There’s no faster way to lose customers than by boring them! Customers crave new experiences that excite and surprise them. Staying on top of emerging trends can help you, as a direct sales consultant, stand out from the crowd and gain a competitive advantage.
As an online party platform, we often get an early glimpse at new direct sales technologies, changes in customer preferences, and emerging industry-specific strategies. Here are some of the hot direct selling trends for 2021 that you may want to consider in your business.
Continued Growth in Online Shopping
The trend towards online shopping has been growing for a number of years, and it isn’t showing signs of slowing down. In fact, experts are expecting global e-commerce sales to grow by more than 26% in 2021. Even those who naturally prefer in-person shopping learned to embrace the shift to shopping on their phones and computers during the long period of Covid restrictions. The ease and convenience of digital shopping has never been more apparent. Plus, there have never been more consumers willing to accept it.
If you’ve focused on in-person shopping and aren’t already connecting with customers through online shopping, now is the time to make that switch! This will broaden your sales network and allow you to reach even more customers, who can be spread out over a much wider geographical area than just your home turf.
While offering online shopping can provide a big boost to business, it’s also important to remember that ease-of-purchase is a key factor in closing a sale. With digital shopping being offered by more stores than ever, consumers will be exposed to a number of shopping opportunities online. It’s a good idea to take a look at your purchasing process and make sure that you have streamlined it to make shopping simple and quick. Simply posting a shopping link or party link, or even posting links to specific products, doesn’t offer the convenience that customers have come to expect.
Video Fatigue
Consumers are spending more time online in general, and not just for shopping. With the rush in 2020 to move the workplace and schoolroom to a virtual environment, many consumers found themselves spending far more time on Zoom and other teleconferencing platforms than before. This has led to a growing amount of “Zoom fatigue” and the ripple effect is now being seen in direct sales as well. Many consultants are finding it harder to get customers to attend their direct sales parties or tune into their social media lives.
While this may sound discouraging, the solution is simple! As a direct sales consultant, you can look for ways to provide a virtual shopping experience that is more engaging, more interactive, and more memorable. This will help to generate interest in your online party, capture your customers’ attention for longer, and ultimately help you to close more sales.
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Age Trends in Social Media
Social media continues to be a leading strategy for reaching new markets and attracting new customers. While shopping online is strong among all age groups, the younger demographic is the one that’s showing the biggest increase in online shopping. Survey results show that two-thirds of consumers aged 18-34 report spending more money online than they did prior to the pandemic.
The challenge for many direct sellers is staying connected to all demographic age groups, given that they are not spread equally across one single social media channel. You can see this age demographic spread with a quick run-down on the largest age group among many of the most popular social media sites:
- SnapChat: 13-34
- YouTube: 15-25
- TikTok: 18-24
- Facebook: 25-34
- Instagram: 25-34
- Pinterest: 30-49
- Twitter: 30-49
- LinkedIn: 46-55
To target a wide age range, direct sales consultants will need to find a way to bridge audiences split across several different platforms.
A Bridging Solution
One solution that direct sales consultants can use to bridge multiple social media audiences is Sqweee. You can target your audiences in different social media channels and then bring them together for a single interactive shopping event on Sqweee. Guests won’t need to create an account or download an app to attend an event on Sqweee. Just a single event link provides easy access to the party regardless of which social media channel the guest prefers.
You can also use Sqweee to help combat Zoom fatigue and general online party burnout by offering a unique, interactive experience. As guests attend your event, they’ll have frequent opportunities to engage with the event through interactive posts, polls, and by building their own personalized lists of favorite products. Plus, with only pre-recorded video, Sqweee lets you interact with your customers without feeling the pressure to be camera-ready and on stage.
Embracing Direct Sales Trends
Alfred E. Perlman said, “After you’ve done a thing the same way for two years, look it over carefully. After five years, look at it with suspicion. And after ten years, throw it away and start all over.”
When it comes to business, this advice rings especially true. If you’re still running your shopping events the same way you did five years ago, it’s time to look again! By considering new trends in direct sales, you can ensure that your business remains fresh, current, and successful.
