The ecommerce market has evolved into a highly competitive industry, especially after the pandemic has changed the way consumers shop. We’re wrapping up 2021 with some of the top ecommerce trends that we’ve seen until now.
Social commerce
A medida que los minoristas buscan formas más innovadoras de exhibir sus productos y atraer clientes, el comercio social ciertamente parece ser una tendencia importante.
But what is social commerce? Basically put, it is the buying and selling of goods or services directly within a social media platform. On one hand, you have livestream shopping in collaboration with social influencers such as Kim Kardashian. China has been leading the way in this trend for a while now with Taobao Live, Alibaba’s dedicated livestream shopping channel. Even French luxury house Cartier has jumped on the trend. On the other hand, social media giants like Instagram and TikTok are actively pursuing ecommerce, encouraging consumers to browse, discover, and buy items on their platforms.
The commercial potential is immense, not just for fashion/beauty/lifestyle/home accessories retailers, but also outside of the regular sphere of what we identify as ecommerce.
Migration to the cloud
Here’s a wrap-up of the recent quarter results for US tech giants:
Amazon AWS cloud business saw its revenue jump 39% to $16.11 billion. Microsoft’s Azure registered revenue growth of 48% percent year-on-year. Google Cloud recently reported an increase in its cloud revenue by 45% to $5 billion. Oracle’s results beat market expectations with solid growth from its applications cloud businesses.
What is fueling this recent massive growth in cloud? Simple - businesses have expanded their commitment to the cloud in this post-pandemic environment.
In particular, ecommerce companies are flocking to AWS for its machine learning services, as well as to take advantage of its cost-effective solutions. As an AWS Select Consulting Partner, Orienteed is equipped to deliver the end-to-end platforms and tools that businesses need to navigate this time of transition and change Whether an online retail business or a company new to the online sphere, we’re ready to help.
An example of a recent Orienteed project migrating an online retailer's QA workloads to the AWS cloud, providing comprehensive test coverage, increasing resource efficiency and improving turnaround time in test execution for the customer.
Personalization
The customer experience and satisfaction should always be the first things on the agenda for every business. 80% of consumers are more likely to purchase from a company that offers personalized content and shopping experiences. Without doubt, it has become essential to tailor the customer’s purchase journey and optimize product recommendation technologies.
Taking B2B companies as an example, business transactions are often complex and highly customized according to the needs of the enterprise customer and order. Therefore B2B companies need innovative ways to serve their customers better and to grow their sales.
Personalized features such as flexible purchase options, price customizations, and a simplified order fulfillment process, can benefit both B2B buyers and sellers. Companies that are not usually associated with ecommerce are now creating online B2B sales channels in order to offer such features to their customers.
Being a purpose-driven brand (it’s not just about the money)
As a result of the pandemic, small to medium businesses have struggled to stay afloat. Consumers are increasingly conscious of minor price changes. But at the same time, they have also become more motivated to help out local businesses. Consumers have become more discerning buyers, making purchase decisions not only based on cost but also based on a company’s contribution to positive causes. Meaning that they are more likely to support purpose-driven companies such as those that are sustainable and eco-friendly.
What’s in store for 2022
These are just a few of the recent trends in ecommerce, but the business landscape is changing quickly. Be sure to check in on our blog for everything you need to know in ecommerce - including trends and strategies to look out for in 2022.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Marketing & Sales Assistant at Orienteed.
