Think about how you used to shop for fashion and beauty three years ago. Has how you shop changed? Have your preferences changed? Most likely, your answer is a resounding yes.
The pandemic led to extraordinary changes in shopping preferences and accelerated the shopping tech available for consumers. Innovations like virtual and social shopping became the norm, and we saw a shift in preference from in-store to online shopping. In 2020, more than 1 million Aussies made online purchases for the first time. Two years later, we can see the pandemic was a huge turning point for e-commerce, and we aren’t looking back.
Online shopping is on the rise. So, how should retailers cater for these new shopping preferences? The vast majority (77 per cent) of shoppers believe that retailers must continuously invest in new technology to meet their evolving expectations. This is also reflected in shoppers’ behaviour. By the beginning of this year, 29 per cent of New Zealand shoppers had purchased a product after seeing it on social media, and 67 per cent did it directly from the platform.
So how can retailers stay at the forefront of these new shopping behaviours and reach the right audiences?
Tactics like word-of-mouth marketing can be used as social proof. Customers trust their peers, friends, and people they admire more than the companies selling the products and services they buy and use. Shoppers are looking for innovative online shopping experiences, to find the exact product that they are looking for. Social media has made it easier than ever to discover new trends and items and to find trusted products. Shoppers find both inspiration – and shopping opportunities. This is just one example of why influencer marketing works.
Historically, it used to require big in-house teams or expensive external third parties to manually find influencers, reach out, negotiate, track sales, analyse data and manage payouts. It could also be hard to keep up with what shoppers want. What’s the “next ‘it’ thing”? Retailers can now be empowered to find and work with high-performing influencers with a range of tools that make every step along the way more manageable.
Today, 46 per cent of shoppers in New Zealand say their shopping journey starts with the search engine, and 11 per cent say that it begins on social media. Today’s shoppers seek inspiration from trusted sources before purchasing a new product. Talking to family, friends and acquaintances could also be a determining factor, with 16 per cent of shoppers in New Zealand beginning their shopping journey there.
Not only do influencers seem to generate a lot of trust and demand, but according to Klarna’s latest Shopping Pulse Survey, social media itself has become a place for buying and selling. Shoppers no longer solely buy from influencers but brands directly. Influencers have a more significant impact than retailers on Gen Z; the opposite is true for older generations.
Many shoppers have changed their purchasing habits due to the pandemic, with more now turning to their mobile devices to carry out their shopping needs. Although much of the growth in mobile shopping compared to two years ago is Gen Z and Millennial-driven, this trend is reflective across demographics. And many believe they will use their mobile phones for shopping to a further extent in the future, with 60 per cent of shoppers in New Zealand saying they will use mobile shopping even more often.
Clearly, a new generation of shoppers is on the rise, and retailers must keep up to cater to these unique needs. Technology investments will be more critical than ever, especially for online sellers that don’t want to fall behind in the social media era with all the new channels that come with it.
Given the market shift and shopper preference, Klarna acquired an influencer marketing platform called APPRL in mid-2021, now called the ‘Klarna Creator Platform’. This technology, along with Klarna’s global network of +150 million engaged shoppers, allows us to help retailers of all sizes grow their businesses. Social shopping is on the rise globally. Make sure that you keep up with the next generation of shoppers.