E-commerce is developing faster than Amazon can deliver. One second we are marveling at being able to order food from an app, to screaming at Alexa for being ignorant and playing the wrong version of your favorite song – the audacity. The future of e-commerce is already here and seems to be changing more every day. Over the last several years, direct to consumer (D2C) commerce has exploded giving brands direct access to customers and profits, and customers have full access to brands and lower prices. This trend, however, is shifting and if you associate D2C with trending makeup, cheap razor blades and affordable mattresses then prepare to have your mind blown. Private premium brand sales are increasing which creates a new vertical in the D2C sector. More customers are starting to turn to private luxury labels for superior products and better shopping experience.
When we aren’t in front of a screen, we all know that e-commerce is quickly catching up to traditional retail sales and depleting the high street. We have all been there- sitting watching a movie or show and you find a shirt or some other object that you would like to make your own, so you head to the old trusty online search engine and in as little as 3 clicks you can find it. Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is already used in e-commerce to make intelligent product suggestions. Intelligent algorithms will analyze current trends alongside your products, sales channels, buyer behavior to suggest the best channels, time, and prices list your product. This will save hours of crunching numbers, graft creating, and report writing and could help accelerate sales and boost profits immediately.
Smart home assistants, like Alexa and Google Home, have been quietly taking over the e-commerce industry while we have been telling them to turn our lights on and off. A lot of people (approximately 20%) use them for shopping-related activities, whether that’s ordering groceries or something on your list on Amazon; they have been taking notes. It is projected, especially now, that the number will rise to 52% in the next four years. If you’re not currently optimizing your e-commerce and fulfillment process for voice search, you should start the process or will quickly get left behind.
2021 will see an increased use of autonomous deliveries, smart sensors, blockchain tracking, and digital twinning to increase delivery times, cost savings, and efficiencies. If 2020 has shown us anything it’s that we should always prepare for the unexpected. Even if you don’t think that online sales are going to erupt as quickly as it’s predicted to, it’s always a smart idea to prepare your sales, marketing, and fulfillment strategies for tomorrow’s world of e-commerce.