Aslegacy wholesalers go onlineand global retail giants likeWalmart expand their ecommerce initiatives, digital competition is heating up. Likewise, competitors in product categories not traditionally in demand online are also competing for ecommerce shoppers. The shift is led byhousehold essentials, health, and personal care.

Competition is also coming from abroad. As COVID-19 spread, consumers began shopping outside their home countries.Cross-border ecommerce spiked 21%year over year from January to June 2020, with online sales of luxury goods increasing by 39%.

According to proprietary data from Shopify, theU.S. leads cross-border ecommerce. But the pandemic has also accelerated this behavior in China.

Shopify data reveals that translation apps spiked 3,309% worldwide during the pandemic. Dropshipping and currency conversion apps have also seen significant increased usage since the pandemic. These types of investments in cross-border commerce suggest overseas and regional competition isn’t likely to subside.

Worldwide, branded commerce and marketplace apps can nowcost companies more than $30 USDto acquire a new customer.

The global pandemic has transformed the role andimportance of digital experiencesin customers’ lives. Today’sconsumer expects easy-to-use, intuitive digital experiencesacross channels and devices. Brands that can deliver on those expectations are seeing the greatest returns. According to proprietary data from Shopify, retail merchants with an omnichannel strategy in place replaced94% of point-of-sale (POS) purchases lost in the first month of the pandemic with online sales.

But a gulf has opened up between digital-first DTC brands andbusinesses that are new to ecommerce. Only38% of the largest companiesare capable of competing on customer experience.

“流感大流行期间,直接面向消费者的品牌with thriving ecommerce experiences were able to very quickly and easily pivot their marketing and messaging, their energy,” says Hana Abaza, Shopify Plus’ global director of marketing. “They didn’t have to fundamentally rethink their business model. They could focus on very different things because they were at a significant advantage.”

The opportunity for DTC brands is to build on their ecommerce expertise. The challenge for everyone else is keeping up.

To capitalize on the ecommerce boom and overcome fierce competition, you need to optimize commerce across channels like online marketplaces, social media, retail, and wholesale. That also means building—or buying—a technological foundation that frees your team to create immersive, unified experiences wherever your customers are. The business benefit is resilience, allowing your business to quickly shift efforts and resources from offline to online, and back again, based on customer demand.

Convert your site to a progressive web app

Progressive web appsoffer an optimal mobile experience across channels and can live on a user’s home screen. They’re designed to load instantly, even if the user is offline.

Combine your progressive web app with an accelerated mobile page

Some brands are also combining progressive web apps with anaccelerated mobile page, or a mobile-first, stripped-down HTML copy of a web page that loads instantly. Accelerated mobile pages are the foundation of Google’s mobile-first index, which prioritizes mobile optimization in search results. The combination can lead to better search results, more top-of-funnel traffic, andimproved site conversion rates.

Headless commerce, anAPI-first solution, decouples the front-end customer experience from the back-end technology infrastructure. Benefits include:

• Integration: Building custom enterprise architecture with APIs enables deep integration with tools or services of choice (like a separate content management system)
• Flexibility: By separating the back end from the front end, you have full ownership and control of the front-end experience and the tech stack used for building it
• Omnichannel: This flexibility allows you to extend shopping into any customer experience, on any device or platform

Despite the cost and development complexity associated with going headless, manymerchants are still willing to adopt a headless architecturein an effort to improve conversion rates. Expect the adoption of headless and lean microservice tech stacks to accelerate in 2021.

Never has the consumer expected more of businesses. Not only do shoppers want to buy online, they also expect it to be fast and convenient.

Consumer surveys indicate that these shifts will be sticky. Of the 75% of consumers who say they tried different online brands during the pandemic,60% expect to integratethe new brands and stores into their post-COVID lives. Other shifts that took hold during stay-at-home orders are also expected to persist, including shopping online, using mobile payments, and video calling and conferencing.

It’s also possible these behaviors will persist, but not to the same degree as during and immediately after the pandemic.Stickiness will depend on how satisfied consumers arewith their new digital experiences. This varies by country. InItaly 60% shopped onlineduring the pandemic, but fewer than 10% were satisfied with the experience, whileconsumers in Finland will continue shopping onlineafter the pandemic, suggesting the shift will last.

