Shopping from home is more than a trend or luxury these days. Whether a friend’s birthday is near or you’re obsessed with an overseas brand, e-commerce is the only solution. With innovations in online retail businesses, the buyers get a range of new online shopping options. If you’re curious about some of the most popular online shopping trends throughout 2021 and expect more from the upcoming year, scroll below to find out more!
Social Media Brands:
Social Media is becoming the biggest platform for fashion shopping. You type in one keyword related to what you wish to buy, and thousands of business accounts appear right in front! Facebook Shops and Instagram pages of the biggest brands globally are so common now.
The best part is, these pages aren’t just marketing platforms, but you can directly place orders from social media apps like Facebook. You don’t have to visit the website and make the purchase separately.
Now, who doesn’t have at least one social media account? Whether it’s Snapchat, Facebook, or Instagram, thousands of buyers are all around.
With recent improvements like the collab between different shopping websites and social media apps, it is easier for many emerging sellers to market their products.
As a seller, you can make your new collection appear as “sponsored” on a whole region’s Instagram feed for reasonable prices! An example of such a huge collab is the partnership between TikTok and Shopify, another between Facebook and Alibaba.
Google Lens:
Do you ever see a dinner set or handbag and ask in utter desperation where it was bought from? Now, if the bag is not from nearby, you won’t travel to a different region for just a handbag, would you?
Google lens is a new and slowly developing technology that will maximize ease in shopping from home. After COVID-19 lockdowns, innovations in shopping trends have reached a whole new level!
With Google Lens, you can take a quick snap of any product you like and search for the likes of it in stores around you. Find every product that matches the picture. You can also check whether the store currently has that product in stock.
Such trends are now making everything more accessible to customers. This technology is aimed at iOS users yet, but this could be the beginning of something greater! This update in google apps will certainly bring buyers and sellers closer to each other.
Augmented Reality:
Augmented reality is a technology introduced in 2017 and became highly popular onwards. This innovation is the future of online retail shopping and helps buyers make better decisions.
You can see 3D visualizations of the product that you’re buying and replace other products to test what looks better. For instance, when buying a lamp, take a picture of the table you would place the lamp on.
Next, you can choose the lamp you wish to place on the table and replace other products on a virtual display. This method will help you decide what goes best with your table and act as a real-life trial of the product.
Augmented reality offers you a real-life shopping experience that is delivered through technology. Such an interactive method of shopping from home is certainly a gift for new generations.
One particular advantage that this method has brought to sellers is the ease of the return process. With online shopping becoming a huge trend even in places it ever was relied on, smooth returns and refund will service are also necessary.
Livestream Shopping:
Livestream shopping became more of a trend as social commerce entered the picture. With many people pursuing careers or interests as Vloggers or social media influencers, going “live” with followers turned more commercial. Brands call out many social media influencers and models to promote a new product or collection.
The key idea is that if a fashion blogger is largely popular, many people will buy the products they are using, thinking they’re following a new trend. It also makes one think that through the Vloggers, they’re getting a more honest review on the product.
Although those “reviews” often are paid and have a purely commercial perspective, they are a great marketing tool for businesses. Livestream shopping is when these influencers interact with their audience on a live chat to give reviews in real-time.
They could describe the functionality of a product or discuss the pros and cons. Some celebrities also announce giveaways, promote Sales offers or discount voucher codes in live streams.
Virtual Fashion Showrooms:
These are also called Digital Fashion Showrooms. These act as a bridge between real-life shopping in a store or outlet and shopping from home. Virtual fashion showrooms are software that unites buyers and sellers through an application.
You can virtually choose products (a whole range of them from different shops and brands) and shop like you’re physically in a shop.
Same Day Delivery:
This technique is used by most retail businesses to manage inventories better and boost sales. They make outlets or set up mini-warehouses as near as possible to areas where sales are highest. Such a plan aims to deliver orders as quickly as possible.
This offer acts as an incentive for the buyers to order anytime, anywhere. Moreover, it also moves inventory faster, and the buyers have to pay lower delivery charges.
Merging Industries:
Recently, a lot of businesses have been offering diversified services. Some offer to collaborate with others, while some expand their internal operations. For instance, online shopping stores offer delivery and postal service, or restaurants offer cooking class sessions.
This method helps the brand make more people aware of their operations and helps market the brand while making the least investment. If you’re offering a delivery service or online classes, you would be taking charges and earning instead of investing in marketing materials.
Every new technique brings the market closer to your fingertips and is affordable to make use of. What do you think are the likely updates 2022 will give us?
