Not many people say they had a great time during 2020. The COVID event was disastrous for most of us and it forced us to adapt to new realities and normalities. As happens with many things in life, we learn from past experiences no matter how bad they are. And that’s exactly what business owners in all industries did. According to now well-established data, eCommerce growth was pushed ten years into the future by the unbelievable demand for online products and services caused by the preventive measures taken to protect our loved ones.
However, something extremely remarkable happened when governments finally loosened up the restrictions: the eCommerce and the gaming industries continued to grow at a pace that is way faster than pre-pandemic levels, and they don’t seem to be slowing down.
However, these are industries that are extremely hard to define given the way they interact with other important sectors of the economy.
Take the gaming industry, for example. During the worst part of the pandemic, the World Health Organization identified games as one of the recommended hobbies that people could adopt when coping with isolation and the anxiety generated by the situation. That resulted in an increased demand for gaming PCs and smart devices. Consoles also experienced an uptick, as well as digital rights management services, such as Steam, Uplay, and BattleNet.
However, everyone seems to only associate the gaming industry with digital products and consoles. There is another niche that also saw a huge increase in demand. Tabletop games saw a surge in demand as well. This was across the board, and categories like card games, deckbuilding, board games, abstract games, and even classics were bought in record numbers during the pandemic.
Related industries like action figures and vinyl figures manufacturers also saw their sales go up. You could even see Funko Pops being sold at your closest 7-Eleven store or FedEx post office. These are indeed weird times.
So, stores dedicated to selling recreational products flourished online too. Today, we see a lot of online businesses dedicated to selling computer components. System integrators function now as boutique PC stores where customers browse through a selection of computer parts and compare performance, allowing them to understand how each component affects performance and budget. As soon as they click the Buy Now button, the staff puts together the components and ships the finished product.
There was also an explosion of online stores specialized in hobbies and “geek” products. It is amazing how popular and competitive they are, and how loyal the audience can become if a proper marketing or gaming SEO strategy is put in place.
Many of these stores are hosted on eCommerce platforms due to the convenience they bring to the table. However, given the razor-thin margins these competitive industries usually experience, BigCommerce seems to be taking the lead by offering no transaction fees in purchases inside the US. They also have an extremely intuitive content syndication system that gives business owners the ability to easily create multichannel campaigns and reach their audiences no matter where they are. That helps them cover a lot more ground and boost the efficiency of their marketing efforts.
While these industries continue to grow, competition has become fierce. Only those who understand the power of eCommerce marketing or BigCommerce SEO services will be able to dominate the computer and tabletop gaming industry. 1Digital Agency has an in-house team of eCommerce SEO experts that administer Shopify and BigCommerce SEO services and marketing experts with extensive experience in the gaming and recreation industry. Visit their website today, and find out more about their successful campaigns in this field.
