The Future Of E-Commerce

 

The Future Of E-Commerce

 

 

Studies show that there will be over two billion online buyers by 2021 and over $4.8 trillion in retail sales during the same time frame. E-commerce has changed the way we shop, companies have also come to rely on this shopping model. That’s why B2B e-commerce is predicted to become twice its own size by 2021.

The early days of e-commerce was simple, a website where you can go and order for whatever you want and get it delivered to your doorstep. It has become a much bigger deal now. E-commerce platforms want their customers to get the whole shopping experience when they log into their website. They want you to feel like you were in a physical store getting attended to by real-life shopping attendants and getting personalized top-notch services. That’s how e-commerce is right now, but the future still holds more promise.

The future of e-commerce is about new trends, new features and new grounds to be broken. In this article, we will be telling you about the new trends and paint you a little picture of what e-commerce will look like in the future.
 

Top Trends and the Future For E-commerce

In this section of the article, we will look at the top trends for the future in e-commerce and how customers will benefit from these trends.

More Personalized Services:

The amazing features of today’s e-commerce is personalization. Shopping on your popular e-commerce website and you get suggestions for products you possibly have an interest in. Sometimes you ask yourself “how did they know I’ve been looking for this product”. Personalization!

However, the future still has a lot in store for you as an online buyer. Personalization is about to get more personal. Data will be utilized in full force to map out what every customer likes and that’s what will be displayed. Your browsing history, your transaction history and your digital footprint will be used to create a more personal experience for you whenever you’re on any e-commerce platform.

Instant Messaging will also play a bigger role in the future of e-commerce. Recently, more e-commerce stores have started considering Instant Messaging platforms like WhatsApp for customer support. Imagine you bought a product and you have some complaints, where do you go to? Yes, customer service. After they’ve solved your problems, the customer service official over the phone may send you follow up messages about new offers and products related to your buying history. Your engagement with the posts is the data needed to make your shopping more personal.

Next time you visit the website, don’t be surprised if they already know what you’re looking for. Interaction with customer service about certain product also sticks to your mind and if the need arises, you already know where to get that particular product.

B2B E-commerce is Getting Bigger

The future of e-commerce points to the fact that business to business sales online is going to explode. Studies have revealed that B2B e-commerce sales will rise to $1.4 trillion in the United States alone and $6.6 trillion worldwide. That’s a massive figure for sales between companies. E-commerce shopping is also going to rely a lot on personalization in the future. A research into B2B E-commerce shows companies would look at personalization when scouring online for e-commerce business solutions.

Globalization of E-commerce

Right now, the United States reigns supreme as the giant of the world’s e-commerce industry. More e-commerce sales are made in the United States alone than the whole of Europe. That is about to change, the future of e-commerce predicts a shift in power.
It is projected that United States global e-commerce share is about to reduce by over 16% in 2020. This is because other countries are getting involved while tech and infrastructure also grows.

Social Commerce Will Take Center Stage

Social commerce is growing at an astronomical pace. The use of social media platforms to sell goods and services will only grow and e-commerce platforms are going to take advantage of this trend. Recently, TikTok the video sharing platform, announced its plan to test social commerce by allowing their users to include links to their e-commerce stores on their profile and their videos.

Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and other social media platforms have made social commerce a productive tool for entrepreneurs and e-commerce website owners. However, the future predicts social commerce to get bigger. More personalized solutions, more features to enable seamless buying and selling on social media is most likely going to drive up the growth of social e-commerce.

Better Payment Options

Seamless payment is one of the top features of buying online. Card transactions have its perks but PayPal, Google Pay and the rest are starting to take the lead as they provide easier and more flexible payment methods than card transactions.

However, one of the most effective payment methods being looked at right now is payment with cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin has the potential to change the world and the e-commerce industry will be relying a lot on cryptocurrency enabled payments in the future. Cryptocurrencies will offer faster, safer and more seamless money transactions than the current payment methods available. The future certainly looks bright for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum — they’re expected to influence e-commerce.

Growth of Voice Search

Voice technology has slowly become a norm after living in the shadows as something more sci-fi than real. Now, AI products like Alexa, Amazon Echo and Google Home has made voice technology readily available to users. E-commerce will benefit a lot from this tech. It is estimated that voice search will generate over $40 billion in sales by 2020. More voice solutions have already activated voice purchase on their platforms. The future looks bright!

​Bottom line

The future certainly looks great for the e-commerce industry as new tech trends, new approaches and globalization will drive up sales and interest in online buying. Shoppers around the world are about to go on a buying spree and we are all here for it.