The way people discover brands is changing, and the companies that are up to date will win. To meaningfully connect with your customers, you have to understand how they buy and how to find them.
The way companies create and grow is going to be totally different from what has been seen before. We have already perceived Huge change in the way people discover brands: the shift to TV, the shift to search, the shift to mobile, and the shift to social media. Companies that have opted for changing customer behavior have achieved a considerable competitive advantage over the rest. Now, a new change is taking place. A generational change that is marking the arrival of a new era in marketing and commerce.
The most successful companies will be those that recognize this change, that they see it as an opportunity and that they invest before the competition to gain market share.
Changes in the way you buy
COVID-19 has played an important role in this new development. Although we were forced to physically isolate ourselves during the lockdown, we learned to maintain and create new connections using technology. As we begin to reconnect with the real world, many of these new forms of connection are still in place, making each of us more connected than ever before. This new perspective has affected where and how people shop.
where people spend their time
In the last decade, there has been a change in how people use their time. In 2020, more than 50% of adults’ time in business settings was digital, as older people were forced to experiment with mobile and digital technology. 1
The valuation of the market places has grown by 70% on average, and some areas have experienced higher growth; for example, the market places of the sector of fashion has increased by 142%.two There has also been growth in distribution companies What amazonwhich reached 4 billion visitors in March 2020, more than eBay, Apple, Walmart and Rakuten combined.3 The digital purchase it has become the default choice for customers, who find delivery, choice and the purchase journey easier and more reliable. This means that companies have been forced to go directly to the customerpowered by trading technologies such as Shopifywhich recorded a gross sales value of 160,000 million dollars in 2021.4
how people buy
The social commerce has had a huge impact on these trends, and has caught up with the use of retailers’ websites.5
People buy more than ever online and on social networks. More than 50% of Spaniards, 23.8 of the 47.32 million inhabitants, buy online on a regular basis6. People are also spending more time on shopping apps. For example, in Germany, people spent 45% more time on shopping apps in June 2021 than in June 2020.7 And not only that, but they buy more and more often.7
What does this mean for the future of business?
For companies to be successful, they will need to understand how people discover their products. Social networks have become the number one channel to discover products and companies: 40% of people discover brands through social networks, 38% through search and 35% through television.8 When people discover products on social networks, they do so by chance, because ddiscover products that companies anticipate they will like. This is known as Discovery Commerce or “discovery online commerce”.
The Discovery Commerce collapse the marketing funnel, since people know a product or a brand before searching for it. It gives brands the opportunity to drive conversions at the top of the funnel, in the consideration phase, and send brand messages with every campaign at the bottom of the funnel. For this to work, companies have to predict what content and what product people will find most interesting.
It is important focus on signsie how people engage with your products through searches, views, app installs, purchases, and likes. With the help of AI and machine learning, people’s behavior can be understood to gain better insight what they like, what they might be looking for, where they are in the buying journey, and whether they’re going through a big life change, like moving or having kids.
How to be successful in business today
The distinction between brand and performance, marketing and commerce has blurred: mobile is the main screen for the audience, it works as a marketing channel and as a showcase. To get the most out of this platform, there are three key ways to build awareness for brands:
- drive discovery
Find the different touchpoints that drive product and brand discovery, such as a physical store, social networks, television or video, and think about how they can work better together. Bring these different aspects of digital, physical, and augmented commerce together, and work creatively to make the most of them using live, paid, and organic creator strategies. It is useful to measure this and set it around specific KPIs for the business, so you can see what is working and what is not.
It can monetize media touchpoints to ensure a frictionless experience from discovery to purchase. It doesn’t have to be boring: by creating personalized and entertaining content and campaigns, brands can be brought to life. You can also add value to the customer journey long after they’ve purchased a product by implementing messaging to diversify your offering and keep customers loyal and connected.
- Customize the approach
With changes in the way people discover products, the brands that succeed will be the ones with lots of first-hand data, since they will better understand the behavior of consumers. This means that they will be able to deliver the most relevant ads to people with the highest level of interest. Customer data can ensure marketing effectiveness in the long run, especially when tied to ad signals, organic content, and sales.
The trading landscape is changing and opens a new horizon of possibilities. Companies need to be future-proofed to deliver sustainable and effective profits and create deeper, more personal connections with their audience.
References
- Global Web Index from Q1 2013 to Q1 2020
- Data from Google Finance for August 2021, dealroom.co
- “Amazon Had 4bn Visitors in March, more than eBay, Apple, Walmart, Rakuten Combined”, by Justinas Baltrusaitis, April 2020, https://learnbonds.com/news/amazon-had-4bn-visitors-in-march-more-than-ebay-apple-walmart-rakuten-combined/
- Shopify Company Report 2021
- Kantar Sep 2021
- Spanish e-commerce infographic developed by the digital marketing agency Sud Digital
- App Annie State of Mobile 2020 Report
- Social media marketing trends in 2021, https://www.gwi.com/reports/social