Shopify releases latest report! Revealing new growth points for DTC brands going global in 2022

It is learned that in the past two years, the global e-commerce market has flourished, bringing huge market opportunities to enterprises. Recently, Shopify and Forrester Consulting Company jointly released the "2022 Future Business Report", which revealed new growth points in the global e-commerce industry in the next few years.

The online shopping wave has further consolidated the dominance of large e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, and supply chain issues and intensified competition mean that resistance to e-commerce growth will begin to emerge in the coming years.

The Shopify report reveals two key facts about the e-commerce ecosystem in the coming years.

Rising customer acquisition costs

The report points out that the biggest challenge facing independent brand sellers in the future will be customer acquisition. With the intensified competition among DTC brands and the increase in advertising costs, the cost of acquiring customers will continue to rise.

The report states that while the global market is expected to grow by nearly $11 trillion between 2021 and 2025, this growth has also attracted a large number of competitors as the barriers to online buying and selling continue to decrease. Platforms including Shopify, Wix and Squarespace allow individual sellers to be on par with large companies in terms of technology.

In addition, the return on investment for advertising is falling. As privacy laws limit marketers’ ability to target ads and consumers become more adept at blocking out ads, it’s becoming harder to get a higher return on ad spending.

In the second and third quarters of 2021 alone, the cost per click on paid search ads for Shopify merchants increased by 15%.

Focus on long-term brand building

To combat rising customer acquisition costs, Shopify’s report recommends that brands focus less on short-term returns and more on long-term brand building, a strategy that will help combat declining return on advertising investment.

The report specifically recommends a 60/40 split between long-term brand building and short-term performance marketing, which requires marketers to think outside of traditional channels, especially to engage new audiences in the earliest stages of purchase.

The report also states that in 2022, 52% of consumers are more likely to purchase from brands that share their values.

Overall, competition in the global e-commerce market has become fierce, but the overall prosperity of online shopping continues. Successful sellers will be those who are good at channel layout and prioritize building brands with a wider audience, rather than focusing only on short-term performance marketing.

Editor ✎ Xiao Zhu/

Disclaimer: This article is copyrighted and may not be reproduced without permission.