2021 Forecast

“Brand Purpose, easily dismissed as an abstract concept, has been one of the most useful tools during the crisis. It’s the interface through which business can help and serve the public.”

If there is one thing a lot of companies and brands have experienced over the last year, surely it must have been the immediate need to optimize their digital presence and adjust their customer experience journey to the new normal. 2021 will be the year in which the virtual customer experience economy – propelled by 2019-nCoV – will blossom and redefine the essence of customer relationship management.

We’ve seen the growth of online shopping and we expect the next step to be the trend of social shopping. Sellers streaming live has become the most common thing in China, much supported by 5G. We’ll see the stores evolving in nearly contactless interaction centers and at the same time online commerce will become more personal and more social. Will the future bring retail locations that feature media studios, hosted by entertainers and concierges to chaperon consumers into a digital experience in a storefront location?

Earlier this year, Facebook launched Facebook Shops – described by the company as a ‘place to experience the joy of shopping versus the chore of buying’ – where ecommerce finds entertainment by offering interactive browsing experiences, from product demos and virtual try-ons to live chats and group buying.

More and more brands host live streamed sessions on Instagram, YouTube or Facebook in which they attempt to sell a personal lifestyle and build a different type of long term customer relation by successfully connecting on much deeper and existential emotional levels. The old adage that you have to go where your audience is hasn’t changed. For some brands this meant exploring new media platforms beyond SnapChat like TikTok and boosting the production of their sharable media.

Still, if you’re looking for the best example of an all-in-one platform, WeChat remains the undisputed king of total integration. No other platform has such a seamless, frictionless experience at this scale and no other player in the social networks landscape will ever have the same permissions in terms of user data aggregation or available technological architecture. For more background on this, read WeChat is a superapp, and the list of features keeps growing year after year.

In line with the expected trends in video and social commerce, WeChat is betting BIG on community and media creation. Recently in beta, it allows you to create a store, manage subscriptions, live stream your content and process your sales – without ever leaving the app. If you would like to know more about the WeChat marketing engine, read this article.

At 4P square, we’re always on top of what’s happening. If you want to know how we see the future for your company, how we can help you grow and optimize your assets, don’t hesitate to get in touch. Let’s talk!

Miel Van Opstal is a former marketing manager of 4P square. He’s a change agent, shaping the future, standing at the crossroads of behavioural design, technology, digital marketing strategy and consumer psychology.