The Coronavirus pandemic ushered in unprecedented changes across consumer life. Technological advances in 2021 will continue to reshape shopping behaviour for digitally- savvy consumers. Leveraging Passport Digital Consumer data and analysis, this report explores the top five tech-driven trends expected to reshape commerce the most in 2021. Some of the trends included in this report’s edition relate to topics such as last-mile delivery and collection, virtual engagements and livestreaming.
This report comes in PPT.
Homebound consumers turned to digital for more activities during the pandemic, including commerce. Even those who were already shopping online pre-pandemic researched and purchased across more categories. The pandemic also widened the pool of digital consumers with more coming online for the first time. In 2021, companies will find themselves in a balancing act as they serve these two extremes.
Commerce is about meeting consumers where they want to be, but the digital revolution has led to a more complicated and fragmented landscape. These shifts were challenging for retailers, consumer brands and hospitality operators to navigate with the crisis only further diversifying the ways they might reach a consumer.
The pandemic has re-orientated the way that consumers shop, including how they discover and eventually purchase. During the crisis, more businesses experimented with virtual immersive experiences. Although this approach was used to drive engagement with consumers who were spending more time at home, virtual experiences will become more commonplace in the digital-first, post-pandemic era.
With the reduction of in-person shopping due to health concerns, livestreaming made inroads during the crisis as a shopping medium with the ability to create the emotional connection more associated with in-person shopping. Live selling has the potential to further disrupt an already-battered retail industry in 2021.
Rising last-mile delivery costs and environmental concerns magnified by the crisis-inspired e-commerce boom are forcing retailers and foodservice operators to explore new delivery and collection methods. While companies struggle to build up logistics networks and re-imagine physical assets to handle this new level of demand, consumers will likely be forced to reset their last-mile expectations in 2021.
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