heightened ecological awareness in their new purchasing habits. This logically pushes e-merchants to speed up CSR initiatives. More ecological shipping, eliminating plastic packaging, offering reusable packaging… Many concrete solutions already exist.
The clothing brand Ted Baker sends its parcels in boxes with a removable headband, on which the label is affixed. When a customer returns the item in its original packaging, the company can reuse the box for a future order. All he has to do is add a new headband. This type of element can radically make a difference in the choice of a site on which to make a purchase, particularly when we know that 70% of cybershoppers favor websites that adopt an eco-responsible approach (KPMG/FEVAD, 2020).
Social networks have a greater influence on cybershoppers
The growth of social media and influencer culture is transforming social media into an essential part of the consumer buying journey. They turn to these platforms to gather direct feedback from other customers before making a purchase. According to GlobalWebIndex, 71% of them are more likely to buy products and services based solely on reviews posted on social networks.
Indeed, when the recommendations are shared by accounts to which the consumer is subscribed, this will establish a climate of trust and push him more easily to purchase. Brands therefore have every interest in using these platforms and turning to content creators who will promote their products to a solid community.
Direct-To-Consumer meets the need for transparency
Because consumers want to establish a relationship of trust with their favorite brands, companies are increasingly adopting Direct-To-Consumer (D2C). This new way of selling makes the framework usually imposed in the distribution process more transparent. This allows companies to transform the marketing experience, but also the shopping experience it offers. Brands give their customers confidence and can simply communicate with them about their preferences or collect their opinions on articles.
Being more transparent and close to its customers makes it possible to do well in sometimes crowded sectors, such as fashion. In the first quarter of 2020, Nike’s bet on D2C paid off: its e-commerce sales soared by 82%.
Marketplaces, a strategic distribution channel
A Dynata study carried out in October 2021 reveals that 34% of French people discover new products from marketplaces. This means that it is the second discovery channel after word-of-mouth (37%). Its popularity can be explained by the ease of purchase offered and the satisfaction of having your product delivered in just 2 to 3 days, with often free returns. They bring a certain value to the consumer’s shopping experience and are real gateways for brands launching online.
In this sense, marketplaces are a distribution channel that should not be overlooked to increase sales and gain visibility. In particular, they can be useful for winning customers online, and then retaining them on an e-commerce site.
New marketing levers, new business opportunities, streamlined customer experience… So many elements that brands can experience in 2022 by taking advantage of these six major e-commerce dynamics.