The fashion and apparel B2B eCommerce sector is growing by leaps and bounds. The pandemic has given it a solid impetus and now there’s no looking back. The time has never been more perfect to launch your eCommerce venture. Having discussed the landscape from a fashion and apparel perspective and iterating the many tools and technologies I believe are an absolute must-have for your business in the previous blogs, we move on to statistics. Not just general statistics, but the top ones that will tell you why everything I have been telling you, adds up to solid business advice.
The pandemic has already shown us novel ways to pivot and sustain. Yet, only 50% of business leaders believe they are prepared to support customer engagement priorities despite a whopping 82% expecting challenges to increase regarding customer engagement in 2021. It’s time we moved on towards better innovations to usher in more promising times in the eCommerce space. Such is its potential that it will continue to flourish even after the pandemic, especially for the fashion and apparel sector.
Pandemic or not, fashion is back on the scene and how. As Associated British Foods Plc, the owner of the budget chain Primark points out, “Fashion is back. Clothing is undergoing its own metamorphosis: Skinny jeans, the workhorse of women’s wardrobes for more than a decade, are on their way out; mom jeans and other looser-cut pants are taking over. This is boosting denim sales, and should inspire sales of new tops and shoes to go with them."
Now that we know for a fact people are excited to shop, albeit, with a change in preferences, it’s time we spruce up your eCommerce business with the right knowledge. The statistics mentioned here will throw light on the current eCommerce trends and tell us why we need to take a cue and tweak our business strategies accordingly. So let’s dive deeper into those that can give us a definite direction.
That's right! From $549.55 billion in 2020 to $668.1 billion in 2021, it is already expected to grow at an impressive CAGR of 21.6%. In the future, it is expected to touch $1207.23 billion by 2025. While continuous growth in using the Internet and smartphones have been the top driving factors, weakening brand loyalty is urging shoppers to look for better deals and options constantly. Apparel is the most popular and thriving segment followed by footwear, bags, and accessories. Technological innovations are of course helping them get closer to what they need, which means business owners have every reason to smile.
While user penetration is expected to be 36.6% in 2021, industry experts and Statistica forecast it to hit 48.1% by 2025. China leads the way with its current 2021 revenue standing at $227,474 million, while Asia Pacific holds a lot of promise too. Asia-Pacific and North America are both doing exceedingly well from the sales perspective accounting for 42.3% and 22.9% retail ecommerce sales worldwide. APAC and China, owing to their exponentially large middle-class segment are witnessing massive growth on the B2B front.
Those jumping onto the private label bandwagon perhaps started out intending to bridge the gap between what consumers wanted and what was on offer. Sustainability and scalability were major considerations too. Luckily, this is the perfect time to introduce private labels because customers are more than ready to embrace them as long as their needs are addressed perfectly.
What's worth noticing is that a whopping 61% of shoppers were choosing Amazon while only 48% of shoppers were buying from retailer sites. This shows shoppers wanting more variety and convenience in fewer clicks. It’s up to you to ensure that the experience you offer is exceptional and enticing for them to stick around rather than going brand to brand.
This may come as a surprise but it is reportedly 40X more effective than Facebook and Twitter combined. Clearly, it remains a critical aspect of your toolkit if you wish to connect with your customers and have great conversion rates. Email conversion rates are 3X higher compared to those from social media with the average order value being 17% higher than social media.
I have been iterating this point repeatedly. The fact that 75% of consumers have confessed to trying a new shopping behavior confirms it. If they are fickle about their brand choices, they definitely will not bat an eyelid before leaving you for an eCommerce business that understands and serves them better.
With social distancing becoming the norm, there is a growing demand for all things contactless. This will further stimulate eCommerce growth. It's all about contactless payments be it through mobile wallets or convenient payment gateways via credit cards and QR codes.
Businesses that are doing exceedingly well have one thing in common - they are all leveraging data generated by a bunch of digital tools and eCommerce platforms that give them a 360-degree view of customer journeys, market trends, demographics, lifestyles, and the preferred mode of communication. This helps them create high-value segments for devising targeted marketing strategies. It also helps them identify and address the myriad pain points along the way.
What it also means is that you need to have the perfect landing pages while ensuring that the experience is seamless irrespective of whether shoppers are using a website or a mobile device. Mobile-responsive web stores that are optimized for digital shopping are just what you need to ensure zero friction and an exceptional customer experience. We've seen app downloads in record numbers in recent times and the trend will only continue to grow.
Google defines eCommerce conversion rate as "The ratio of transactions to sessions, expressed as a percentage. For example, a ratio of one transaction to every ten sessions would be expressed as an Ecommerce Conversion Rate of 10%". While evaluating conversion rates, it is important to look into the conversion rates by device, campaign, product category, and various other factors to determine the success of your existing campaigns and plan new ones.
While it shows customers wanting to celebrate on a budget, it also means they are on the lookout for more deals and discounts that usually come around the holiday season. Also, considering the global average of 200 billion hours being spent on apps on just Android devices, having a mobile app for your eCommerce business has now become inevitable. How an app should be and how it should perform is something you need to get serious about.
Says Bhrugu Pange, managing director of technology services at AArete, a global management consulting firm, "Mobile apps must do four things: offer information, be convenient, be entertaining and further connections. Few offer all four, but the most successful ones provide three out of four, like Facebook which provides information, entertainment, and connections.”
91% of consumers are likely to shop with brands that offer relevant offers and recommendations while 83% are willing to even share their data if it's going to help them get a more personalized experience. Personalization has assumed a whole new level thanks to modern technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
You can personalize just about everything; from styles and colors to deals and discounts. Personalization is needed for growth and survival, not to forget an opportunity to keep your customers closer. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality are extensively being used to offer digital fitting rooms, virtual try-ons, and virtual mirrors.
This is not surprising at all since businesses now have understood the importance of social commerce and are adopting an omnichannel approach. There are over 3.8 billion social media users with the average daily usage in the US being a little over 2 hours. It’s important that you factor this important channel of communication to engage with your customers.
Here’s an example to demonstrate how it all works. A customer may see something on the mobile, place an order on the eCommerce website, follow up on shipment status on the app, may request for a return that is acknowledged via email, and start seeing similar products on social media. This should tell you how important it is to be omnipresent being at every imaginable place your customers would want you to be. An omnichannel business model blurs the boundaries between channels ensuring a seamless experience.
All of us do it all the time. We want to land the best deal. Always. Period.
Several businesses have now started offering features like best price guarantee the way eBay offers or deal of the day to help you shop while you save. Make sure that your products are promoted well so that they show up every time someone goes into comparison mode.
Not many would know that reviews help improve Google rankings too since Google will always choose content that's relevant, unique, helpful, and likely to connect better with others. Reviews are indeed a great way of guiding other consumers in their customer journey and 10% of ranking factors can be attributed to them. For many, they are as important as personal recommendations.
There could be a number of reasons for this - customers may be wanting same-day delivery or free delivery or may be frustrated because of the complicated checkout process, or were simply not convinced enough to complete the purchase. No matter what the reasons are, you need to delve deeper to understand them to fix them and offer better alternatives.
The above statistics are just the tip of the iceberg for navigating the many ways of the eCommerce world. But they are enough to put you on the right path for a fulfilling eCommerce journey for your fashion and apparel business. Stay tuned for more!
Up Next: Best B2B eCommerce platforms in 2021 for the fashion and apparel industry
