The top 4 consumer trends in 2021 

The trends carried over to 2021 may seem intimidating at first but some of them can be easily assimilated into our lives. In this article, we will be highlighting the 4 consumer trends in 2021 that will persist post-COVID and innovations that helped businesses adapt to these emerging e-commerce and customer experience trends. 

[Read our customer experience in a crisis here]

1. Online shopping is the new go-to and customers want to be kept in the loop

The first consumer trend in 2021 is definitely consumers' behavioural shift towards e-commerce! With E-commerce leading a boom in the retail industry, US E-Commerce had an 18% increase in 2020. This increase has led to a surge in “click and collect’ delivery trends where consumers purchase with minimal contact. 

With more and more customers turning to e-commerce, visibility and convenience in the delivery journey will become even more critical to determine purchase decisions. Customers want customized delivery slots and the ability to make delivery timings fit their schedules. 

How many times have you googled a piece of product information you were uncertain of while walking down the grocery aisle? Exactly.

Retail competition is as fierce as ever, with seven in 10 shoppers agreeing that they will switch their usual brand to one that provides more information. Transparency can build customer loyalty and increase consumer trust. So what can retailers do to address these expectations?  

1. Have their own delivery notifications in their own brand 

2. Have a branded tracking page that acts as an interactive page for customers to get their latest parcel updates. 

Delivery notifications are extremely prevalent, especially in the business-to-business industry. It enables companies to alert their customers on the arrival of their shipment. With the increase in demand for transparency, real-time notifications is a must-have for high performing fleets.

One thing for sure, consumers' expectations are relentlessly growing but that does not stop us from providing. Let us take you through what is possible with our notifications platforms. Our platform updates your parcel delivery in real-time and alerts you with any delay in your shipment. It also allows you to configure custom algorithms based on your preferences and communicate time-sensitive information to your customers. With SMS notifications you can manage your customer’s expectations before delivery and safeguard your customers' delivery success.

With a growing number of customers shopping online, more customers are gravitating towards retailers who can provide them with the best customer experience. Notifications make it easy for customers to enhance their post-purchase experience globally.

Using Parcel Perform and want to be notified at your fingertips? Here’s a guide on how to implement notifications in your communications.

2. The return of Consumer Confidence and revenge spending

Retail stores were seen to have significantly dropped at least 50% in sales due to the coronavirus. 

However, as soon as lockdowns in certain areas were eased, the phenomenon ‘revenge spending’ was spread worldwide from the US to Europe to account for the spending that consumers would have splurged on overseas vacations and luxury boutiques. The term was first coined in China described as a situation where shopping-deprived consumers turn towards excessive shopping spree from the effects of quarantine and lockdown. 

For now, owners of luxury goods should make the best out of this ‘revenge spending’ habit. This does not only necessarily mean luxury wearables; Mercedes Benz sales also rose 23% per year during the third quarter of 2020. Luxury brands can have a strong indicative measure of what’s about to come next in 2021.

A McKinsey report shows 75% of sellers and buyers prefer digital touchpoints as compared to older brick-and-mortar concepts because of convenience, speed, and of course safety. 

To enhance your digital touchpoint with your customers, Parcel Perform has developed a Premium Branded Tracking Page, bridging the gap between your personalized customization of UI & functionalities based on your customer’s preference and directly implementing delivery updates within your webshop. 

With the Premium Branded Tracking Page, there will be countless opportunities for your post-purchase experience to shine with valuable tracking insights and your marketing channels will get even more powerful. Read our article here to understand how you can advance your customer experience with Parcel Perform’s Branded Tracking Page.

3. Engagement with customers has gone online, across all channels

Video content is on the rise. A survey done in 2019 showed that at least 62% of customers were more inclined to look at a product demonstration before making a purchase.  

If you’re planning to create these videos, it’s worth considering tools like Movavi or its alternatives to simplify the editing process and deliver content that feels polished yet approachable. Besides video content, podcasts have also been gaining in popularity. People listen to podcasts to gain insights and inspiration on personal and business topics. A study made by blogging found out that 73% of marketers realized that webinars have a higher chance of generating new leads. 

In times of crisis; in this case, the pandemic, a customer’s engagement and interaction with a company can trigger positive connotations towards the brand and produce a lingering effect of trust and loyalty. Now is the time companies should come together to brainstorm ways to interact with customers online and to ensure that their services meet their new concern, empathy, and needs.

Parcel Perform has also been engaging our audience online and expanding the kind of platforms our clients can receive our content and support on. 

