Ms Vidya Dayinee Sharan, Assistant Professor
Due to the advent of last year impact on E Commerce field this is evident that commerce industry is proliferating. As many retailers are making move to online selling while many entrepreneurs are starting their ecommerce venture. However the ecommerce industry is ever changing as every year new trends keep coming which helps to grow many businesses.
Due to this pandemic situation it has been seen that globally B2C e commerce has caused business to grow nearly $3.53 trillion in 2019, which is expected to be doubled by 2023. This pandemic has changed the buying behavior of many consumers that has accelerated the e commerce business. The ecommerce sales have been accelerated massively since 2020. If we want to understand the capitalization on this fast rapidly changing consumer behaviour we will have to understand the latest trends in e commerce first
E commerce trends for 2021
Apart from rapid increase in ecommerce sales consumers are now keener to buy mobile phones and digital media too, as this pandemic has caused a shift to their buying pattern and people are using it to fill the social gaps, which in turn tells that consumer personalized shopping experience has increased.
The first and foremost thing to taken care of is sustainability concern; it’s all about balancing the needs of today against environmental impacts on future generation. Now a day’s consumer is more concerned and aware about their purchase decision and how it is going to impact the environment and society at whole. According to various research conducted in this field it has been concluded that almost 73% of consumers changes their buying habits to minimize the environmental impact.
Consumers are willingly ready to pay for such practices which help to make environment more sustainable which includes:
- Product Ingredient or Source Farming Practices :
The consumers want to understand that the product they are buying has no artificial ingredients and are preservative free, antibiotic free and sulfate free.
- Packaging:
The material which is being used for packaging is recyclable or else it carries instruction on how and where to recycle material.
- Returns:
Consumers are looking for smooth and transparent return policy despite increase scrutiny over returned products being destroyed.
- Manufacturing:
Consumers are concerned about ethical and sustainable manufacturing process.
- Shipping:
Product which are ready to be shipped are grouped together to reduce the environmental impact of transportation.
- Values:
The brands which tend to give back to the society are generally presumed having strong ethical and social responsibility.
- Transparency:
Here it talks about the product details (dimensions/material used/weight / height) to help customer to decide accurately and reduce the return and exchange pattern.
It gives access to global customer base; recently it was found that the apparel industry has crossed the sale of 67% sale roughly according to latest report by CAGR.
Attractive and shoppable photos and videos are more in trends in e commerce industry.
(NOTE: Shoppable videos/photos actually help viewers to meet the customer expectations, unlock the valuable data information and helps brands to connect with the consumer in a meaningful manner.)
Interactive contents can be polls, interactive quizzes, e mails, webinars etc. The social platforms such as facebook / Instagram / YouTube are new frontiers in marketing that boost the e-commerce industry. It allows users to purchase the product directly through a pop on their screen.
Vidya Dayinee Sharan
