5 Retail Shopping Trends to Watch in 2021

The year 2020 has been transformative for more than just one industry or aspect of life. However, the retail industry has definitely faced major challenges and has been forced to adapt to shopping online and delivering packages efficiently.

Now that people are so used to shopping online from home, there are certainly new trends popping up in the retail industry that business owners, e-commerce managers, and retail giants should pay attention to.

The market is always changing, but in 2021 it will change even faster and more dramatically. To keep up with trends, it’s a good idea to conduct retail market research before releasing a new product or feature to your e-commerce.

Social Shopping

Recently, Instagram introduced a new section to their platform just for shopping. This allows brands and designers to utilize their Instagram account and followers to purchase products directly from a social media app.

Facebook also has its marketplace feature; which e-commerce stores can take advantage of. Not only do ads perform well on these platforms, but now with the ability to purchase products right from a social media app, retailers have a new way of selling products.

Faster Free Shipping

Ten years ago, consumers didn’t mind waiting a week or two for a product to arrive in the mail. Now with Amazon’s free two-day delivery and overnight shipping options, consumers are expecting shorter wait times for products they have ordered online.

Some e-commerce stores even have courier services so they don’t have to rely on the national post office services and can guarantee packages will arrive by a certain date to their customers.

Online to In-Person Shopping

While 2020 was the year of online shopping, some e-commerce stores have decided to take their online presence to the physical space. People do enjoy going out for a day of shopping. Walking into a store can be an experience as opposed to sitting in your pajamas scrolling through images of products online.

For example, Amazon Fresh took its online grocery store to the physical space and opened brick-and-mortar stores.

Voice Ordering

With voice-commanded technology such as Amazon Alexa and Google Home, people are learning the habit of ordering items with their voice rather than clicking buttons on a computer. This is perfect for household items people know they need and don’t want to waste time browsing a web page for them.

Visual Browsing

Remember the good old days of window shopping? It just doesn’t seem the same when scrolling through catalogues and inventory online. We are so overwhelmed with items; many fail to catch our eye as an outfit on a mannequin or even a passerby may do.

Now, e-commerce stores are implementing new visual browsing features where customers can simply upload a photo of an outfit and find articles of clothing to purchase. This makes online shopping faster and takes away the hassle of trying to come up with the keywords to search for these items.