E-Commerce Trends- What Can We Expect?

Due to COVID-19 in 2020, e-commerce trends skyrocketed estimating that consumers spend $861.12 billion online with U.S merchants. This was the highest annual U.S e-commerce growth in the last two decades.  

This caused a few bumps in the road for almost every business. Every day was essentially “busy season”. Explosive growth due to COVID-19 caused many businesses to switch supply chain strategies to meet customer demands.

Fast forward to now halfway through 2021, e-commerce is the first thought for consumers and their goods. Why go into a store and shop for materials and things when you could do it from the comfort of your own smartphone or computer?

The E-commerce shopping experience has become more tailored to the customer, allowing businesses to adapt their target markets through packaging specifically. This adaptation will allow many opportunities for the packaging industry.

Benefits of e-commerce:

• Convenience for both the business and consumer
• Personalized customer experience allowing the customer to feel understood and important.
• Can reach global customers.
• Stronger brand loyalty
• Gain higher margins.

What does this mean for the future?

The online purchasing of groceries and meal kits will continue to grow. Avoiding in-person shopping is a trend that is projected to stay for a while. Many meal-kit companies alone were a driving factor in this trend in 2020. During the pandemic, there wasn’t much to do but eat. These meal kits allowed families to essentially create a new hobby while also mixing in a bit of “normalcy” into their everyday quarantined lives. Meal-kit companies are looking to incorporate more healthy, easy, organic choices for the foreseeable future. By 2021 the meal-kit industry is projected to hit $20 billion.

Sustainability is becoming a big point for many consumers. More and more consumers and businesses are becoming more conscious about where they shop based on the impact that product may have on the environment. This includes finding ways to be more eco-friendly, biodegradable packaging, and recycling options.

Video is a great engagement. After being forced to use technology as the main form of communication in 2020, now we’re hooked. Using video to capture and engage a customer to inform, educate, and communicate about a service or product is a highlight that isn’t going away any time soon. These virtual services go a long way for a consumer.

Mobile shopping. Purchasing a service or product from the palm of your hand allows the consumer to make a purchase virtually anywhere. It is estimated that by the end of 2021, nearly 73% of e-commerce sales will be through a mobile device.

While trends are always changing and the future is never 100%, it is still always good to keep up with what’s going on at the exact moment. Preparing for the future is inevitable, we all try to stay ahead of the next curve. One thing that 2020 taught us, it’s that we never know what can become the next big thing.