In many ways, e-commerce benefitted from the upheaval brought on by COVID-19. According to Salesforce Research, the number of consumers shopping online has been steadily increasing throughout the pandemic, with 44% of respondents conducting more of their shopping online in mid-May — an increase from 42% two weeks earlier.
Even after COVID-19 effects subside, 68% of U.S. shoppers expect to continue buying essential goods online.
With phased re-openings, e-commerce companies can take advantage of trends that can prepare them better for the future. We’ve put together a list of three key trends that e-commerce companies can harness to thrive moving forward.
1. Meeting the Customer Wherever the Customer May Be
A single channel — for instance, a website — is no longer enough to find customers interested in buying your products. While requiring more time and effort, maintaining a presence on Amazon, Etsy, and other platforms is a must, including taking advantage of a diverse range of mobile and payment features.
Understanding this, Facebook recently announced the launch of Facebook Shops and Instagram Shops to help small businesses sell even more online. E-commerce companies have to meet the customer wherever possible and ensure that the shopping and checkout experience is seamless, regardless of platform or device.
2. Investing in New Technology
According to the State of Small Business report published by payments provider Veeam, a quarter of small-business owners report a high impact on their supply chain due to COVID-19. In response, the top two actions businesses are investing in new technology and rapidly pivoting their supply chains to make much-needed supplies.
This isn’t news in some ways: E-commerce companies constantly have to invest in and rely on technology better to understand their customers’ buying patterns and shopping preferences. Selling online generates a range of important customer information, including ads clicked, products viewed, shopping carts filled, and transactions completed.
This data should be connected to the supply chain to restock the right products, and future sales can be more predictable.
3. Contactless Delivery and Alternative Shopping Methods
The surge in e-commerce orders has made some consumers more patient with online ordering, understanding that some products are unavailable and others are delayed. However, they still expect seamless service and delivery the majority of the time. That means retailers, brands, and e-commerce companies need partners who can guide managing the pressure on logistics and take advantage of trends.
For example, an emerging trend with COVID-19 has been contactless delivery. More than one-third of respondents (37%) to the Salesforce Research survey indicated that they now prefer contactless delivery. Since logistics providers — not e-commerce companies — are normally tasked with figuring out how this works and providing this service to consumers, it might be time to consider using a third-party logistics (3PL) provider to help take advantage of trends and ensure a nearly perfect delivery experience for your customers. You can outsource some or all of your operations to a 3PL.
Why Taylored Services
Taylored Services is a fully integrated 3PL provider specializing in wholesale, retail, direct-to-consumer unit fulfillment, and transportation solutions. The company operates in 4.4 million square feet of warehouse and distribution space close to the Gateway Ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach, Newark, NJ, and Miami, FL.
E-commerce businesses need a 3PL partner with significant investments in systems and technology and established, long-term relationships with other interim suppliers along an order’s “shipping journey.” Using Taylored, clients can track their merchandise at every step through and from the warehouse to multiple destination points.
Services include:
● Warehousing and distribution
● E-commerce
● Supply Chain Management
● Value-added services and merchandise rework
● Transportation management services
Working with a full-service, integrated logistics provider like Taylored Services helps e-commerce businesses of all sizes serve customers more efficiently and allows such companies to scale when needed without significant investment.