Ecommerce has grown at an exponential rate in 2020. Much of the consumer economy shifted online due to the global pandemic, and the impact has been significant. A variety of industry pundits have noted that COVID-19 likely accelerated ecommerce adoption by five years. This wave continued into the early days of the holiday shopping season. Shopify, an ecommerce software company, reported its merchants sold $5.1 Billion worth of goods from Black Friday to Cyber Monday. That’s a 76% increase from last year. In addition, BigCommerce, another ecommerce platform, says their users sold 74% more than in 2019.

It’s unlikely this trend will reverse going into 2021. Even if countries start to get ahead of the pandemic, the appeal and ease of online shopping are here to stay. With this in mind, retailers need to start planning how they will grow and protect this part of their business in the new year. The rise in sales means more data, and all this data is critical for running an online brand.