The world of e-commerce had modest beginnings. It all started with a book being sold on Amazon, in 1995. After 25 years, the e-commerce industry has made over 2 trillion USD in sales worldwide. Moreover, e-commerce has been an intrinsic part of our lives and it’s here to stay. This article looks at the four trends that will dominate this industry in 2021:
Trends to Watch out For:
1. Increasing sales and market presence: Undisputedly, one of the important workforce during the COVID-19 global pandemic lockdowns is the e-commerce industry. With Governments around the world imposing strict lockdowns to combat the pandemic, people resorted to online shopping. This has led to burgeoning sales with global e-commerce sales projected to increase drastically this year. Many e-commerce businesses targeting specific audience groups have come up hoping to reach the customers on a more personal level.
2. Make way for Social Commerce: The rise of social commerce is a notable trend in the e-commerce industry. With platforms like Shopify, businesses link their online stores with social media sites so that people can buy from them directly through social media. Elements like inks in bio, fast checkout, integration with social payment tools, the introduction of the “Buy” button on Facebook, and Instagram Checkout have also led to increased impulse purchases amongst the growing social media users. Platforms are increasing the opportunities for smaller businesses to set up stores and reach out to all the existing users.
3. Ethical Commerce is here to stay: A new, ethical and environmentally conscious consumer has emerged in the modern world, with shoppers willing to change their purchasing habits. Additionally, consumers are now actively seeking out local and independent businesses that reflect their values and are paving the way forward to greener consumerism habits, forcing e-commerce players to strive for sustainable practices. The rise of such practices might influence the habits of buyers in the long run.
4. The rise of e-commerce acquirers: All small-sized enterprises as well as medium-sized enterprises typically have been reeling from the rise of e-commerce. Initially, small sellers aimed to sell through different marketing channels such as websites, social media pages, and other sources. However, such strategies proved to be futile as it did not drive in the required customers to these channels. As a result, the targeted customer base was not reached efficiently. With e-commerce acquirers and aggregators, sellers found a larger channel to sell their products thereby resulting in more demand from customers as well as increased revenue.
Typically, sellers send their products to ecommerce aggregator centers, and when the customer buys their product, the aggregator takes care of the logistics.
One of the main factors that contribute to the success of these e-commerce & FBA acquirers is their advantage of economies of scale. This is primarily because they acquire and manage multiple sellers at the same time. With such a high volume of sellers, customers tend to opt the channels of these ecommerce business brokers due to reasons such as increased choices and varieties available to choose from. Apart from that, they use their sales expertise and big data analytics to optimize decision-making. It is important to check the best ecommerce acquirers out there while you are planning to sell your e-commerce business to an acquirer.
Every ecommerce acquirer has its criteria. Here are some factors an aggregator considers when looking to acquire smaller businesses:
- Product quality
- Favorable reviews
- Growth Potential
- Demand
While these acquirers pool in several sellers to increase their customer reach, there is a key trend that has been observed. There has been an increasing regulatory scrutiny on debit interchange. In response, such e-commerce and FBA acquirers would have to improve their systems to prevent fraud and also remove middlemen who are unnecessary in order to cut the overall costs. When it comes to individual small and medium-sized sellers, the sales segment has been a tricky area.
There has also been a dilemma between choosing an independent sales agent versus using an in-house sales force. While having an in-house sales team would be beneficial in some cases to build a personalized sales list and potential customers, it comes along with heavy operating costs and increased demand for resources. Several small businesses do not essentially have the required resources to invest in an in-house sales team. With the help of e-commerce acquirers, the entire sales wing is taken care of. Sellers no longer have to worry about finding the right client base as these aggregators have plenty of customer traffic on their platforms. This would in turn increase the sales of the products of these sellers while simultaneously maximizing their revenue.
Conclusion
Amongst all the trends discussed, the one that stands out is the rise of ecommerce acquirers. Big-ticket ecommerce acquirers are here to stay and change the landscape of e-commerce. This will provide opportunities to businesses hoping to explore and go deeper into their domain as it takes some load off such businesses in various aspects. If you are looking to expand your business and increase your reach to customers, e-commerce aggregators are the best way to go.