According to a Marketer study back in 2016, the growth being witnessed in the e-commerce sector is phenomenal. The momentum will continue to rocket past 2020 when the sales might reach 4 trillion dollars. Very few industries today can boast of such a bright outlook.
As a result, more people are looking towards as a futuristic platform. Briefly described by Blog von Star Finanz are six significant and disruptive trends in e-commerce influencing consumers and marketer this 2018. We shall begin by examining the present state of each area while considering the rest of the year to witness what challenges and opportunities e-commerce retailers might encounter in 2018.
1. Improved Delivery Logistics from Fast Shipping
When picking an e-commerce platform, most people examine the differentiator factors; mainly delivery and shipping times. As of now, the leading global retailer ships over 5 billion items across the globe. Most of the shipping is done within a day, or two provided it is within a given geographical boundary. Delays hardly exceed a week unless we are referring to international shipments. We have recently seen the adoption of new technologies in the logistics and delivery climate. Most prominent are driver less freight, use of drones, and many others.
2. Integration of Ai or Machine Learning
There is a considerable appetite for machine learning technologies today. The e-commerce sector will witness more disruption from artificial intelligence. Most e-commerce systems have incorporated machine functions. Today, machine learning is a regular in e-commerce systems, ranging from search functionality to product recommendation engines. Advancements realized will give retailers access to customer desires using less effort.
The rise of automated customer service chat bots has been a recent tech improvement in e-commerce. This feature is present on many websites to offer feedback and guidance to the masses. It is expected that these conversational agents will advance even further this 2018.
3. Ar Gets Closer to Mainstream
Till recently, AR technology has seen releases like snap chat filters and google glass. This year AR will move an inch closer to mainstream adoption.
4. Growth in Iot and Mobile Checkout
E-commerce growth has been fueled by the rapid rise of mobile technology. Mobile checkout and payment systems have increased to devices connected to the internet. Shopping can be simply transacted through the smart phone. Since 2015, growth arising from mobile payments have witnessed a steady rise. There are over ten mobile payment platforms, and the number only keeps growing. The world seems to be moving away from cash, so we can expect further development of mobile money beyond 2018.
5. Perform a Voice Search
It is difficult mentioning mobile money without stumbling across a voice search. As of 2018, the voice is a crucial innovation component in the innovation space. Smart home technologies in home units are seeing the adoption of voice searches.
6. Storefront Apps
As global focus shifts from the desktop to the smart phone, we can expect to see more storefront apps. Major retailers have already offered their market apps, and customers are accustomed to them. As of 2018, we can now see smaller businesses drive the narrative as they leverage storefront apps sales.…