COVID-19 has had an unprecedented impact upon the global population – engulfing healthcare institutions, the transportation and hospitality industries in panic, to name but a few of the incalculable number of hardest hit sectors. In spite of this, a groundbreaking boom in eCommerce sales has been recorded, with a growth of over 30 percent throughout 2020.

In springtime of last year when world leaders put stay-at-home orders into effect; many of their citizens believed life would be back to normal by September of that very year, or at least in time for Christmas celebrations to be in order. As weeks turned into long months, consumers of all generations were given little choice but to take to online websites, therefore charging a surge in online sales figures. Now, experts are predicting that eCommerce will continue to accelerate its way into the near future, in ways that would have seemed impossible pre-2020.

The team at AdLab have been keeping their industry antennas active, which has aided them in developing three key trends that they believes will define 2021.

Firmly on their list sits the reimagined shopping habits consumers will, and are currently developing. For centuries, they have systematically, excitedly, and in some cases, begrudgingly visited physical stores to purchase what they want and need, whether it be a flashy new outfit for a party or a basket of groceries from their local supermarket.

Younger demographics are famous for having broken this barrier at the turn of the millennium, allowing for the conception of sites consisting of Amazon, Ocado and Asos. Now, the older demographic seems to be warily following in the footsteps of their children and grandchildren by Google shopping their way through the metaphorical aisles, which is expected to continue even when shopkeepers are given the keys back to their units.

Yet, the competition within the eCommerce industry has moved up a gear, where higher rewards are reaped for companies and marketers that are able to evolve their advertising content: the Magento agency’s next point. Furthermore, digital content has been the subject of larger investment as of late, which could have been said before the pandemic, although not in the way that it has been stimulated by recent events. Tough lessons were learnt by those whose business models did not create space for online advertising to be a priority, and 2021 will solidify the importance of this.

Supported by the news that Netflix is promising to release a new movie every single week throughout 2021, an increased demand within home-related niches is in our list of predictions. The changes in societal norms, including the growing popularity of working from home, which may well become a preference for many in years to come, is leaving a permanent psychological impact on consumers, thus creating space for innovation. Possibly along with their Netflix and Disney+ contracts, many consumers will, quite willingly, add hand-sanitization packs to their subscription bill.

2021 will either make or break some businesses, depending on how they react to its many opportunities and obstacles. Consumerism, including eCommerce, has twisted and turned throughout the Noughties and Tens like no other decade, but nobody could have predicted the spanner-in-the-works that the Twenties would throw.