write an article about trends in eCommerce and marketing for 2022 It is riskier than going for a walk in the desert in a tank top, shorts, without water and with the only food of a box of shortbread. In order not to fail, there are two categories of articles of this type: a) those that count things that already happen as a trend, with phrases of the type “the number of buyers will continue to increase” and b) those who make up 10 things with the idea that it is difficult not to get one or two of ten right.
If 2020 and 2021 have taught us anything, it is that forecasts can fly through the air faster than it took toilet paper to disappear of supermarkets in March 2020. It is no less true that, when it comes to eCommerce, 2020-2021 has been a period in which the trends in eCommerce and marketing that already existed have been accelerated by the sheer need of consumers for to continue buying and from physical stores to continue selling (= truism) in a scenario of confinement first and restrictions or capacity limitations later.
But duty is duty, so I take out the crystal ball, the tarot, the macro data, the micro data, the geopolitical studies, the reports on eCommerce and the advice of my mom (“baby, stay out of trouble”) and I launch myself into the adventure.
10 trends in eCommerce for 2022 that could come true
1. 5G will spread and with it will come new tools
If we pay attention to what the telecommunications operators tell us, 2022 should be the year of real 5G deployment, at least in all major population centers. This not only means faster mobile connection speeds, but also opens the door to a world of tools that are simply impossible to implement with 4G networks.
The idea is that if the operators want to make their investment profitable, they need a lot of traffic in 5G, and the same happens with the hundreds of technology companies that have tools prepared but that right now are only available to large companies.
5G means having a lot of new services in real time, especially those related to five technologies: augmented reality, virtual reality, image and voice recognition, artificial intelligence and Big Data. 5G will make all these technologies more accessible to small businesses, which will begin to have much more powerful marketing tools that allow, this time, a omnichannel real and not a substitute.
2. Either you put your batteries into sustainability, or you die
As much as world “leaders” dedicate themselves to dragging their feet at successive Climate Summits, the perception that either we do something or we go to hell, we have a very dark future, is penetrating deeper and deeper into society, especially among the youngest, who will be young but not idiots and they know that we want to leave them (pun intended) the brown.
Sustainability is already a trend in marketing and will undoubtedly be one of the trends in eCommerce and marketing by 2022. Go forgetting the plastic packaging (bubble wrap in your packages is evil)include in the product sheets of your eCommerce information about the origin of what you sell, how to reuse and recycle it and start thinking about setting up a CO2 emissions calculator and how to reduce them, because your clients are going to value all of that, and a lot.
3. Upcycling, vintage, second hand… reuse to power
Closely linked to the previous point but worthy of a separate chapter, upcycling and second-hand items (come on, reuse) are hitting very hard and will undoubtedly be another of the trends in eCommerce and marketing for 2022. The greats of retail such as Y you would do well to include a similar section in your eCommerce, as well as search for suppliers of upcycling products (made with reused materials).
4. We have a supply crisis for a while
Which is bad news for those who do not want to accumulate stock. We are in a situation where raw materials are scarce because a) the pandemic continues, especially in the countries where the raw materials are extracted, processed or manufactured, which slows down production, b) people have spent much less during the covid crisis and there is a lot of money waiting to be spent, which triggers demand and c) that it will take months to solve.
Add to this that in China they have problems meeting electricity demand and many factories have to work at half throttle. The perfect Storm. Therefore, you will not be able to serve many products in 24 hours because you will not have them available and you would do well to implement a product reservation system in your eCommerce. At least during the first half of the year, people will not be able to buy what they want, but what is available.
5. Asian products are not THAT cheap anymore… and they are going to be less
simply because the cost of shipping in containers has multiplied by 10 and it does not seem that it is going to go down in the short term, in addition to the fact that we are at a point where the demand exceeds the supply for the reasons already exposed in the previous amazing point.
eCommerce businesses with suppliers from China and Southeast Asia can have a pretty rough time at least in the first half of 2022, but especially those who are dedicated to . Add to all this that the economic growth of these countries is still very strong, which also pushes prices up. There will be many import items that may no longer pay you to sell.
