As e-commerce grows and digital media use proliferates, successful marketers must engage with consumers in creator-influenced, content-rich, commerce-enabled experiences.
Subscribe to Ad Age now for award-winning news and insight.
E-commerce in the U.S. has hit an inflection point as 2020’s COVID-driven lockdowns accelerated the growth of online shopping by 10 years in just 12 months. Total e-commerce revenue sales jumped 32% in 2020 per eMarketer—two times faster than any prior year—and is now on pace to account for nearly a quarter of all retail by 2025. Some bullish estimates have e-commerce accounting for 30% of all retail in the U.S. by 2030. The fact that e-commerce continues to grow on top of last year’s historic surge is a clear indicator that e-commerce has become a primary shopping channel for many Americans.
Brick-and-mortar stores aren’t going away, they’re being reimagined for the shoppers who are arriving with heightened, digitally-inspired expectations.
Rethinking physical layouts
Retailers will have to rethink everything from their physical layout to the competencies of sales associates to meet the challenges of a “direct brand economy” in which shoppers expect that their customized needs are immediately met. Some customers will choose the buy-online-pickup-in-store option. That’s why you see retailers including Ikea refashioning its layout to make the store easier for those picking up items. In fact, Nielsen reported that consumer use of click-and-collect and buy-online-pickup-in-store are up 125% and 52%, respectively. Shoppers looking for guidance will require a store associate to use a shopper's profile in order to make the right type of recommendations. Clienteling platforms such as Mercaux, NewStore and Hello enable store associates to use information about customer preferences to answer questions and make personalized recommendations.
Same-day delivery is table stakes
Shoppers wanting goods and services delivered to their door expect it to happen quickly: Same-day delivery is now table stakes for leading retailers. In fact, Walmart more than doubled its same-day delivery offerings in just more than a year. What’s more interesting is the rise of the on-demand economy, which solves the consumer desire for instant gratification. On-demand platforms such as Gorillas and JOKR are delivering food to people’s homes in less than 15 minutes. Additionally, on-demand platforms aren’t just for food anymore, as companies such as FastAF can deliver beauty and fashion items within 2 hours.
Social shopping on the rise
Shopping is also increasingly becoming more social since that is where discovery, influence and commerce have merged. After nearly a 40% increase in 2020, eMarketer projects that social commerce, the direct buying of goods and services on social platforms which is distinct from merely marketing on these platforms, will grow 36% this year and double by 2025 to $80 billion. NPD Group found that one-fourth to one-half of apparel consumers have bought products discovered on social media. Leading social platforms will continue to enable brands to create immersive in-app, virtual stores where transactions can be fully completed.
Livestream shopping is also becoming a regular feature on social. Facebook’s “Live Shopping Fridays” ran from May to July of 2021 and featured brands including Abercrombie & Fitch, Bobbi Brown and Clinique. The $35 billion conversational commerce market—e-commerce conducted via natural language processing, speech recognition and artificial intelligence—is expected to more than triple by 2025, according to CB Insights.
Creator-influenced shopping experiences
It’s no wonder that IAB’s 2021 Brand Disruption Study found that social media was brands’ biggest success driver during COVID. The study also found that 8 in 10 U.S. marketers now use social influencers. In fact, more than one-third of brands have deployed new influencer tactics since the COVID lockdown. As a result, ‘opinion leadership’ has shifted away from media gatekeepers and now rests in the form of content from millions of citizen recommenders.
We’re increasingly living in an on-demand, influencer-driven, omnichannel shopping ecosystem that will continue to evolve and become even more digital. For brands, this will make the processes of marketing to and placing products in consumers’ hands more complex as the place to not only engage with but sell products will continue to proliferate.
Expanding virtual shopping experiences appearing on social platforms will entice consumers who want a more engaging and convenient way to shop online. The in-store experience will never look the same as everything from easing curbside pickup to concierge services to enhanced AR/VR visualizations will become normal features. Moving forward, brands that engage directly with consumers via content and creator-influenced experiences that come enabled with commerce functionality will capture significant market share.
