The year 2020 started quite effectively for the e-commerce market. Let’s analyze what expectations are ahead of us.

Offline hypermarkets are losing the war.

In the past few years, traditional retailers in developed countries have suffered increasingly from falling sales. The number of visitors to hypermarkets is decreasing, people are going to E-Commerce stores. Most major retailers operating in this format, including Carrefour, Casino, Walmart, are reducing their retail space. The oldest American holding company, Sears Holdings Corp. throughout 2019 tried to save from bankruptcy. By December, there were only 182 Sears stores left. The most revealing, of course, is the case of Toys R Us, which was forced to close completely.

The “at home” mode is back in fashion.

Traditional retailers are increasingly moving from large 1-2 week purchases in a large mall to the format of “buy several times a week at a nearby store”. The fashion for neighborhood stores and small format stores is coming back. 

The “big” purchases have not gone anywhere, they are just now produced online. Walmart, for example, reported an increase in net income in the third quarter to $3.29 billion and attributed this primarily to the growing popularity of online food shopping.

A new fashion surge for marketplaces

Buyers’ requests change, it is difficult for them to look for goods and prices at dozens or even hundreds of websites. Wholesalers have to do even worse because they have to coordinate the necessary documents, build a payment system, negotiate with logistics. Therefore, all with such pleasure go to the marketplace. The task of such sites – to unite all the wholesalers and retailers, give them access to customers.

Manufacturers and wholesalers turned their attention to the customer.

Wholesale companies also understand that without their site, their growth in 2020 is not bright. Their own site at least allows them not to lose their positions, and even strengthen them with B2B commerce, capture a large share of their market, as well as enter related markets and directions. At the same time, they realize that without CRM it is impossible to work further. That to date, a minimum bundle of information systems wholesale companies should look like ERP + B2B platform + CRM with the help of E-Commerce analytics.

The era of social shopping is approaching.

In China, 55% of people already buy regularly on social networks. We’re moving in the same direction. 

Now all social networks are launching their stores and marketplaces. The WhatsApp instant messaging service has recently introduced this feature. Earlier it appeared in the Instagram social network.

The buyer is getting younger.

Generation Z grows up and begins to enter a solvent age.  New users want to get maximum information about goods and services, to be able to compare this information for different products. There is a request for detailed product cards, quality photos, and 3D photos. The younger generation wants to read product reviews from other customers, not only online, but also offline.

It is also important for “new customers” that the brand and the store “hear them”. According to the Sprout Social Index, 63% of retailers rate the ability to communicate with and hear the audience as crucial and say that this skill increasingly determines the success of building lasting relationships with customers.

Content is also changing. Young consumers are more responsive to content created by other customers than the brand itself. According to the Ipsos Mediact study, such posts and messages are 35% more memorable and worth twice as much trust.

New time demands a personalized approach. On the other hand, young people want to always be “in the trend”, so the services “find the thing by photo” are so popular. Buyer of generation Z is characterized by the desire to dress the same way as a favorite blogger or other influent. That is why hunting brands collaborate with such opinion leaders.