Eight consumer insights that could underpin strategies in 2021 from Collective
So we (finally) find ourselves in 2021. A new year and an opportunity to reset and take a moment to learn from the challenges we all faced in 2020.

It would be wrong to predict what may come to fruition this year, but after speaking with marketers, fellow agency partners and consultancies, we’ve distilled our thinking into eight points that could underpin your marketing strategy in 2021.

1. Mind the gap: Digital needs to bridge the growing gap between the online and physical customer experience. 57% of consumers say they want help visualising how products would look in their own environments to deliver more tangibility when they can’t visit a store.

2. Your flagship store becomes your online store: Maybe your brand has no physical stores or you’ve had to make a difficult decision to close some of them. If you’re an e-commerce business, you have the opportunity to treat your online store as your flagship store. That means enhanced user experience via real-time product rendering and visualisation, 3D interaction, dynamic product search and much more.

3. Embrace a new wave of influencer: We see it as people of influence over generic influencers that connect with genuine moments in your life and address personal and environmental issues. It’s less about their following and more about their values.

4. Restrictions continue to reduce consumer purchase confidence: Live shopping channels have always been appealing to some generations, however social livestreams will play a role in building consumer purchasing confidence to see and experience products that are endorsed by people of influence on behalf of brands.

5. Don’t forget the boomers: The assumption that social media, especially emerging channels are limited to millennials and Gen Z could be harmful to your brand and online community. 70% of internet users aged 55-64 say they’ve bought something online in the past month and 37% are planning to continue doing so more frequently when the pandemic is over.

6. Social commerce continues to play a prominent role in the purchase funnel: Shoppable features will be used more on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. TikTok has also partnered with Shopify to integrate the ability to quickly activate in-feed shoppable video ads.

7. TikTok continues to dominate the social space: Everyone has become a content creator. With this rise in unique user generated content, brands have the opportunity to collaborate with these creators to deliver a different perspective that is far more relatable.

8. The rise of Immersive Commerce: Digital commerce has yet to replicate a key aspect of the in-store experience. In a store, consumers can touch and try products before buying them. These interactions help people determine the quality, craftsmanship, dimensions and fit to know if a product meets their needs and expectations.