Technology keeps changing – sometimes by leaps and bounds and most times in subtle ways to make our life and work easier. “You can’t wait for customers to come to you. You have to figure out where they are, go there and drag them back to your store.” – Paul Graham
E-commerce is one such thing that has been shaping our daily lives for the better in in numerous ways and here are a few things how it shall change in the near future.
1. Visual commerce:
Visual marketing is going to be the game changer in the future as capabilities to use them emerge where content that represents the product is married with user generated content from social media and tools like AR and 3D renderings of the product. This shall need capability to move larger amounts of data in the form of visual information possible with the advent of 5G networks.
2. Consumer analytics:
Point of sale is one area of data generation which is mostly not utilised but can present specific insights into the preferences of the customer and their demographics. The future points towards informed product strategies that use predictive analysis instead of simply reporting the sale. Companies may need to stay cautious of private customer information in some manner.
3. Artificial Intelligence:
AI is already being used by many platforms and ecommerce technologies though not to its full power. Till date, most companies use the technology stack that is easily available to run AI which hampers its usage. Using the correct technology stack is an investment which companies shall realise soon and harness the machine learning to increase their productivity by finding patterns of behavioural data to serve better.
4. API Usage:
Progerssive web apps have enabled businesses to provide optimized UX for the handheld device market which provides the same features as the native apps but at a much faster speed. This gap in mobile usage to buy a product will shorten with better web apps and from the need of retailers who will want freedom from their tech stacks.
5. IOT in commerce:
With the rise of the APIs in commerce, retailers will be able to reach more touchpoints where they connect with the end customers and present more options where the product may be bought. This proliferation of the sale options from various places like appliances, mobiles and handheld devices, wearables, voice controlled devices, etc. will boost the use of technology and the way data is used and communicated between these devices.
6. Unified commerce:
The multichannel marketing that is still being used that takes care of a single channel of sale or a single touchpoint of the shopper shall turn into a seamless avenue of multichannel and omnipresent experience for the retailer and the customer. Integrating these various touchpoints of sale will bring about all of the facets of the journey of the customer across the business and provide a much immersive customer experience.
7. Enterprise marketplace:
Even in the B2B markets which are already seeing substantial vertical growth, the use of technology will enable a wide range of products in niche categories to be targeted to specific vendors and buyers. This will help deliver value added services that become more enticing for the individual buyer and enable the vendors to differentiate from the product while being positioned closely with the marketplace requirements and competitor profiles.
8. Privacy:
This advent of technology into the behaviour of the customer to provide better personalisation will give rise to privacy and trust issues. Not just state and country specific laws but person to person barriers shall have to be vaulted and trust will have to be built with product quality and service with individual customers. Data privacy regulations will surely be a large part of such decisions that involve any data gathering activity.