The e-commerce industry has been evolving at a gradual pace ever since the 2000s and looking at the upward movement of the graph we know for sure that it is here to stay. The global e-commerce market has been steadily growing in the past few years with the market size being a US$2 trillion in 2019 and contriving a sale of US$634 billion in 2018. Among the major players in the world China has been headlining the e-commerce industry for most of time now, however there has been a major shift in the purchasing capacity from the US and European countries to the Southeast Asian, countries with rise in consumerism due to a rise in per capita income of the consumers, diffusion of better internet connectivity to dense parts and of course the availability of mobile phones at cheaper rates. So far China has been mastering the art of e-commerce trade however, with the advent and origination of the Corona virus in China, political impact may fall on its overseas e-commerce trade business.
With new and advanced trends and business techniques
evolving into the market every day, they need to be analyzed and adopted by
e-commerce businesses in its due course. These trends are the driving forces of
the businesses and lagging behind in the adaptation of such one might fall back
in competition. The competition in the online shopping businesses is much
steeper than in retail in respect of higher cost of advertisement, the ways of
web based purchase is looking at new arenas to explore. According to the data
prediction of 2020 the global e-commerce sales was to account for almost $4.2
trillion of 16% of total retail sales. Keeping up with the preserving
competition in both areas of back end efficiencies and front end conversion-optimizing
experiences the e-commerce business is looking forward to large scale
opportunities in 2020.
Trends to check out in 2020 and beyond:
Mobile shopping, shopping through mobile
apps, payment through customized mobile apps:
Mobile shopping has been the go to method of onlineshopping from the time of its very evolution. The rise in mobile shopping apps
and e-commerce trade through mobile phones have concurrently been on a rise
since the easier availability of mobile devices and internet connectivity has
been possible. Almost 87% of the world population make access to online
shopping sites through mobile phones and apps. This happens due to the long
time spent on mobile phones by users, and also because of the user friendly
interface provided by e-commerce websites for a better mobile experience.
Facilitation of payment through e-wallets have also been made possible for
better user experience with China leading the platform with almost 1 billion
users on Alipay.
Enhancement of reality shopping:
Augmented Reality (AR)
When it comes to online shopping the advent of
augmented reality feature has left no gap for inconclusiveness. This updated
feature can be found in most of the mainstream online shopping apps, it helps
the customer to compare the digital image of the product with the physicality
of its appearance. This feature is bound to attract customers as there I no
space for ambiguity with looks and appearances of the product being bought by
him. To cite an example, ‘Burrow’ which is a DTC furniture brand uses the ARKit
app which helps its customers to visualize a real life setting as to how the
product they are about to purchase might fit into their living rooms, or any
sitting area according to the choice of the buyer.
Rising expectations of more functioning
PWAs (Progressive Web Apps)
Progressive web apps are basically mobile websites
for e-commerce purpose with the look and feel of a mobile app. Major websites
like Facebook, Twitter, Gmail started off as PWAs paving the for successful
e-commerce development.A PWA ensures a well streamlined user friendly interface
which gives the exact resemblance and experience of an android mobile app or
iOS app when viewed in their respective devices, without actually having to
download apps in the phone. PWAs have existed a long time and in the e-commerce
business they’re becoming popular due to the catchy advertising present in
almost any search engine, site speed, navigability and functionality.
Expansion of voice search settings
A comprehensive surge in the voice search settings has
been replacing the more commercial ways of searching for a product by simply
typing the name into the search bar. People increasingly have started to depend
on Amazon’s Alexa and Google assistant as easier ways of web direction like use
it to check the weather forecast and nowadays even shop online. The voice
search setting which is gradually developing has a lot of untapped potential
and has given most households the comfort of making swift purchases by just
saying it out loud and not having to touch a single screen. Loop Ventures has
forecasted that almost 75% of the US households are to own a smart speaker by
2025.
Headless E-Commerce
Headless e-commerce are basically e-commerce
platforms that do not require a pre-designed storefront and thus the title of
‘headless’. This feature enables the creators to have total free control over
their storefronts spanning over a variety of channels inclusive of desktops,
mobile and social media. The data can be retrieved with the help of an API from
the backend which doesn’t involve the frontend. With the help of headless
e-commerce customers are given a better personalized and content rich
experience.
Prevalence of AI for an in-store assistance
One aspect of the regular stores that has been
missing on the online sites is that of an in-store assistant. However, with the
advancement of AI i.e. Artificial Technology that problem has been done away
with, it has helped personalize data and led to improvement in customer
experience. It has further enhanced productivity and customer attraction of
certain online sites with better personalized experiences, optimized prices and
discounts based on demand and an automated 24x7 customer support where it
provides the buyers updates of ongoing and forthcoming sales or discounts.
Subscription Services
Subscription services on a generic level among the
e-commerce sites has brought about marked changes in the social revenues of the
companies. This has enabled the major subscription service enabled sites to
become more cost effective, time-efficient and drive learner operations. It has
also become easier for the web based purchase platforms to spread awareness,
advertise products based on consumer preference patterns. This feature has
helped with making up to date decisions about the business and efficient
customer management.
Using personalization on site to create
individual experiences
Buyers can customize the products according to their
wants and needs with the assistance of AI (artificial intelligence), this
experience was lost with the switch to online purchasing of products however
with AI it has been successfully and aptly restored. Personalization has led to
25% rise in the global e-commerce revenue and also an increasing relevance of
it in the near future.
Chat bots: preferred way of customer
communication
A big slice of the chat bot representation comes from
the e-commerce industry with an expected revenue generation of almost one
thousand million dollars from the same industry. Almost 45% of end users prefer
chat bots as their primary way of customer communication and this way the global
chatbot market has achieved a compound annual growth rate of 23.4% and will
continue to be of relevance in the future as well.
Digitization of payment
Customers are
always keen on what new ways of payment methods are there, like when shopping
from an overseas site consumers mostly prefer a local payment provider due to
security concerns. Retailers like Amazon, save the customer’s preferred way of
making payment information which leads to easy and friction less check out with
a lot less data entry each time one makes a purchase. E-commerce websites have
widened their payment horizons and ventured into payment through apps like
PayPal, Apple Pay and other payment options for a hassle free user experience.
In addition to all of this what the consumers and
retailers both pay heed towards is sustainability. With limited resources on
earth consumers have become aware off their purchasing decisions and act wisely.
With this simultaneously the brands are also improving their business methods
opting for a eco-friendly way of buying and selling, lot of the companies have
started exercising bio-degradable forms of packaging, recycling processes have
developed, less use of hazardous plastics. Brands acting towards the betterment
of environment and holding up in its maintenance are going to impact robustly
on their buying fronts.
Deciding which trend directs your
business
The above mentioned list are a generic number of
trends which will affect the global e-commerce industry as a whole. However
jumping at the bandwagon of every trend before deciding what fits your business
best would be a decision with loopholes. A new trend is developing almost every
day with technological advancement thus swift decision making as to which trend
will affect your particular business niche would be a driving force towards
better operations. Market research, keeping track of influencers, publications,
keeping up with new industry analytics and technical tools to foster business
development and most importantly keeping track and information about your
competitors.
Conclusion
With better and widened horizons of the e-commerce
sector, 2020 and the future looks encouraging, the e-commerce industry in the
recent past few years has been growing profoundly looking at the competition.
Not just these, there is expectancy of some new wings in the sector such as facial
recognition of customers for online sites, are delivery drones the new idea for
faster delivery? Or will one-day shipping be the new expectancy of customers?
The future most definitely has answer to most of these operative queries.
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