February showed strong indications of change in the eCommerce industry. Established retailers rethought their customer journey, once-promising brands showed signs of faltering, and tech titans began to experiment with new ways of delivering ads to their billions of users.

Bizrate Insights was featured in all of these stories and more this month:

• Rising competition is a constant factor in eCommerce, and CMOs are increasing marketing budgets to compensate. Email marketing, a focus for 2020, has long been a top priority, with 82% of retailers naming it one of their top conversion strategies.
  • Digital Commerce 360, “Chief marketing officers plan to spend more on digital marketing in 2020.” February 17, 2020.

• No online retailer can survive without a strong loyalty program. Zappos, the online shoe and clothing brand, revamped and relaunched its customer VIP program in Q3 2019 in an effort to strengthen customer relationships and ultimately increase revenue. The most important change: offering fast, free shipping to members.
  • Digital Commerce 360, “Customer service drives loyalty for Amazon-owned Zappos.” February 18, 2020.

• 87% of Instagram users have used the Stories feature so far, but only 4% of Facebook users have done so, according to a recent Bizrate Insights survey. To help encourage adoption and make Stories more viable on the direct response-focused Facebook, a new Discovery page is being tested.
  • Business Insider, “Facebook is experimenting with a new iteration of its Stories discovery page.” February 21, 2020.

• Nearly every decision an eCommerce manager makes is to help improve overall conversion. Digital Commerce 360 has compiled a list of five tips to help retailers boost conversion rates, supported by Bizrate Insights data on customer reviews and product descriptions.
  • Digital Commerce 360, “5 tips to boost conversion on marketplaces.” February 21, 2020.

• Meal kit services have fallen drastically in popularity in the last few years, and one of the market leaders, Blue Apron, is seeking additional funding to help keep itself afloat. What explains the drop in annual sales? According to a recent Bizrate Insights survey, 54% of consumers who cancelled their meal kit subscription did so because it was too expensive.
  • Digital Commerce 360, “Meal-kit retailer Blue Apron seeks new capital or buyout offer.” February 21, 2020.

Consumer sentiment, and loyalty, is changing rapidly. Online meal kit services were incredibly popular just a few years ago, but now supermarkets have began offering their own version of convenient meal kits. eCommerce brands succeed by adapting to these changes but only time will tell if they can innovate fast enough to keep up with consumer expectations.