Interesting Insights Heading into 2021

THE FUTURE OF COMMERCE, SHOPIFY 

• 75% Of consumers said they will shop online regularly in six months’ time; significantly fewer (57%) say they’ll shop in-store regularly in the next six months
• Young consumers saw the highest shift to online spending with 67% shifting more of their spending to online shopping, ahead of older age groups (57% for consumers 35-54, and 41% for 55+)
• Physical retail will transform with options like contactless payment and in-store shopping appointments
• 30% of consumers say that they purchased their items online and picked up in store or curbside for the first time during the pandemic
  • 64% say they are doing so more often than before the pandemic was declared
• There will continue to be an increase in consumers choosing to pick up curbside or select local delivery
  • Consumers spend 23% more and have a 25% larger cart size when local pickup or delivery is an option
  • Consumers who chose local pickup had a 13% higher conversion rate, and consumers who chose local delivery had a 19% higher conversion rate
• For consumers, buy now pay later has grown in popularity
  • Of US consumers who have tried buy now pay later, 41% are 18-34 years old, 56% are men, and 52% have children at home
  • High income houses are more likely than low-income houses to use buy now pay later more frequently with 80% of high-income houses using it more than once compared to 50% of lower income houses using it just once
  • 60% of buy now pay later items are between $100-$500 
• Among customers who used alternative fulfillment methods, over half did so more often in the past six months than before the pandemic was declared. This includes a 64% increase in BOPIS/curbside, 57% increase in consumers using a pickup point option, and 57% increase in local delivery

THE FUTURE OF E-COMMERCE, SHOPIFY

• Ecommerce boom fuels online competition
  • At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, 10 years of ecommerce growth happened in just 90 days.
  • E-commerce growth in the U.S. is expected to decelerate to 7.8% as retail brick-and-mortar sales rebound from their pandemic plunge
  • Ad costs are spiking due to online competition
  • Only 38% of the largest companies are capable of competing on customer experience
• Consumer behaviors reshape the future of retail
  • Of the 75% of consumers who say they tried different online brands during the pandemic, 60% expect to integrate the new brands and stores into their post-COVID lives
  • 48.8% of consumers said they will shop online more frequently when the outbreak is over
• Fulfillment becomes a competitive differentiator
  • 72% of global consumers want brands to use sustainable packaging
  • Globally, 64% of consumers want their orders shipped for free
  • 39% of U.S. shoppers expect two-day shipping to be free, while the same-day shipping market in the U.S. is forecast to top $9.6 billion in 2022
  • 50% of consumers are ready to buy environmentally friendly products, even if they cost more
  • Worldwide, FedEx announced an average 4.9% rate increase for 2021
• Retention becomes a top priority as acquisition costs spike
  • Worldwide, branded commerce and marketplace apps can now cost companies more than $30 USD to acquire a new customer.
  • Competition—fueled by the move to ecommerce—is accelerating digital ad growth. Industry data reveals increased spend in paid search, social, and connected TV.
  • 62% of brands rely on cookies to recognize and target users across channels
  • Voice commerce will top $40 billion in the U.S. by 2022
  • By 2024 more than 110 million, or nearly 84%, of all U.S. households will own a connected TV

TOP 5 DIGITAL MARKETING TRENDS IN 2021, ADOBE (1/11/21)

• It is predicted that in 2021 there will be an increase in spend and an emphasis on first-party data and identity resolution, with a push away from third-party cookies
• It is expected more acceleration into digital channels in 2021, with many traditional brands moving to digital operating models
• In 2021, companies will invest in building up their content agility through technology and AI-powered automation
  • This means seeing an increased focus on content marketing and management transformation in order to personalize
• A greater percentage of advertising budgets will be on moving to digital in 2021, with more ads that focus on responsibility
• In the U.S. digital ad spend will grow by almost 10% in 2021 shifting ad spend towards digital media due to its proximity to e-commerce

