eCommerce Trends That Work for Shopify Merchants in 2021

🛒This is a guest post from our friends at Growave. Growave provides Shopify stores with tools to improve customer engagement.

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Last year's pandemic brought a lot of businesses down, but not online businesses. 2020 actually has been great in terms of eCommerce growth. Even despite COVID-19, online businesses did quite well, as the whole world went online and started searching for stuff to buy and doing lots of activities on the internet, while offline companies and industries by the score closed down. 

The future belongs to those who follow trends and make use of them to keep their business ahead of the curve. And 2021 still offers opportunities for your brand to grow and prosper. That’s why it’s essential to follow the growing eCommerce trends that influence this year’s marketing success, as following the upcoming trends can help you to attract and connect with your customers better. 

So if you are still wondering what eCommerce trends you need to follow and leverage to your online business this year, you’re on the right page. Let’s take a look at some of the eCommerce trends that will influence this year’s marketing success and will help you to create a top-notch marketing strategy for the second half of the year

6 eCommerce Trends to Follow in 2021

1. Mobile Optimization

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Today’s customers are very demanding. They expect a lot from the retailers they shop with and have high expectations. In addition to products that meet these high expectations, shoppers also expect a good shopping experience. And in 2021 with mobile internet usage share growing fast, having a mobile-friendly website has become the key to success for any eCommerce business.

Mobile is growing. According to Quoracreative, 3 out of 4 shoppers use their mobile devices along with physical shopping, and a slow page can result in 97% mobile shopping cart abandonment. People are doing more activities on their mobile phones and tablets, and shopping too. This is why it's so important for your business to become mobile-friendly, and being able to reach a large number of customers with a mobile-friendly store is an essential part of doing online business today. 

2. Financial Options For Customers

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You probably noticed that in a lot of online stores when you proceed to the checkout section your payment options are expanded beyond only PayPal and credit cards, and services like Klarna, Affirm and Afterpay offer online shoppers installment loans. Successful online businesses are beginning to follow the digital payment trends and offer additional payment options other than just the standard ones. 

The shift into installment payments has no doubt created a boom in third-party services, such as those mentioned above, which are designed to help online shoppers pay. And as these payment options grow in popularity, and sales volume increases, we would suggest adding these financing options to your store.

3. Personalization

Personalization is a powerful tool that contributes to growing sales. When you’re aware of your customer’s preferences, you can create a marketing strategy around them. As precisely as possible, you can meet their needs and adapt your products to their tastes. Personalized offers are more attractive and deliver higher ROI, which is why it’s so important to take your customer personalization strategies to the next level.

Today’s consumers are expecting ongoing personalization in their marketing campaigns because they’re used to getting this type of experience from retailers and internet companies. And personalized marketing is a way of creating content that is relevant and tailored to customer’s preferences. This makes the people feel special, as well as encourages them to make a purchase.

This way of marketing allows you to use individual information (like name, gender, location) about your clients in your marketing messages. When you create an individual customer experience, you are building trustful relations with them as they know that you care for their needs and offer them products and services according to their tastes.

4. Engaging Content

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If you want to attract visitors to your eCommerce site, then you should understand that the most crucial customer engagement strategy that you should pay attention to is creating entertaining content to engage with your customers. Creating entertaining, interactive, educational and/or visually appealing content will give a boost to visitors’ attention and allow you to sell your products. It also attracts more organic traffic that ends up in conversions, which means more customers talking about you across the web.

There are a bunch of tools that can help you with video production, and there’s no need to hire additional staff to do this, all you need is a smartphone and an editing app. Video traffic gets major attention, so make sure you start creating great content for your existing and future customers.

5. Influencer Marketing

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Influencer marketing is one of the best ways to drive more traffic to your eCommerce store. It is a fantastic strategy for brands looking to increase their online exposure. Not only does it allow you to tap into a network of established, influential voices, but it helps your brand receive publicity. After all, influencers are trusted authorities in their industries and their followers will listen to what they say.

Even though influencer marketing is still a relatively new concept for eCommerce businesses, there are already plenty of opportunities to tap into this technique. By focusing your efforts on influencers who can encourage customers to purchase your products, you will be taking advantage of the power of word-of-mouth advertising. 

6. Loyalty Programs

A loyalty program is a great tool that provides long-term benefits. Loyalty programs help make your customers stay loyal to you and encourage them to come back. One of the main benefits here is increasing repeat purchases as customers return to your store often. Loyalty programs are widely used by different companies to promote their business. It is an essential part of a modern marketing strategy that helps revitalize the company and improve sales.  

Loyalty programs are proving to be a very practical tool in increasing customer retention, and they also help you retain customers after purchase by making them feel appreciated. Such programs allow you to reward your existing customers for purchases they have already made before, allowing them to get more from your products or services. Successfully leveraged rewards and loyalty help with maintaining relationships with existing clients while attracting new ones, and also for improving your sales. 

Final Takeaway 

eCommerce is an evolving sector that offers incredible opportunities for entrepreneurs, brands, and online business owners. To make your store more appealing to shoppers and increase your chances of winning their business, you need to take note of the eCommerce trends that are influencing this year’s marketing success. And by following the latest eCommerce trends you can maximize your chance of success in the year that follows.