The Future of E-commerce globally in next 5 years
E-commerce has revolutionised the way business used to happen a few decades ago. The ease of buying and selling goods can be comfortably credited to online shopping.
There’s been an average growth of 25.6% in ecommerce sales from 2014 – 2017 but 2018 alone saw an increase of 23.3% in ecommerce sales when compared to 2017. Ecommerce is booming, and it has been for a while.
Building on the established basics in a steady and incremental manner the next 5 years promise progress that’s evolutionary. It’s an industry that is constantly improvising the way people in every corner of the globe transact.
The following predictions make the future of ecommerce exciting:
- Device usage will gain importance: The smartphone is rapidly gaining popularity as the default buying device. The credit for this goes to one click buying and ease of use. As per current trends, it is being forecasted mobile buying will account for over 60% of ecommerce purchasing in 2023. In response to, an estimated 45% of commerce decisions being made on mobile by 2020, retailers will have to reshape their processes to be mobile-first (improving upon mobile-responsive). There will be a need for more dedicated retail apps, more cross-platform integrations, more personalization, automation of marketing processes, expanded opportunities of social media channels and improved conversational commerce.
- Voice Commerce/ V-Commerce will boom with Voice-enabled devices like the Amazon Echo, Google Home and Apple HomePod, reaching majority of households in the next couple of years. Advancements in the field of Natural Language Processing (NLP) will enable processing of voice commands perfectly and placing orders through these devices. This will make shopping for everyday items a lot easier.
- Internet-of-Things Commerce/IoT-Commerce is bound to come up as an even bigger advancement. From refrigerators, air conditioners, washing machines to lights are connected to the internet. All these are being programmed to scan the requirement of complementing products and automatically order products that are required. E.g.: A refrigerator maintains the data of all products required by the owner for a set duration, scans and whenever that product is running low, automatically re-orders those products.
- Personalization is going to be the key: Customers prefer personalization in their shopping experiences rather than algorithms messaging them.
- Augmented Reality/ AR allows a prospective customer to virtually place items in their home using a smartphone and buy it after judging its appearance, usage and viability in their existing setup. They get beyond retail experience without needing to visit any store. Amazon AR view, Ikea Place app and ARKit by iPhone are apps that already help consumers visualize how products will look in their homes or on them.By 2023, it would be a standard practice for an ecommerce retailer to provide customers with a facility to preview items through AR.
- Virtual Reality/VR may also start gaining momentum as ecommerce retailers have already startred setting up temporary locations with high-end VR equipment to showcase their products. VR hardware has yet to find a solid place in the mainstream, as not many ecommerce retailers see the value in investing in VR productions.
- Physical Stores will get a new avatar: Instead of functioning as a traditional retail store or a real-life version of the online stores, brick-and-mortar locations already seem to be switching towards offering unique shopping experiences. Major brands like Nike & Myntra are coming up with brand-new experiential shopping stores, which are supposedly the future of retail locations. These stores feature several elements to engage customers like exclusive products, customized products, fitness tests, sneak peek into brand-new products, touch interface to showcase the intricate details of products and insight into the making of the brand's merchandise. These stores provide customers exclusive experiences that cannot be found elsewhere and showcase the brand in a whole new light.
- Interactive Product Visualization will be the best showcase: While we were once satisfied with high-quality images of products, today’s technology lets us use virtual reality, 3D imaging, augmented reality, and more to interact with a product from the comfort of our laptop or smartphone. Even ecommerce product videos have evolved to be more engaging. What was once a cheesy infomercial has transformed into an immersive, 360-degree online shopping experience.
- Tapping potential of emerging markets: Its estimated that around 3 billion potential buyers from emerging markets like India, China, Brazil, Russia, and South Africa will have access to the internet by 2022. It’s also expected that 20 percent of all retail sales in 2022 will come from buyers who currently reside in those emerging markets. There are a lot of opportunities available for new ecommerce brands to pop up within those emerging markets, and tailor their services towards local audiences.
Interactive product visualization technology seeks to bring the tangible in-store experience to online consumers and alleviate their hesitation prior to purchasing.Video is fast becoming the most favoured way to shop online which offers clarity and insight into the product and the seller. Research has already found that 60 percent of shoppers would rather watch a product video than read a product description when they’re shopping.
In addition, 64% of shoppers make a purchase after watching branded social videos.
These changes in shopping behaviors could be due to the evolution of popular social media apps like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, which have all pushed updates (think Instagram Stories) which prioritize video content Or, it could be due to the wide array of massively successful YouTube channels which focus on unboxing, reviewing, and critiquing brand new products. Combine those two factors, and it’s no surprise that buyers are becoming more and more accustomed to consuming video content during their shopping process.
Mobile based Marketing: Content marketing is forecasted to become even more effective at capturing an audience’s attention, with 78% of buyers claiming that relevant content increases their purchase intent.
These are experiences that you simply cannot get online, and go a long way in solidifying loyalty to their brand. As buyers become more and more familiar with browsing and making purchases on their mobile devices, it’s essential that businesses learn to optimize their marketing campaigns for mobile too.
AI, Assistants, and Chatbots
In 2019, robots will invade ecommerce stores. Well, robots such as chatbots and artificial intelligence (AI) designed to enhance a customer’s overall shopping experience.
AI assistants can handle a number of tasks typically assigned to a human, such as managing inventory or handling inquiries. These digital assistants carry out various processes, freeing up time for you to focus on other aspects of running the business.
For instance, chatbots can fulfill a number of customer service needs, from answering questions about a product to discussing a complaint. AI and chatbots also learn from customer conversations and evolve to better assist in a user’s personalized ecommerce experience.
Sorry Americans, delivery drones and automated package delivery are not in the five-year plan. On the flip side, both China and Japan are ahead of the game, with drone deliveries already in the works or being tested. In fact, June 2017 marks Japan’s goal for setting plans to have drones, automated trucks, and better AI up and running by 2020. The plans also include free education systems that would appeal to lower-income citizens who can then tackle these growing industries. This is particularly important as Japan has a dwindling workforce, so much so that their largest traditional parcel shipper, Yamato Holdings Co, has had to reduce services while increasing rates.
China’s version of Amazon, JD.com, is currently delivering goods by drone. Additionally, the company was recently approved to begin delivering products with a ship weight of up to 2000 pounds in one part of the country.
