Saying that e-Commerce is constantly changing is a trivia. However, last year brought such a quick and big change, that we need to readjust our approach.
Rapid changes and unprecedented growth of the e-Commerce market bring new opportunities as well as new challenges. We’ll examine the most important of them in this article.
Lots of people moved online with their purchases. Answering to the lock-down, many retailers moved to the Internet as well. For many, it was the first time selling directly to the customer online. What else should keep your eyes awake?
14 challenges for e-commerce in 2021 and beyond
The list below contains various trends, technologies, and ideas that are crucial for e-commerce businesses to thrive. Although it will be hard to focus on all of them, you should at least be aware of how it works.
- More clients – According to McKinsey, the growth of 10 years happened in just 90 days of 2020. It means that there are more people than ever online with needs waiting to be fulfilled. Millions of them had their first e-commerce experience only in 2020. Moreover, they’re often buying online goods, they would normally find in bricks and mortar stores including groceries and health goods
- This rapid move to the online market also means that the competition is much more severe. Now, virtually everyone is online with their products and services. It’s become even more difficult to get the attention of customers, not even saying about making them buy anything from you.
- Shift to mobile is still moving forward. To grow your business, you need to be where your clients are. In this case, it means in their mobile phones. Every e-commerce business needs to advertise and offer their products or services via mobile devices.
- Augmented Reality in e-commerce foes in two directions. When and where it’ll be possible to advertise your brand within AR (e.g. in games or AR for bike training). Another way to incorporate AR in your business is to offer AR presentations. People could see your product and experience it almost tangibly while shopping online. What possibilities does it give you?
- Incorporation of AI and ML in decision-making and marketing. This trend keeps growing, it’ll stay with us for long. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning can be used in virtually every aspect of e-commerce business. From advertising to pricing, to selling, to delivery, to post-purchase service, and remarketing. It’s hard to run an e-commerce business today, without any support from AI.
- People are getting more conscious about ecology and the environment. Also, your clients. Their concern about their influence on climate will increase. Do your homework and make sure to share knowledge about ecology, and how your brand cares about nature.
- Get ready for Voice Commerce. As voice assistants become more popular, people use them for shopping more frequently. As an e-Commerce business owner, you need to optimize your online content, adjusting it to real questions people ask. Make sure your customers can use voice to navigate throughout your website or application. The easier and seamless it gets, the better.
- Omnichannel – making sure that your customers encounter the best customer experience possible, you’ll need to offer various mixed purchase options. Not only let them buy online with home delivery, but also buy online and pick up in your place, or buy in your brick and mortar, and get home-delivered.
- The development of the fintech market brings more and more alternative payment options. E-commerce companies should follow this trend and be prepared to accept various new payments, including new financial applications or blockchain payments.
- Dynamic pricing is another trend visible among the biggest players in e-commerce. Making use of a vast pool of data and marketing analyses, companies can dynamically adjust their prices, to increase the possibility of a purchase.
- Especially if you want to compete with international marketplaces, you need to humanize your brand. Marketplaces don’t care about your brand. People there sell so-called commodities. So if you don’t want to be just one of many identical offerers, you need to give your brand a human touch.
- It brings us to Personalization. People want to be recognized and have their offers tailored. Actually, the use of AI and ML together with Humanization and Personalization is one big thing that should have its place in your marketing strategy.
- Distribution in e-Commerce must be fast, free, sustainable, and include branded shipping. At least, customers seem to praise it. Check your numbers and establish free shipping margins. Offer flexible delivery options and make sure people will know right away that the package came from your store.
- Advertising – FB, Google, and other SM are constantly changing. Especially recent communication from Apple shows that this market will be changing. You don’t know, how they will work in the future. Therefore, e-Commerce business owners should build strong relationships with their customers and gain their loyalty. Blogs, newsletters, and other independent channels are still valuable.
Is it good to start an e-Commerce business in 2021?
Starting with an e-Commerce business in 2021 can be a very good idea. This might be the last moment when small e-commerce companies can build their brands and grow big enough before people will drift towards marketplaces like Amazon or AliExpress.
However, to do it right, you’ll need to take care not only of your product, logistics, and promotion but also all the technical mechanisms beneath.
No matter if you want to build your store from scratch, migrate between platforms, or even create a whole marketplace, we want to support your e-Commerce business with our proven tech know-how.