6. Return to the local product and kilometer zero
Due to what has already been stated about sustainability, product availability and cost, the local product is once again competitive and, moreover, in demand. One of the strongest bets on trends in eCommerce and marketing for 2022 is the rise of proximity productsAnd not just in food. You would do well to start looking for closer suppliers and reorient your business, not only because of supply problems, but also because consumers are increasingly looking at where the product they buy comes from.
7. Last-mile logistics: Houston, we have a problem
Rather three problems:
- The working conditions of delivery men and logistics platform employees will have to improve, firstly because of the changes introduced by the “Rider Law” and also because fewer and fewer people want those jobs and there is already more supply than demand for these positions. Logistics companies are more than likely to raise their prices or, like, go out of business. And distributing with flying drones is very unfeasible in urban areas.
- The implementation of low emission zones in cities, from which in principle delivery vehicles are exempt, it will affect them. If cities want to meet the new EU air quality standards they cannot afford to have their city centers littered with diesel vans and delivery trucks. At the moment the only 100% electric freight transport vehicles are small vans with less capacity than those currently used and very limited autonomy. (at the moment in the monumental zone) based on a single logistics platform where orders from all companies are received and distribution, both to private customers and businesses, is done in small electric vehicles. This is feasible on a small scale, but in larger cities it can mean an exponential increase in cost.
- The increase in demand in eCommerce is making delivery companies bet more and more on collection points. This allows to shorten the routes and download many packages in the same place. If your customer wants the product delivered to their door, it is more than likely that they will have to pay extra.
8. Goodbye to free shipping in eCommerce?
Very likely, at least if they don’t buy large enough quantities from you so that the margin allows you to absorb the shipping costs. Shipping rates have already gone up and will continue to do so in 2022, making free shipping unfeasible for everything (which hardly anyone uses anymore) or for purchases over 30-40 euros, which until recently was the norm.
Many large eCommerce companies are already anticipating what will be one of the most marked trends in eCommerce and marketing for 2022: free shipping from 100 euros of purchase or more (I have already seen large eCommerces that require up to 200 euros of purchase to have free shipping) or only for customers who pay an extra (such as Amazon Prime). And even, there is no free shipping of any kind.
In a pandemic scenario like the one we are still experiencing (and everything indicates that we will continue in 2022) many consumers are willing to pay for their purchases to be brought home to avoid crowds and stay indoors. The big question is whether, in a post-pandemic scenario, survivors will want to pay more to buy online when they can do it in a physical store without any risk.. How far has the perception of risk associated with crowds penetrated our subconscious? It’s too early to tell.
9. Darwin will take action in eCommerce
Until now, seeing an eCommerce close its doors (or rather, its ports) was something anecdotal and associated with management errors or disastrous business models. But in 2021, even Tato has signed up for eCommerce. This will make natural selection spring into action.
What I would not call a trend but a proven reality for 2022 is that It is no longer enough to have an online store: you have to have it right and invest in it. Thousands of new online stores have been born in the heat of public subsidies, but in 2022 many small businesses are going to realize that the real costs of having an eCommerce (if you want it to work) are higher than previously thought. eCommerce opens the doors to a global market, but you have to be able to compete globally, and that is not within everyone’s reach.
Small businesses have had to reinvent themselves several times: in the 1980s with the arrival of large stores, in the 1990s with shopping centers and in the 21st century with eCommerce. Well, now it’s time to reinvent yourself again. If you are small, you have to look for a market niche and become strong in it, forgetting everything else. A small generalist eCommerce is going to find it increasingly difficult to compete.
10. Will the Metaverse arrive in 2022?
Short answer: no. As much as you change the name of your company, until you can open a store in the Metaverse and have the immersive experience that they promise us, it will take a lot longer. The closest thing we have today to the Metaverse is that they are still evolved versions of the old one, at least from a graphic point of view, although they have many more new features and, above all, video games.
Of these, the most successful in terms of reality simulation require consoles, computers or mobile phones with enormous processing capacity, super graphics cards and special cooling systems to dissipate heat. Namely,…
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