Not only are all of our customers receiving a dedicated Key Account Manager and 24h support via our live chat, but our founders are also constantly involved and pushing the envelope to share their experience. 

Our Founder and CEO Arne Jeroschewski recently released an interview with Tech In Asia, he shared his insights of the future in parcel delivery in the e-commerce industry and his day-to-day routine at Parcel Perform. Click here to listen to learn more about his experience growing Parcel Perform to what it is today.

Listen to podcasts daily to kickstart your day? Our Founder and CCO Dana von der Heide recently released her very first podcast, “The Logistics Tribe” where she invites guests to share their insights on the logistics industry. You can now listen to it on Spotify or Apple.

Our founder and CCO Dana von der Heide has also collaborated with our Business developer Khaniff Lau on a Sales Webinar. They shared the best tips and tricks for a strong post-purchase experience and how to differentiate yourself from your competitor during the midst of a pandemic.

Interested to know more about excelling in customer experience? Register for the download of the webinar here!

4. The future of work: Collaborating from Home

The Mckinsey Global Institute found that 20% of the global workforce is working remotely from home and could be just as effective as working from the office. The historic shift of working from home has become the norm for most businesses. As the trend of remote-working follows us into 2021, it would not be surprising to see the numbers increase with the greater adoption of working from home. But how can we turn this phenomenon into a marketing opportunity?

Growing a loyal customer base

It is no surprise that customer loyalty will flourish when you make customer service a priority. By growing relationships with your customers, you are producing returning customers. Loyal customers will naturally become your brand advocates as long as you focus on improving the customer lifetime value. Word of mouth is the most powerful form of medium to expand your brand reach.

To ensure that your customers come back for more, you can ensure that you have an outstanding customer service point. In times of crisis, customers will naturally gravitate towards businesses that provide close updates and clarity in difficult situations.

With our Customer Service tools integrated onto our platform, you will not only gain visibility with your parcels but also control over the kind of customization you determine is best for your company.

To give you an example - our most frequently used CS tool is the bookmarks, as a user you can customize the tabs to your preference and save it as a bookmark. You can also share this preference with your customer’s account for easier implementation. Parcel Perform has 5 standard bookmarks by default (Active Parcels, Pending Parcels, Delivered Parcels, Parcels with Issues and Recipients) to help you navigate the platform to find your parcels easily. Read our article on our new Parcel Details Interface to learn how this platform can support your customer service team months ahead. 

The popularity of working from home and collaboration tools 

With technology connecting businesses from all over the world, the search for a solution to promote communications and productivity continues. There is a sudden spike in demand for faster routers, webcam, and laptops; with a 79% increment in search volume surpassing Black Friday.

Ensuring that you and your co-workers are on the same page is important to deter miscommunication from happening; losing more valuable time that could be better used in other areas. With our Logistics Intelligence feature, our platform can help you to get actionable insights from your logistics data. This will not only enhance visibility on your logistics performance but also foster collaboration between you and your team, especially when logistics managers can not meet on site.

Our logistics intelligence feature allows you a whole new way to create, manage and share the same logistics report across your organization and team members all with just a few clicks. There are many new features and updates with our Logistics Intelligence view, you can read more in-depth here. Questions about any of these new updates? Our team is on standby to help you out! Reach us anytime.

Building an online community

With the lockdown implemented, it has created an opportunity for brands to engage telecommuters with online communities. With us being amid a pandemic, it is highly unlikely that we will be going back to what we used to. This is a good opportunity to build connections with the work from home community. Most companies are hosting webinars to engage with their customers and posting more frequently on their social media feeds to increase engagement with their products.

You must find new ways to engage and connect with your audience. If your brand fans manage to connect with the community while talking about your product, you will grow the community for your brand and could potentially emerge from the pandemic with a thriving community.

The future of working from home will welcome many changes, from freeing office spaces to investing in digital infrastructure. Businesses and professionals will also have to seek a new outlet to interact and view data-based reports on the industry they are in. Our sister brand, Parcel Monitor is the global knowledge-sharing community dedicated to E-Commerce Logistics for retailers, logistics carriers and end-consumers. We release interesting and trending logistics insights on Parcel Monitor to make sure that you are always regularly updated with the industry. You can also track and trace your parcels here and get regular updates! Join our community today to get firsthand professional industry insights! 

There is a lot to look out for consumer trends in 2021; after all the year has just begun. We are excited to see the new innovative ideas that would emerge during this pandemic and how they will impact the E-Commerce and Logistics industries.

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