New eCommerce Trends

The last year has been quite interesting for the business industry around the world. Between big tech advancements and widespread challenges with supply chains, 2021 managed to keep everyone on their toes.

There’s still no end in sight for the pandemic, which means things should be staying the way they are for a while longer, but that’s not quite the case. Now is more important than ever for companies to track changing trends in order to gain a competitive advantage.

Crypto

Although cryptocurrencies have always been portrayed as an easy alternative to fiat currency and banks, it comes with their own set of challenges.

The challenges of cryptocurrencies include the difficulty to use them, and their volatility, which has greatly slowed down the adoption of crypto, although those trends are changing.

Some of the top crypto trading platforms saw great spikes in traffic in the last few years, while the top three platforms managed to triple their website traffic numbers over the last year.

This rise of decentralized currencies has been impacting a number of markets, which has led to some payment platforms and banks adding cryptocurrencies to their offerings.

On the other hand, there have been a number of governments trying to create their own cryptocurrencies, and Salvador even decided to accept crypto as an official form of payment. Companies that are focused on eCommerce should become more familiar with blockchain and cryptocurrency technology.

This is one of the best ways that companies can stay ahead of trends, with crypto technology becoming more popular and providing buyers with more confidence to shop.

Sustainability

Most world leaders have been really dragging their feet in the last decade regarding saving the environment and introducing more sustainability, but consumers have already started supporting brands that are more sustainable.

The message from the consumers is quite clear — companies should start making more sustainable efforts, or lose the support of their consumers. This fact is especially true with younger generations of consumers, and the focus of sustainability is only going to increase with older generations in the coming months.

While plenty of companies have stopped using as many plastics, especially in terms of their packaging, a number of businesses have started to include information about the origin of the materials for their products, as well as ways that consumers can recycle them.

Many companies have also started sharing their carbon footprint with their consumers, and Mastercard recently unveiled a carbon footprint calculator for banks around the world.

All of these trends highlight the change in consumer values toward the environment. They also show the potential opportunities that the businesses that are willing to lean into sustainability have for the future.

Ronn Torossian is the CEO and founder of NY based PR firm 5W Public Relations. Torossian is also the founder of the Ronn Torossian Foundation, and a life long New Yorker.