These figures are from PowerRetail in Australia and they state

In FY 2021 online goods spend grew  30.8% YOY growth in online goods, equating to $52.1 billion. That means that spending online is now 16.3% of total retail, up from 11.3% in 2019.

The latest COVID-19 lockdowns meant that this August was the busiest parcels month in Australia Post's history.

Power Retail is forecasting eCommerce revenue to grow 17% on top of the record CY20. While lockdowns caused volatility in income, the online surge we saw in CY20 has had long-term impacts, shifting shopper behaviour online in a more permanent way.

Natasha Sholl, Insights Editor at Power Retail, said, "What we've seen since the outset of the pandemic is that lockdowns may push people online, but they're here to stay. Even when restrictions were lifted earlier in 2021, e-commerce revenue continued to grow. This clear shift in consumer behaviour has meant that those who never shopped online before are becoming confident in the digital space, and those who 'sometimes' shopped online are becoming repeat purchasers. The pandemic has also broadened the demographic of the online shopper, whether that is related to age, location, or occupation. Retailers need to revisit their 'target' market, because since 2020, it has expanded exponentially."

So what can we learn from this?

The modern buyer is online

They are comfortable buying online and while this is B2C (Business to consumer), these buyers will bring there online buying attitude to B2B (business to business).

As a business having a digital salesforce is a business imperative.

I'm not talking a "digital hope" policy where you try and cobble something together with "hints and tips" sessions and hope and pracy somehow the salesforce work things out.

I'm talkabout about a proper digital strategy and methodology for sales and marketing created at the Board and driven from the Board.  It's the way business operates today.

So who's social selling?

In case you missed it, the Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch have banned cold calling and have moved all their people to social selling. This isn't some trendy tech company that might have decided to do this on a whim, this is a very conservative financial services company that has made a decision based on data.

But surely cold calling has a better ROI than social selling?  Not according to Merrill Lynch.

"They will also be encouraged to contact prospects over LinkedIn, which has a higher hit rate than cold calling"

The CRO (chief revenue officer), Richard Eltham of Namos Solutions, of one of clients posted a comment on LinkedIn about social selling. See here.

“Social selling is not an option now it is the way of the world and you either learn and execute it or fear getting left behind” 

Kevin Murray who is the Head of Sales at MacArtney Underwater Technology recently posted about his success with social selling here and wrote an article about the transformation that has happened in sales here.

Here at DLA Ignite we don't do "hints and tips sessions" we don't want you to waste your money. Our social selling and influence methodology will provide your sales team with the stable platform for growth. It is also the only social selling program based on 70:20:10 change management principles which gives your business the mindset change and habit change they need in this digital world.