The changes you must make to your business won’t be temporary though. Chief executives around the globe saydigital is here to stay, the shift toecommerce is structural, andbehavioral changes are permanent.

“You’re not going to see a full rollback when it comes to ecommerce penetration,” says Hana Abaza, Shopify Plus’ global director of marketing. “Some people will actually shift into buying certain things online, and they’ll keep doing it.”

Focus on creating innovative digital experiences that make life easier for your customers, reinventing traditional shopping experiences for the post-pandemic world, and bringing your brand to life in new ways.

“这是消费者在控制,”罗伯特说Hein, Shopify Plus’ merchant service experience manager. “Their demand is shifting needs and expectations. Relevant to COVID, there’s probably more interest in safety and security and a combination of experiences: Part of it is digital, part of it is real life. There’s maybe a tangible product and then a digital experience that complements the product.”

Intimate apparel brand Knix pivoted from its international growth plans when COVID-19 hit and launched digital versions of traditional physical experiences, most notably, a virtual fitting room.

Once customers book a 20-minute consultation, they receive a message introducing them to their “Knixpert,” one of the company’s in-store associates who has been redeployed to help shoppers. Customers learn how to take their measurements accurately, and find the right size and fit.

Knix alsohosted a virtual warehouse salethat achieved:

• 35,000 people shopping at once within 10 minutes of the sale going live
• Handling 5,000 customers in checkout simultaneously
• The successful launch of virtual fittings

“Retail is being disrupted, and brands need to find new ways to deliver experiences with trust and care,” says Joanna Griffiths, Knix founder and CEO. “The world’s next legacy brands are being built in real time, and I believe Knix will be one.”

Complex consumer demands have coincided with rising shipping costs. The shift to ecommerce hasresulted in shippers operating at peak levelsfor the majority of 2020. In response, they’re charging more. Worldwide,FedEx announcedan average4.9% rate increasefor 2021. FedEx also plans to hike rates during peak holiday season, and charge late fees for merchants who don’t pay on time. UPS is also charging more: Its new chief executive hasprioritized aligning pricingwith the value the company provides.

Ecommerce is also making order profilesmore complex: Distribution centers are fulfilling smaller DTC orders faster to meet aggressive cutoff times and shipping deadlines.

The global nature of trade, though strained by U.S.-China relations and Brexit, is also adding complexity.Purchasing poweris shifting from the U.S. and Europe to China and Southeast Asia. With China dominant in ecommerce, more than62% of digital saleswere expected to take place in Asia Pacific in 2020. With Asia Pacific as ground zero for ecommerce, fulfillment complexity is compounding for brands selling cross border.

甚至more challenging,consumers increasingly expect free returns. Thetotal cost of returns worldwide recently topped $1 trillion, and ecommerce returns in the U.S. are forecasted to surge.

Due to COVID-19,40% of retailersadjusted return policies. Returns are also rising as more online shoppers "bracket" their purchases, buying multiple versions of a product with the intention of returning some items.

In 2021 protect your margins from rising costs and give customers everything they want—fast, free, sustainable, and branded shipping—by improving your fulfillment capabilities.

Molson Coors Beverage Company equipped its Toronto DTC initiative with both local pickup and local delivery. Customers can choose to pick up their orders or have them delivered from their nearest retail location.

Since using its retail location to fulfill online orders, Molson Coors has:

• Launched an online store in 10 days, with local delivery in Toronto
• Grown sales 188% month over month
• Increased orders 152% and conversions by 109% month over month

“By building our direct-to-consumer service, we’re able to grow sales of our iconic brands,” says Joy Ghosh, Molson Coors’ brand director for North America. “But it’s a lot more about the direct relationship that we now have with our customers and being able to adapt to their needs as we learn.”

Whilemarketplaces are gateways for brand discovery, consumers don’t come to marketplaces to seek out brands. Observers have quipped that “consumers can find anything on digital marketplaces except your brand.”

