Ecommerce Trends to Drive Sales in 2021

Online shopping is a rapidly growing industry, especially since the pandemic began earlier this year. Competition is fierce, and that’ll only continue in 2021. That means you need to be on top of your game when it comes to trends in ecommerce.

Here are some tools and ideas we predict will help you increase your sales in your ecommerce shop in the new year.

Table of contents

• Installment payment apps
• Chatbots to automate and grow your ecommerce business
• A true omnichannel approach
• Social media’s evolving role in commerce
• Eco-friendly and sustainable initiatives
• Simplified websites and interfaces
• As much personalization as possible
• A rise in video marketing
• Availability of multilingual resources
• Here’s to your ecommerce store’s success in 2021

Installment payment apps

There’s one add-on many online retailers are now offering on their mobile shopping apps or digital storefronts to make buying even easier and more hassle-free: installment payment apps. You can boost your sales numbers with these because ecommerce trends show that customers appreciate being able to pay for purchases in chunks over time—and without using a credit card. Installment apps connect directly to consumers’ bank accounts and credit cards, so payments to you are guaranteed.

Accordingly, your mobile-shopping customers are likely to spend more if you give them the option to use an installment app. The option to break payments into a few interest-free installments without a credit check makes your products accessible to an even wider audience.

Chatbots to automate and grow your ecommerce business

Chatbots deserve another mention on this list because they’re being adopted by ecommerce businesses at a rapid pace. Chatbots are simply applications that simulate back-and-forth human conversation. One popular platform for bots is Facebook Messenger since it has such an enormous global user base.

Building a Messenger chatbot for your store can help it grow, as the bot can handle various aspects of sales, marketing, support, and others on autopilot. Messenger bots can instantly interact with customers automatically at any time, 24/7, which saves you time and improves customer service.

A Messenger bot can also recommend products to customers, suggest upsells, and answer any questions they may have about your items for sale. At the end of the conversation, they can drive shoppers to your website to make their purchase. If you want to impress customers and increase your store’s revenue in 2021, a Messenger chatbot is a must.

A true omnichannel approach

When you use an omnichannel approach, you reach your customers in their favorite places where they spend the most time—whether that’s email, on social media platforms, through SMS, or via a chatbot for ecommerce. These platforms and messages can direct customers to your website through ads, making it easy for shoppers to purchase no matter where they’re coming from. With the omnichannel approach, customers become more loyal to brands because they see their favorites in so many places.

One increasingly popular component of the omnichannel approach is AI-powered chatbots, which can customize communication through increasingly popular messaging apps. Through these personalized ecommerce chatbots, sales increase as customers see and learn about the items and services that they personally want and need.

Social media’s evolving role in commerce

Major social media platforms are making it easier than ever for you to display your store’s products, and for people to buy them. Facebook Shops and Instagram Shops are two prime examples, both of which you should be taking advantage of. They remove friction from the product discovery and buying processes, so you can get more sales more easily.

Plus, advertising and marketing on social media are firmly here to stay. Make sure your brand has a strong and engaging presence on all the major platforms where your target audience spends time, so you can reach them where they are.

Eco-friendly and sustainable initiatives

With environmental issues increasingly making headlines, many customers want to know what a brand’s green initiatives are. They’re increasingly turning towards those that focus on sustainability. In fact, a recent study shows that brands marketed as sustainable grew 5.6 times faster than those that did not emphasize this aspect. In 2021, consumers will continue to want to buy eco-friendly products and will want to receive those products in sustainable packaging.

You can take advantage of sustainable advertising in conjunction with the chatbot trend. A chatbot can easily share information about eco-friendly initiatives at your business and answer questions about the sustainability of your practices and packaging. You can also boost sales in your ecommerce business by sharing your commitment to sustainability through the popular omnichannel approach discussed above.

Simplified websites and interfaces

If your website is too busy, confusing, or overwhelming, customers turn to your competition instead. That’s why the trend of minimalistic websites and interfaces will increase in popularity in 2021. Sites like these showcase products and services without excessive text, graphics, or colors, and they’re easy to navigate.

True minimalist design only includes what is needed, so shoppers can focus on what you offer rather than fighting to navigate the site. It’s simple and thoughtful, so users can tell what to focus on without needing an explanation. A site like this is more pleasant for the user to interact with, and easier for you to keep up, too.

As much personalization as possible

“Personalization” was the marketing term of the year in 2020, but we predict it’ll still be trending in 2021. With so many ecommerce businesses providing similar products and services, the key to success is to provide personalized customer experiences. One powerful way to increase your sales with personalization is by using no-code tools for Messenger chatbot marketing.

First, a Messenger chatbot automatically has access to the basic profile information of any user who interacts with it. That means your bot can greet users by name, or by time zone (e.g. Good morning, Erica!). A chatbot can also gather information about a shopper’s preferences and needs in order to provide personalized product recommendations. Components like these make for a memorable, highly customized experience that can increase sales and keep customers coming back.

A rise in video marketing

If you aren’t using video to market your ecommerce store, you’re already behind the times. It’s becoming a wildly popular method to increase sales, and it’s easy to see why. Consider this: 73% of US adults are more likely to purchase after watching a video that explains a product or service. Videos can have a direct, positive impact on your sales.

And here’s more good news for your ecommerce store: marketing videos don’t need to be feature films with massive budgets. They can be short, and filmed with mobile phones. The most important factors are that they are engaging, tell a story, and convince the user of why they need your product in their life.

Availability of multilingual resources

When you run an ecommerce store, you can reach shoppers from all over the globe. That means your target customer may not speak English, or English may not be their first language. That’s why you should make your website, chatbot, and other informational resources available in multiple languages in 2021.

Imagine how much the non-native English speakers would appreciate it if your ecommerce shops provide information in their native language—and how much more likely it would make them buy. Having a multilingual chatbot, website, or other resources available makes your brand stand out from others that don’t cater to a wider audience this way.

Here’s to your ecommerce store’s success in 2021

Ecommerce isn’t going anywhere but up in 2021. The trends we’ve listed here are poised to explode. Take advantage of them for your store now, so you can reap the benefits in the form of sales and growth in the new year.

Mary Rybakova - Mary got keen on chatbots when she created her first bot for her own tiny business, and it brought 200$ in 1 hour. That is how she found her calling and came to Chatfuel, the leading platform for building bots on Facebook Messenger