According to Adobe Analytics, online sales reached $10.8 billion on Cyber Monday, making it the biggest single e-commerce day ever in the US. This, plus the $9 billion in online sales made on Black Friday shows that 2020 was the year for e-commerce to soar. Online sales increased by 15.1% on Cyber Monday and a whopping 21.6% on Black Friday.
But due to COVID-19, online sales were a given, weren’t they? Of course more people were shopping online in a year when in-person shopping was not just less available, but potentially dangerous. And while this is definitely true, that doesn’t mean that the e-commerce trend is going anywhere. This year, online spending increased, overall, by 37.1% in Q3 2020 versus Q3 2019 — almost $1 out of every $5 in the US was spent online. However, most years see at least a 1% increase in e-commerce penetration into the retail market. When you consider that means millions of dollars in more spending online each year, that steady 1% increase is no joke!
One big way of knowing that e-commerce is not just sticking around, but is an important investment in your business, is by looking at Facebook. The social media giant is always on the lookout for new online trends and then investing in the ones with the most lasting power. From developing business pages to its purchase of WhatsApp and Instagram, Facebook has always tried to stay ahead of the trends, or to later capitalize on any trends it might have missed. Well, this year, Facebook launched Shops — its new e-commerce in-app platform. This leads us to believe that Facebook knows how big e-commerce is going to be in the coming years and is setting Shops up to compete with other e-commerce giants like Shopify and Amazon. Shops launched in spring of 2020 — again showing that Facebook wanted to get on the e-commerce bandwagon even before the pandemic hit. Facebook is encouraging businesses to put their catalogs online through their platform and to use their commerce manager in the same way that businesses use their business manager to gather customer data and create ads.
Now, all businesses know that one of the keys to good, in-person sales is personalization. And that is just plain hard to do online through a website. One way to really personalize content for your audience is through ads — sending specific products to your customers based on the data you collect from them. With Shops, Facebook has now created another way to personalize the shopping experience: dynamically featured products. Similar to dynamic content in ads, dynamically featured products will show Shop users products that they are most likely to purchase from your business. This is an easy way for small businesses to take advantage or personalization options when other platforms might be too expensive if not completely out of reach.
Whether or not you personally choose to use Shops for your business, it is still important for all businesses to have an online presence and options for their customers. The e-commerce trend in shopping isn’t going anywhere, and quite frankly, if you choose not to be a part of it, you will get left behind.
If you want to move your business online, but aren’t sure where to start, schedule a free consultation with Humble & Hustle Studios to see how we can help you.
Or, if you are ready to put in the work to take your business online yourself, and just need a little guidance, check out our Bricks to Bytes: Take Your Business Online course launching soon. With the skills and tools you get from this course, you’ll be empowered to open a new stream of business online, and to bring in revenue from a broader, more diverse audience.