15 MIND-BLOWING STATS ABOUT ONLINE SHOPPING TO GUIDE YOUR 2021 E-COMMERCE STRATEGY, ADOBE (12/7/20)

• U.S. retail e-commerce sales are forecasted to grow from 2020’s expected total of $374.3B to $476.5B in 2024, a 39% increase (Source: Statista)
• US B2B e-commerce will reach $1.8T and account for 17% of all B2B sales in the U.S. by 2023. (Source: Forrester)
• Smartphones are on track to contribute more than 50% of online spend by September 2022. (Source: Adobe)
• Smart home devices will carry out more than $164B worth of transactions in 2025. That’s more than 630% growth in five years from the $22B expected this year. (Source: Juniper)
• 84% of shoppers are unlikely to shop with a brand again after a poor delivery experience (the “last mile”), and 98.1% say that delivery impacts their brand loyalty. (Source: Retail TouchPoints)
• 60% of consumers report they would purchase more from a website that offered a chatbot concierge. 77% of consumers trust chatbots to take down name and address information, while 76% say they trust them to help choose products. (Source: LivePerson)
• This year, global livestream-generated sales are expected to double to $120B. In fact, directly “shoppable media” — which also includes social commerce, virtual consultations and shoppable ad formats — will be the fastest-growing advertising categories for the foreseeable future. (Source: IAB)

5 E-COMMERCE TRENDS FOR 2021: WHAT WE LEARNED FROM THE 2020 HOLIDAY SEASON, ADOBE (1/12/21)

• Online shopping is now the norm when for the first time, the online spend every day during the two-month (Nov. and Dec.) holiday shopping period exceeded $1B
• Free shipping has become less prevalent with the cost to ship increasing by 12% YOY from $10.51 to $12.21, and orders shipped for free during Cyber Week dropped from 70 percent to 64 percent in 2020.
• Search engines are driving site traffic and revenue with paid search at 25% of revenue, visits at 23%, and organic being less effective at 20% of revenue share and 22% visit share

WORLDWIDE E-COMMERCE WILL APPROACH $5T THIS YEAR, EMARKETER (1/14/21)

• Worldwide retail ecommerce sales posted a 27.6% growth rate for 2020 with sales reaching well over $4T
• eMarketer estimates that the $4T line was easily breached in 2020, $5T will be achieved by 2022, and $6T will be reached by 2024

2021 RETAIL INDUSTRY OUTLOOK, DELOITTE

• As digital transforms a once person-to-person, high-touch industry, finding ways to recreate those connections will be important online. One possible next frontier for e-commerce can be seen in Asia, where many consumers are embracing livestreaming platforms
• Retailers will likely have to do a better job anticipating demand and fulfilling customer expectations. The panic-buying spree of spring 2020 and the resultant whiplash effect on supply chains exposed several weaknesses in retailers’ data analytics capabilities

GLOBAL E-COMMERCE UPDATE 2021, EMARKETER (1/13/21)

• It is forecasted that overall worldwide retail will rebound to 5.1% growth in 2021

US PROGRAMMATIC CTV VIDEO ADVERTISING WILL SOAR IN 2021, EMARKETER (1/14/21)

• Advertisers spent an additional $1.16 billion on programmatic CTV video ads in 2020 compared with 2019, and incremental spending in 2021 will increase to $2.37 billion. That $2.37 billion will represent almost 29% of all incremental spending on programmatic video ads this year, or about 15% of growth in total programmatic display.
• 60% of US advertisers planned to shift ad dollars from linear TV to either CTV or OTT in 2021
  • Among those planning to do this, 81% cited targeting and efficiency as a reason, while 55% pointed to incremental reach.

HRC’S RETAIL PREDICTIONS FOR 2021, CHAIN STORE AGE (1/8/21)

• 2021 is likely to be a good year for retail, with increased consumer spending in the back half of the year due to pent-up demand in categories that suffered the biggest declines in 2020
• While the first half of 2021 will see a continuation of 2020’s spending patterns on home and backyard categories, exercise equipment, food, and comfort and active apparel, we expect that the second half of 2021 will see the unleashing of pent-up demand for entertainment, eating out, travel, work apparel, and other discretionary categories that have been hardest hit
• The shift from stores to e-commerce will continue to accelerate in 2021. The decline in store traffic will also continue, but begin to reverse by Q3 of 2021
• Additional bankruptcies are likely in discretionary sectors that have suffered in 2020

WILL SHOPPING MALLS MAKE A COMEBACK IN 2021, FOOTWEAR NEWS (12/29/20)

• Despite several years of waning foot traffic and uneven momentum, mall visits in 2020 were off to a solid start pre-COVID
• When Placer.ai looked at data for 16 “top-performing” indoor malls around the U.S., it noted that visits for the first 11 months of the year were down 49.3% YOY. However, the same malls saw visits in January and February up 7.2% YOY