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It’s currently the middle of December and 2020 has been somewhat of a learning curve for everyone in the world, particularly retailers who have been looking for new ways to stay afloat.
With the Christmas period in full swing, there are several things you can count on year in year out, and that’s copious amounts of food, terrible jokes and spend, spend, spend! Q4 is notorious for its retail madness, that includes Black Friday, Cyber Monday and of course Christmas Day.
Traditionally November and December consist of lengthy checkout queues, packed highstreets and endless hours spent in shopping centres. However, due to Covid-19 restrictions for the public’s general safety, 2020 has had to adapt its retail habits and look elsewhere to meet their consumer needs. In steps online shopping to safely fill the void, projecting eCommerce sales to an all-time high!
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“67% of UK consumers say that they’ll spend the same or more this Christmas” – Quantcast
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Here’s why eCommerce sales will explode this year:
- More Online Stores
- RIP Physical Retail…For Now
- Social Commerce
- Click & Collect
- eCommerce Sales Were Already on The Rise
More Online Stores
It might seem obvious, but there are a lot more online stores than before!
With the ongoing restrictions of physical shopping, retail businesses have had to look for solutions to stay alive. The common answer has undoubtedly been eCommerce, whether retailers already had a store or if they have recently joined the digital bandwagon, the main priority for businesses has been to maximise eCommerce sales and improve their online presence.
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Shopify has seen a 97% profit growth in 2020 compared to the previous year.
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More online stores, combined with an enhanced focus on digital marketing, will undoubtedly fuel a record-breaking Christmas for eCommerce!
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RIP Physical Retail…For Now
No matter where in the world you may be, there are varying levels of restrictions on physical shopping. Hand sanitiser, masks and capacity limits are all in place for our safety, but in return drive people away from the high street and onto the internet.
That’s why it’s more important than ever that businesses focus on the development of their online presence and brand image. Having a slick, streamlined eCommerce website is paramount to increasing sales and giving your customers a positive shopping experience.
Remember, working on your online brand image is not only going to help your business prosper during these unstable times, but you will be prepared to take advantage of the continuously growing e-commerce market!
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Physical retail will undoubtedly return as an integral part of the commerce sector, but when? Well, that depends on when it’s deemed safe to return to the distantly forgotten normal life we once lived!
Social Commerce
Social media. We all have it and spend way more time than we would want to browsing through news feeds, pictures and videos.
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“4.14 Billion people around the planet are using social media, equating to 53 percent of the global population” – DataReportal
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More than half of the world’s population are using social media daily, that’s a massive audience, readily available at your fingertips to promote and sell your products too! Combine this with the fact that there are varying restrictions on movement and activities means that people have more time to…well…procrastinate on their social media accounts.
By retailers promoting their products via their Facebook or Instagram accounts, it’s easy to see why there’s a huge growth in eCommerce sales through social platforms this Christmas. A trend that is forecasted to grow for the foreseeable future!
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Click & Collect
ECommerce is super practical, and in many cases, you can complete an order within seconds. However, one thing that can affect an online store’s conversion rates is delivery time. More and more stores, especially independent retailers, are providing a click & collect service so that their customers can receive their products in a matter of hours.
It’s a win-win for the customer – they spend less time in contact with people (Covid safe) and get their products faster. At the same time, the retailer racks up their online sales statistics and simply has to hand over the product!
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eCommerce Sales Were on The Rise Pre-Pandemic
Regardless of whether Covid-19 and the pandemic happened or not, online sales were forecast to grow in 2020. This rollercoaster of a year will simply accentuate and fortify the Q4 eCommerce sales statistics!
The fact that businesses are now using an assortment of digital sales channels means that they can target a wider audience and gain more traffic through their platforms. All this will equate to eCommerce sales not only exploding this Christmas period, but it will accelerate the market’s growth for the year to come!