With the purchase journey increasingly beginning on Amazon, consumers search by categories, benefits, and reviews. Search, according to analysts,has become the new brand:

• 70% of Amazon searches do not include a brand name
• Nearly 90% of Amazon product views result from search, not branded ads or merchandising

Marketplace dominance and search behavior aside, today’s consumer also wants to buy from brands with a higher purpose. Worldwide, shoppers are increasingly spending with their values.Purpose-driven consumers—approximately 40% of all consumers—want products and brands that align with their beliefs, and are willing to pay a premium.Gen Z, now the largest consumer group, leads the trend. They’re also willing to change their shopping habits to reduce environmental impact, and care about issues like sustainability and recycling. The highest concentrations of purpose-driven consumers are in Europe, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.

The demand for purpose-driven brands also aligns with a desire to shop with independently owned businesses. Proprietary data from Shopify shows that65% of consumers say they support independent brands.

Consumers’ main reasons for shopping at a large, corporately owned business include:

• Good product selection (57%)
• Lowest prices (51%)
• 再保险liable (34%)

消费者对购物的最主要的原因有能自食其力ently owned business (online or in store) include:

• Supporting entrepreneurship (33%)
• Buying unique products (33%)
• Experiencing good customer service (31%)

Sourced fromShopify

But satisfying this audience segment is increasingly difficult. With so many customer journeys beginning on marketplaces, brands often lack the data necessary to offer the personalized experiences that purpose-driven consumers desire.

Brand discovery might often begin with brandless marketplace searches, but purchase decisions are influenced by the research that consumers do elsewhere online. Reaching the purpose-driven consumer means re-evaluating your marketplace presence and offering rich non-marketplace experiences.

Human connection is thenew luxury. Technology fatigue hasresulted from tech’s intersection in every aspectof human existence, including transit, work, entertainment, and hobbies. This has left many feeling wary about the role tech plays in their lives, and craving human interaction.

What’s clear is that consumers are increasingly rewarding organizations that humanize the buying journey. In response, brands are prioritizing personalized experiences that can’t be found on marketplaces. From dynamic website content powered by real-time behavioral analytics to helping people customize their purchase journey, offering personalized experiences with a human touch is the antidote to marketplaces.

Personalization, whether it’s delivered by a human or an algorithm, is too lucrative to ignore. Retailers estimatepersonalization can unlock $2.95 trillionthis decade. Delivering on personalization means a combination of new technology solutions, and old-fashioned customer service that delivers unique branded experiences.

A full 74% of U.K. and U.S. businesses say they have a website personalization strategy in place, with significant growth expected in all channels by the end of 2021, including mobile, email, conversational marketing, loyalty programs, and in-store POS.

Each of these channels offers opportunities to add the human touch. Improvedcollaboration between humans and artificial intelligencehelps brands personalize storefronts with real-time publication of dynamic copy and creative.User-generated content promises personal online experiencesthrough tailored microsites, responsive promotional videos, and livestreams with real-time interaction.

New brand-building opportunities are starting to emerge on marketplaces too.Walmart is changing the marketplace experienceby enabling more branding opportunities like lifestyle photography. The goal is to make the marketplace local and personal, instead of a massive product dump. As traditional retailers attempt to disrupt the marketplace experience, expect incumbents like Amazon to follow suit.

Gymshark, an aspirational fitness apparel brand, has built a community that connects customers with their fitness idols. These enduring human connections are built on and offline. Fromtrainer-led streaming workouts to in-person expos, Gymshark empowers customers to choose where and how they interact with its influencer network.

Letting customers choose their own adventure—virtually, in person, or a combination of the two—has helped Gymshark become thefastest growing private company in the U.K.

“We are nothing without our community, so we will use this new investment partnership to get even closer to them on a truly global scale,” says Ben Francis, Gymshark’s founder. “I’m incredibly proud of what Gymshark has achieved to date from our roots in Birmingham, but it’s all about looking forward. I firmly believe Gymshark has the potential to be to the U.K. what Nike is to the U.S. and Adidas is to Germany.”