The Future of E commerce- 6 Major Changes You Can Expect to Take Place
Author: David
Categories: E Commerce Trends
Tags: The Future of Ecommerce | Major Changes to Ecommerce | What you can expect
The eCommerce landscape is constantly changing, and for the most part, these changes could be both scary and exciting. Every year, new trends tend to appear that can help you grow your business even further. At the same time, it could also introduce new challenges that you might have a hard time keeping up.
Regardless, there are always new trends that you can look forward to in the eCommerce industry. These trends, which will be the ones to shape the future of eCommerce, are as follows:
1. Many new eCommerce businesses will appear
The emergence of the pandemic has brought forth some major changes in the eCommerce industry. Businesses that rely on people coming up to their stores are forced to evolve into an online business model; in worst-case scenarios, they’ll have to shut down.
Aside from the many businesses that are currently struggling to evolve, the US has been experiencing massive unemployment. In line with that, workers who have lost their jobs will have to consider new career paths to earn their keep. It would be safe to assume to some of them will venture into entrepreneurship, eventually opening their own business. And of course, the most viable option these days would be an eCommerce one.
Though we don’t really have an estimate as to how many businesses have emerged during this crisis, one thing is for certain: the emergence of the coronavirus will bring forth an influx of new eCommerce businesses. Some of them will be the evolved version of traditional stores while some could be entirely new business models.
2. B2B eCommerce will continue to experience massive growth
Suppliers, wholesalers, and even their customers have been quite hesitant to get into eCommerce for several decades. They believe that the traditional method of purchasing or availing of a service is the only way to go. However, that’s starting to change.
A report by Statista revealed that B2B eCommerce has already reached $7.7 trillion back in 2017. This massive figure was able to overtake B2C sales by a huge margin. Like B2C, B2B is also expanding, though the difference is that B2B focuses more on functionality.
The massive growth experienced by B2B commerce means that B2B businesses should make their customers’ shopping experience easier and more convenient. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to do so, one of which is the use of eCommerce tools.
One good example of these tools is PoSimplify.com, a tool that’s designed to streamline purchase order processing. This means that your customers no longer have to go through a lot of hassle placing their orders while you, on the other hand, can easily keep track of those orders.
3. Mobile shopping will be the new shopping medium
Mobile has been constantly shaping the way customers engage with brands. For the past few years, the mobile market has experienced significant growth. The reason for this is mainly due to the buyers’ desire to make a transaction in a more convenient manner via their smartphones, removing the need to do so on a desktop.
Through smartphones, online shoppers can easily search, browse, purchase, and even compare products anytime and anywhere they like. Besides, with mobile revenue reaching $175.4 billion by the end of this year, it’s no surprise that mobile shopping will remain relevant in the more years to come.
4. Voice commerce will become a major trend
Recently, voice technology is slowly finding its way into the eCommerce world. With voice devices such as Google Home and Amazon Echo being introduced to the market, customers will now have new ways on how they can engage with brands and shop online.
This is what we refer to as voice commerce. As the name implies, voice commerce refers to any transaction that’s done between a customer and a business via a voice device. According to estimates, this trend could generate around $40 billion in total sales in the US alone this 2020.
5. The use of website builders for smaller eCommerce businesses
As mentioned earlier, the current state of the world will bring forth an influx of new eCommerce businesses. For the most part, these businesses will be started by individuals who have little or no experiencing in coding or web design. This used to be a major problem back then for entrepreneurs who want to start their own online businesses. Nowadays, however, the presence of website builders make this problem obsolete.
Thanks to website builders, new website owners with no coding knowledge or experience can design their own website at a very affordable cost (some are even offered for free). This is because these website builders come with their own pre-made templates that incorporate best practices for user experience.
What these new website owners have to do is simply modify the templates based on their preference or the specific business theme they’re going for. This could include switching colors, changing the arrangement of certain elements, or uploading custom images.
6. Possible integration of AI systems
AI seems to be a popular topic these days, and it can’t be denied that most businesses can benefit from the integration of an AI system into their own system.
This integration could bring forth a lot of advantages. For example, AI assistants could be tasked with answering any questions or queries that customers might have. They might also be tasked with processing customer orders and inventory.
However, there are still a lot of aspects regarding AI systems that need to be ironed out before they get released. Will they replace humans to the point that a lot will struggle with looking for job opportunities? Only time will tell.
Final Thoughts
Needless to say, the future of eCommerce is an exciting topic. You can look forward to several exciting changes and innovations that might drastically change the way customers and businesses do transactions.
So if you’re an entrepreneur or someone who’s working under an eCommerce business, then keeping yourself updated with these changes can surely help you prepare for what’s to come.