Top retail trends for Q2 2021

With every passing year I have been tracking how there are various changes and arrival of new trends in retail and eCommerce. You should timely keep an eye on those trends so that you can cope up with other industries in the market.

In the year 2021, the pandemic will keep changing and reshaping the industrial trends based on the preferences of the customers and the structure and norms of the market. A company should always be prepared a step ahead to serve their customers with the best of their services by following the latest trends. Understanding the norms of the market is not easy and it can be conducted by someone who is experienced and has complete knowledge of the transitions taking place in the market.

With various marketing practices and some of the research I would like to list which trends will help the retailers in Q2 2021:

• Social commerce

  Social commerce is the most common application these days which has proved very helpful to different types of industries. The physical stores are closed due to the pandemic and online shopping has become the biggest need of the day. About 41% of all people shop the things online which they use to buy from a store.

  Social commerce offers customers to shop on a social media platform. There is no requirement for a third-party website and people can shop right through the social media platform. Social commerce is in great demand to increase a business by branding the products in different social media apps used by your customers.

  Instagram and Facebook can put forward a collection of some of your featured products to attract customers to your website and increase the sales and revenue. Your online shop can be accessed by the global audience with just a click. So once you have established a good social platform you will open up elegant opportunities for your business. Your products will be featured on two platforms that are on your website and on social media that will give a higher chance of having an increase in the growth of your company

• Influencer marketing

  A time before the pandemic the influencer marketing was all about having captions and heavily edited shots of the products. But it was a completely different scenario. In 2021, where the brand and the influencer work quite differently together the content of the influence has transitioned to a real aesthetic one and it might continue for a long term.

  Audience can blindly trust a brand when they have authentic content and voices as with everyone being so smart using smartphones they can identify an overly-produced ad quite easily. The brands should therefore focus on high authenticity while having influencer partnerships to have higher engagement and ROI this year.

  The influencer content should be unique based on spreading knowledge, entertainment, and the best viewer experiences to attract the users. We can assume in this changing environment for the influencer partnership ‘videos’ will be the best medium for the retailers. The brands have already started following the trend of creating and sharing various content about their products and services on Instagram Live, IGTV, Instagram reels, Tik Tok, and more with their influencers to foster strong digital communities.

• Shopping experience empowered with AR

  The retailers for providing their customers a unique and satisfying shopping experience are now adapting augmented reality (AR), machine learning, and artificial intelligence as top technologies for their business.

  As retailers are now dependent on online shopping due to the lockdown in the present COVID-19 pandemic, AR technology helps them to bridge the gap between the online and the physical purchases of their customers. AR-powered technologies are not limited to mega-brands but it has proven useful to many small businesses as well for showcasing their products to the customers in a better way.

  Products that have AR content have more conversion rate than the products which do not have AR that is it is a smart technology to increase your sales and revenue.

• Providing ethical values to your customers

  The customers can trust a brand that has ethical values and transparency in its services. It is good for retailers to align to certain values so that the customers wish to shop from their brand. Shoppers always evaluate the values and ethics of a brand nowadays where everything is online so they need better protection of their data and of all the purchases.

  The retailers should not perform any environmentally unfriendly actions and at the same time, there should be no hidden sketchy business practices that can eliminate the trust of a customer from a brand.

  Providing complete transparency is a hard step I can understand but trust me if you achieve it once you will have loyalty and trust over your customer over the long run.

• Smart shopping practices

  There should be smart shopping practices provided by the retailers to their customers so that they feel excited and happy while shopping for your products and services. I am sure as a customer you also feel to have new shopping experiences from a brand and that is why the retailers can offer their customers the following services:

  • Faster delivery of the products that give higher sales and fulfillment of the needs of the customers to keep shopping from your brand

  • Smart speaker shopping using Amazon Echo or Google Home to make product search, ordering and tracking much easier than before

  • Using chatbots and personal assistance to engaging more customers and resolving their issues in no time

  • Using automation tools to strengthen customer relationship with your brand

  COVID-19 has limited the in-person services and experiences for a customer. By using such technologies you are helping them to find and purchase your products without much effort.

  The expectations of the customers will keep increasing in the future and you need to be prepared with the right technology to fulfill their requirements. A professional marketer understands how to harness your data and use them for generating more personalized campaigns that will be beneficial for a retailer in different ways.

  Regardless of the products the retailers sell to their customers they always have an option to hire experts to give them the right guidance and support. Adopting the latest retail trends will not be sufficient until you make the right investment.

  I aim to offer services to the retailers in a way that no matter a customer is shopping online or having an in-store purchase they should have the best customer experience by having better interaction with your brand through proven marketing techniques.

  So what are your plans as a retailer to help your customers with better experience in Q2 2021?