2021 Amazon trends – Current trends and future predictions

As businesses face new challenges in this post-pandemic era, data is emerging on the winners and losers during the worldwide lockdown back in 2020. However, given that most of us were indoors throughout 2020,  e-commerce sales shot up by 32.1%  towards the final quarter of that year. Out of that overall increase, Amazon performed well above its competitors by increasing its  e-commerce sales to 38%. Increased sales equals to increased competition on the tech giant’s platform. But how will things pan out for 2021 Amazon trends and beyond? This is especially relevant if you are a seller on Amazon as you need to gear up your seller profile to meet the new competition and challenges in the coming years.

 
Growing ever so strongly, Amazon has been able to cement its place as the third-largest ad company in the United States which is also reflected here in the UK. The increased sales figures seen above are replicated in their ad revenue growth, which again suggests the rise in competition among sellers on the platform. So, what are the new trends on Amazon and what changes can you expect in the coming year? As Amazon Experts, we share our insider knowledge, so you can plan for the year ahead.

Current trends and how things might play out beyond 2021

First, let us find out the latest developments on the online marketplace and how things could change in the coming year.

Communication with buyers

Amazon has made changes to how sellers contact buyers by putting a limit on the number of messages a seller can send to a buyer. On top of that, sellers cannot comment on a review posted by the buyer as well. As we know, product or seller reviews are important because they affect the final purchasing decision of potential buyers.

Amazon has already introduced a ‘Request a Review’ button, which could mean that it could ultimately lead to the complete removal of the buyer-seller messaging option. Therefore, next year could see more limitations on how sellers interact with their buyers. The idea behind this restriction is to enhance the buyer experience and encourage the seller to provide superior service without reaching out to their buyers.

New branding features for store front end

Throughout 2020, Amazon showed a clear intention that they would like buyers to get to know their sellers. Accordingly, Amazon has been sending free traffic to your storefront enabling buyers to browse all your items within your Amazon store page. We predict that this trend will only continue to gain momentum with more competition through paid traffic.

To be successful, a seller needs to optimise and design the storefront to convert the visitor into a paying customer. Having a well-designed store also enables you to sell other items in your store that the buyer was not necessarily interested in when they first visited the page. Therefore, 2021 and the coming years might see a growth in sales taking place right from the seller’s storefront.

Merge with social media

It is no secret that Facebook has introduced stores on their partner platforms of WhatsApp and Instagram on top of the FB marketplace. And with the new kid on the block, TikTok is set to add fuel to the competition on selling on social media. Being a futuristic tech firm, Amazon is well aware of the implication on the growth of social media and the buyer behaviour on those platforms. According to official data, 37% of users in the US made a purchase using social media.

The future of eCommerce is on social media, so Amazon sellers need to keep a close eye on how things will play out in 2021. Social media might not be a sales funnel anymore as we could potentially see Amazon introduce their own way of integrating into a social platform to influence buyer behaviour.

More buyer engagement

Going hand in hand with social media outreach, the tech giant has already introduced Amazon Live Stream. It allows sellers to promote their products live to customers worldwide. These live streams are featured on the main pages of products that support Fire TV – so reaching new customers has never been easy. However, to be featured on the main page requires a great deal of work. Video ads, editorial recommendations (both inside and outside of Amazon) and sponsored brand ads are a few requirements for you to secure a place on Fire TV’s home page.

To secure your spot, you will need to register the brand. Start by designing a storefront showcasing your products, which demonstrates your brand identity excellently in every image and word. The next thing to focus on is to expand your sales content by creating posts and Amazon Live sessions, which could lead more customers to that storefront. The whole idea behind these techniques is to bring buyer awareness and attract more store visitors. To make a successful impact in 2021 and beyond, you will need to achieve some of these strategies in your seller central and store front end.

Stay abreast with ads

It is no secret that behind Amazon’s success is the data it harvests from users. And with their advertising, a cut of those data is shared with sellers who choose to pay for ads on the platform. In short, a seller can see how effective every pound they spend is. This is because the tech giant has more than two decades of real-life data and analytics on the actual buying habits of consumers. These are not predictions or patterns, but actual figures derived from the pounds spent on the platform. According to one commentator from the Financial Times, a seller can see the entire transaction for them to understand the value of just $1.

Although Amazon is relatively new to advertising when compared with Google and Facebook, many industry experts predict that Pay Per Click (PPC) on the marketplace might introduce new features at a rapid pace to bring itself in line with the other two competitors.

There are many different initiatives introduced by Amazon to improve advertising quality and performance. These are likely to include the increased ability to use headlines, images and off-Amazon targeting. According to other experts, there are improvements in ad reporting and analytics in the pipeline. On top of that, Amazon is more likely to increase ad campaign optimisation for sellers to streamline their ad spend. Similarly, there will be more emphasis on seller objectives such as brand awareness, conversion rates and gaining more followers on the Amazon store. 2021 will see more improved targeting of buyers that would enable sellers to identify customers’ demographics, location and interests. As mentioned above, there is room for off-platform advertising to bring buyers on to Amazon.

Conclusion

Kangaroo UK has helped so many sellers worldwide to bring the best out of their seller account on Amazon. If you would like to know more about these changes subscribe to our bitesize tips (above) or would like to prepare your account to face these upcoming changes, why not get in touch with our Amazon friendly team.