The global pandemic created by COVID-19 has accelerated the maturation of ecommerce businesses and has led to an increase in online sales. It’s estimated that these figures will continue to rise gradually in 2021, due to the ongoing prevention methods put in place internationally along with the changes in consumer spending habits. According to a study from Digital 2020, 47% of users have seen a significant increase in the time they spend shopping online. In this scenario, ecommerce businesses must be able to adapt quickly to changes in the market, offer competitive prices and keep up with new trends.
The sectors that have grown most because of the pandemic have been food, personal care and fashion. These are closely followed by entertainment products, both offline and online. Despite this, all retailers must continue strengthening their online channel to meet customer needs and drive growth thanks to this new momentum. To achieve this, it’s important to keep the following aspects in mind:
Competitor Price Monitoring
Price monitoring must continue to be an important part of everyday ecommerce business. Since the current healthcare crisis has also caused the number of online shops to multiply, and many physical shops have moved to the virtual environment, the competition will be even more fierce in 2021. Tracking the prices of your competition will allow you to anticipate changes in the market, fluctuations in supply and demand and the pricing strategies of rival brands. At the same time, it will provide you with key values that you can base your ecommerce prices on to make them as competitive as possible.
All of this quality information should help ecommerce businesses build the best pricing strategy for their target audience. Lowering prices to get new customers is no longer enough. This practice is out of use and can lead to losses for your business. You must first analyze the value attributed to your products and the possibility of launching offers and discounts while considering the promotions launched by the competition.
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Nowadays, ecommerce businesses can use automated tools to monitor their competitors’ prices in real time. This is software with self-learning capabilities that can speed up the company’s decision-making and operation.
Dynamic Pricing Strategies
Another effect that the pandemic has had on ecommerce businesses is that the users, who are spending more time online, are paying more attention to prices. You can use dynamic pricing to catch their attention and encourage customer acquisition. The current dynamic pricing strategies allow you to automate and optimize data analysis tasks so that they recommend the most appropriate prices at all times, and thus increase product profitability in an increasingly competitive market. This type of software considers aspects such as cost, profit margins and the prices of the competition to recommend new short-term prices for products. As we know, the greatest expert in dynamic pricing is Amazon, which can change its prices every 10 minutes.
Along with the variations in price based on the supply and demand in the market at any given time, designing offers and promotions that accelerate the sales funnel is also a good practice to have in place. Offering users personalized discounts based on dynamic pricing will be possible by using a thorough segmentation of the target audience. One example of this can be seen in the offers for certain sectors of the population, such as students or pensioners, or campaigns aimed exclusively at loyal customers.
In the end, the objective of dynamic pricing is to keep prices within the expectations of the users without reducing the profit margin. Combining this strategy with customer-centred inbound marketing campaigns will be key to increasing ecommerce sales and the trust that customers have in the brand over the medium to long term.
Growing Trends in 2021
Likewise, you need to be aware of and adapt to the new shopping trends that will emerge over the course of the year. Among the most noteworthy are:
- Voice shopping: More and more users are turning to smart speakers to make online purchases. Alexa and Google Home sales have increased worldwide, demonstrating the potential of these tools — even for the elderly. For ecommerce businesses to adapt to this type of search, focusing on SEO optimization is a must. Since the majority of users tend to ask these devices questions, your keywords and product descriptions should respond to the intention behind these customers’ searches and answer their needs.
Many ecommerce businesses have also opted for the development and integration of accurate and efficient voice searches to facilitate the shopping experience for users.
- Increased popularity and use of cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin continues to be a player in the shadows. Its popularity increases even though it’s an abstract concept that’s difficult to understand for many users. Despite this, its use is gradually spreading, above all among large brands and the most technologically advanced vendors. In addition, the decline in cash payments due to COVID-19 has opened the door to the further development and use of cryptocurrencies in 2021 and beyond.
To not be left behind, ecommerce businesses can start investigating how to incorporate this new payment system into their websites and enjoy the advantages it offers. Among the principal advantages are the fact that transactions are faster and have lower fees, which can increase your profit margin. What we do know today is that paying with digital currencies can easily be an additional payment method alongside others that we’re already familiar with, such as PayPal or Stripe.
In the end, the current situation calls for changes to be made and for ecommerce businesses to adapt themselves, more than ever, to the needs of new users who have been forced online to make their purchases due to public health restrictions. Improving their shopping experience will help you to grow and have a larger customer base that trusts and supports your brand. Never forget the importance of offering competitive prices, since the price is a key factor in the final purchase decision.
Antonio Tomás Pujante is CEO at Minderest and Reactev, a dynamic pricing platform designed with state-of-the-art technology born out of Minderest, which has been a leading European company in price and stock intelligence for retailers and manufacturers since 2012.