As a Marketer, I believe it is crucial to learn more from people than from books. The fast-paced marketing ecosystem makes it a necessity for us to learn and adapt to new trends and consumer needs, as the way they discover and buy new products changes rapidly.

What is the future like, seen by participants at the Facebook Marketing Summit EMEA 2021?

Several trends stand out:

• The shift to digital commerce is permanent, following a 54% growth in total internet retail sales value (Jan 2020 vs. Jan 2021). Consumers are moving from `going shopping` to `always shopping`. This raises questions, as well as potential challenges for big and small brands.
• Major brands decided to go digital and go direct, with 40% growth for Nike and 30% for L`Oreal (Jan 2020 vs. Jan 2021)
• Shoppers buy more from new markets, reporting a 38% of online shoppers buying products shipped from another country
• Social is the number 1 discovery platform, with 47% of shoppers typically learning about new products and brands from Social Media, followed by 45% from TV and 34% search, with a decreasingly lower influence from channels like word of mouth (29%), brand websites (27%), retail websites (26%), mobile apps (23%), In-store (22%), pre-roll online video (19%), posters (16%), print (16%), radio (13%), music streaming (12%) and podcasts (11%).
• Subscription demand increase during COVID-19 is likely to stay, with VOD (+53%), music (+33%), grocery (+30%), meals (+20%), Information, software, and storage (+20%).
• Consumers are ready to unleash savings and treat themselves. Net spending intention for the next 12 months shows 5 top priorities: eating out (+32%), holidays (+27%), going out (+25%), fashion (+16%), improving home (+9%).
• Consumers are embracing digital tools that allow them to connect with the brand. Social media has heightened consumer expectations around brand interaction with 82%.
• The most successful marketing campaigns combine immersive opportunities with the messenger to drive personalized service:
  • 100 M messages sent per day by businesses using the WhatsApp Business API
  • Total daily conversations between customers and businesses over Messenger and Instagram grew by more than 40% during 2020
  • More than 3M advertisers are using „Click-to-Message” adds to direct people to Messenger
  • 29% of EMEA holiday shoppers say they are more likely to consider purchasing from a business they can message

As it was expected, during the COVID – 19 pandemic, people have changed massively the way they live, work, consume and shop, and central to these changes has been technology. Brands and consumers adapted to the pandemic, with an eye to what is next.

The question remains: which consumer behaviors will persist in a post-COVID world?