It would be great if the pandemic turns out to be the start of the long-awaited wave of innovation that the healthcare sector needs. As long as people are at the center, we really feel that it can be a positive change. Let’s hope that 2021 will prove to be a leap in the right direction!
5. E-commerce: video first
Video is huge – and about to get even bigger. The current role that video platforms like YouTube and TikTok play in ecommerce still feels a bit old school. However, if we look at Asian ecommerce trends as an indication of our future direction, we can see that all of this is about to change. Big time. Short video clips are the future of ecommerce, and we’ll be shopping on video apps very soon.
In the West, the most common business model for video platforms is still advertising-based. Currently, e-commerce platforms view video platforms as traffic generators. However, in Asia, the short-form video format (think TikTok and Instagram, and more recently YouTube) has ushered in a new era of native e-commerce. Retailers have successfully started using video apps as a platform. Not just for entertainment, but also for shopping.
For example, on Taobao, China’s largest e-commerce platform, 42% of product pages already feature short videos, and live streaming is growing rapidly. The share of revenue the company generates from sales via live streaming is growing exponentially. It’s no surprise that short videos via apps like TikTok and Instagram have already proven to be the next frontier for e-commerce in the US and EU. All of this is fueled by the rise of native shopping options and smart integrations with popular third-party platforms.
video campaign, a digital trend
6. Business: The Second Wave of D2C
One of the biggest shifts the Internet has brought to business over the past decade is that nearly every company has become a direct-to-consumer (D2C) company. By vertically integrating their value chain, they gain more control (and if they do it right, better margins). Or, in layman’s terms, they cut out the middle man.
Going “direct” is much more than just “selling online.” Winning at a direct strategy requires winning over your audience by setting new industry standards for customer experience. And that strategy can only work if you’re truly willing to redefine your internal capabilities, your business setup, and your tech stack.
For example, what Spotify and Netflix did for entertainment. What Nespresso did for coffee. What WarbyParker (or its European counterpart Ace & Tate) did for eyewear. And what Peleton does for fitness. They combine their product with clever complementary digital services, creating a winning combination. And leaving users begging for more.
Shift to D2C model
We’ve all seen this shift, especially in consumer products. Initially, it started with new “digital native” companies using digital channels to disrupt their verticals and gain direct access to their end users. However, over the past few years, we’ve seen several initially “non-digital” companies and industries move toward this model.
In recent releases, Disney has skipped theaters and premiered directly on their own channel, Disney Plus.
With Tesla, there is no network of cheap car dealers involved. You order online, visit their offline showroom, and pick up your car from the Tesla parking lot.
Our prediction: 2021 will be the perfect time to open up industries that haven’t yet gone “direct.” Because every whatsapp number list time consumers embrace new ways of interacting with businesses, new opportunities arise for “direct” businesses.
7. Social+ (social media strikes back)
In just a few years, social platforms have gone from being a happy, magical place for human connection – to being framed as the digital equivalent of the devil. In light of this, we shouldn’t expect anything positive from ‘social’ in 2021, or should we?
If you look beyond the headlines, you’ll see some pretty exciting “social” innovation coming. Investors have dubbed this trend “Social+,” referring to a new generation of social networks built around a single theme or category. Tiktok is one example you’re probably familiar with – others include Fortnite, Minecraft, and Pinduoduo. Social+ companies take a single category (say, gaming, music – or even shopping) and build an integrated social experience around it.
What makes these Social+ communities so interesting is that they work fundamentally differently. Social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter are built on a traditional advertising-based business model. A model that only works by selling a huge amount of user data to eager advertisers (and the same model that has come under increasing criticism in recent years ).
These new emerging players don’t even compare to the existing social giants in scale, user penetration or hyper-personalized targeting capabilities. And they don’t want to.
We are keeping an eye on developments and are curious to see if our predictions come true in 2021!