Our annual consumer survey has become a tradition since we first started it shortly after the beginning of the pandemic. E-commerce trends changed greatly that year, and since then, we’ve seen consumer habits start to stabilize — but not necessarily revert to the shopping preferences previously held. 

We recently revealed the results of our 2022 consumer shopping trends survey in a webinar, Navigating Online Consumer Behavior: 2022 E-Commerce Shopping Trends, featuring Rithum experts from around the globe. In partnership with Dynata, our research of more than 5,000 online consumers — aged 18 to 65 across five countries — revealed some important findings for brands and retailers related to:

• The impact of inflation
• Marketplace popularity and growth
• The prevalence of digital touchpoints
• BOPIS/click-and-collect offerings
• Retail media in marketplaces

The Global Trends Shaping E-Commerce in 2022

The survey data revealed five major trends for e-commerce across the past 12 months:

• Consumers are still shopping online despite inflation.

Compared to their habits 12 months prior, 77% of consumers say they’re spending the same or more online today despite rising costs. German consumers were among the most likely to say they’re spending the same or more today compared to shoppers in other regions like the UK, US, Australia and France.  

Does this mean inflation isn’t playing a role in consumers’ spending habits? Not necessarily. It could just represent a shift from in-person retail sales to online sales. Or it may simply indicate there are other, more influential factors affecting e-commerce spending. It will be important to watch this trend over the coming months, as it may be a constantly changing metric.

• Marketplace popularity is still growing.

Marketplace shopping is certainly not a fad. In fact, 76% of global consumers say they regularly use not one, but multiple marketplaces for browsing, shopping or buying. This is especially true among younger consumers (ages 18-45).

Many consumers even look beyond well-known global marketplaces to emerging and international marketplaces. This is especially true in Australia, where 50% of survey respondents across all age groups acknowledged purchasing from a foreign marketplace in the past year. 

This is why having a presence on marketplaces is crucial. Otherwise, potential new audiences may not be able to find you. And because younger consumers are leading the charge toward marketplace-heavy e-commerce, future generations will expect the same.

• Most shoppers check multiple sites before purchasing.

The number of digital touchpoints before shoppers make a purchase is on the rise. Our survey data shows that on average, 70% of consumers visit between two and four websites before actually clicking “buy.” This includes search engines, marketplaces, brand websites and any other digital environment that leads to purchase.

This doesn’t mean you should stop attempting to provide a one-stop shopping experience for consumers where they can discover, research and buy from the same platform. But you may consider diversifying your approach so other channels can provide supportive customer experiences for any stage of the buyer journey, as in the case of social selling

• Pick-up options are here to stay.

Buy online, pick-up in-store (BOPIS) options (or “click and collect” in Europe) came to light during the pandemic when shoppers wanted to receive their orders the same day without coming into direct contact with others. Despite consumers’ return to in-store shopping over the past year, BOPIS shows no signs of slowing down, as 44% of survey respondents said they made an order for pick-up in the last 12 months.

This option is especially popular among American (57%) and Australian (54%) buyers who are even more likely to take advantage if they are between ages 26 and 35 (71% and 66%, respectively). This demonstrates consumers’ desire for more options to receive their purchases, whether in store, curbside or two-day shipping.

• Retail media ads make a difference.

Our data shows that consumers not only see your ads, but make purchases as a result. In their lifetimes, 57% of US consumers and 45% of European consumers have purchased an item on Amazon after seeing an ad. Amazon has also led the way for other marketplaces and channels through retail media: 42% of global consumers have clicked on Sponsored or Promoted Product ads on a marketplace or retail site. 

Our 2022 consumer survey data goes into more detail about product discovery, holiday buying and future buying to help you make better marketing decisions in the coming months:

Watch the full Navigating Online Consumer Behavior: 2022 E-Commerce Shopping Trends webinar on demand to hear our experts analyze these results with additional context.

The post [Infographic] Trust the Data: How Consumer Trends Are Shaping E-Commerce in 2022 appeared first on Rithum.

This time of year brands and retailers are in the midst of the holiday rush as consumers hurry to buy gifts for family and friends. But, as 2021 winds down, it’s time to think about the bigger picture and look at what we’ve seen and learned in e-commerce as we head into 2022.

Lessons Learned

We know that the pandemic impacted retail sales and the consumer journey over the past couple of years. 

We are seeing an accelerated adoption of e-commerce as an effect of the pandemic. This has resulted in a massive investment in e-commerce infrastructure led by Amazon. The marketplace has invested billions of dollars in fulfillment capacity from more warehouses to transportation.

The increase in fulfillment capacity has given buyers more options to receive their orders whether it’s curbside pickup, buy-now-pick-up-later or shorter delivery times. 

Unfortunately, complex circumstances created by the pandemic have resulted in supply chain challenges. Stock availability has been impacting every part of retail, especially shipping. These difficulties are likely to linger well into the new year for many brands and retailers and, in some categories, could have a measurable impact on sales.

Trends for 2022

The acceleration of e-commerce is no secret to retailers. With Amazon leading the way as an example of how retail media spending can drive growth, other retailers, such as Walgreens and CVS, have been inspired and are in the process of launching their own retail media markets.

E-commerce has been a part of social platforms for quite some time now. It has become an even more frictionless experience, especially for mobile devices. Users see ads targeted to their interests and with one button can click through to make their purchase. This smooth transaction can be seen with Instagram ads and, more recently, TikTok. 

While social platforms are tracking users and their activity, we are seeing privacy and regulatory battles intensify. The prevalence and tracking power of the cookie has begun fading with the implementation of privacy technology, arriving with acronyms like ITP, ATT and IDFA. Increasing adoption of this technology as well as potential new regulations and laws will require marketers to change. As the old methods to target, track and attribute the results of ad campaigns begin to become obsolete, companies will need to innovate and adapt to remain in touch and engaged with their consumers. 

Strategies for Success

So, where do you start? Take inventory of your e-commerce health and evaluate your digital shelf to ensure optimal product content. How are your products presented? Is your pricing competitive?

Here are a few specific strategies to consider executing in the new year.

Be everywhere. The consumer is looking at every possible option on every site. It’s important to be where consumers are shopping or looking at advertisements, including Amazon, Walmart, social media platforms and other online locations. Think about how your business is reaching consumers currently and find the gaps.

Diversify your approach. Diversification builds durability. This means diversifying where you receive your supply, which channels you are selling on, which regions/countries you are reaching and what fulfillment options you offer. As you think about expanding to new channels, factor in the customer acquisition costs. Think about the channels you are expanding to and the cost for advertisement. What’s your strategy for moving to new channels and have you budgeted for it? 

Focus on fulfillment. The last mile has gotten competitive, especially with features such as shortened delivery times, free shipping and buy-now-pick-up-later options. The consumer journey is important at every stage including the fulfillment options. Set yourself apart from other retailers and brands to get consumers their products when and how they prefer.

What else should you look out for in e-commerce in 2022? Watch Vice President of Digital Marketing Strategy Link Walls discuss what we’ve learned this year and what actions we can take to succeed in 2022. 

The post Perspectives in E-Commerce: Key Trends, Challenges and Actions for 2022 appeared first on Rithum.