How Technologies Are Transforming The Future Of Ecommerce
According to one study, there will be an estimated 2.05 billion online buyers in the year 2020. When you consider the world’s population at the moment, this works out to about 25 percent of all people. This is a tremendous amount of people shopping online, and based on trends, this number will likely only grow.
One reason that eCommerce continues to grow is the advancement in technology. Here are just a few ways that technologies are transforming the future of eCommerce.
More People Are Starting Their Own Business
Back before eCommerce, it took a lot of work to start up your own business. You needed money to invest, so you could buy materials, make a product, market it, and sell it. The cost to entry in the eCommerce space is a lot less. As a result, more people are starting their own businesses than ever before.
For example, take dropshipping. Dropshipping is a method for fulfilling orders, in which one person sells the products, then passes the order onto a third-party supplier who ships out the order. This means you can start your own business working with dropshipping suppliers and you won’t have to store or purchase any products yourself. All you need is an effective website and marketing strategy to get started.
And speaking of websites, these are also easier than ever before to create. With the help of website builders, anyone can have a functional eCommerce site up and running in a short amount of time. No longer do you need to hire an entire web design firm or learn how to code websites on your own.
As more and more people start their own business, thanks to how easy it is, this will only drive up competition. With this increased competition, you can expect to see more innovations in the eCommerce space.
Quicker Checkout Options
A major improvement in eCommerce websites over the past few years has been in the checkout process. There was a time where, in order to complete a purchase online, you had to input your credit card information each time. Now, web browsers can store this information for you to make checkout easier, or you can even complete checkout with a single click by using services like PayPal.
One of the earliest hurdles that online shopping had to overcome was that it wasn’t much easier than actually shopping online. Now that checkout options are more numerous and easier to use, the amount of time it takes to complete a purchase online will only continue to decrease.
Faster Warehouse Operations
In addition to a faster checkout process, many eCommerce sites are now able to ship packages faster thanks to improved warehouse operations. Some of the largest eCommerce warehouses have become well-oiled machines, able to locate a product, package, and ship it in no time at all. Much of this is due to things like ETL tools, which help business owners make better, data-driven decisions.
Automation also plays a big role in improving warehouse efficiency. According to Logistics Management, the percent of SKUs (Stock Keeping Unit) that could be handled robotically rose from 29 percent up to 43 percent back in 2018. This allows warehouses to pack shipping trucks more quickly, while also keeping their costs down.
More Personalized Experience
Customers want a personalized experience when they visit a website. Thanks to improvements in marketing and customer tracking technology, it’s now easier for eCommerce sites to do this.
For example, an eCommerce website can track previous purchase history, then provide product recommendations based on what you have ordered in the past. Or if they see that you order the same product around the same time each month, and you miss a month, send out an email reminder.
There are many ways to personalize an experience for someone, from sending them a coupon on their birthday to remembering their previous customer service issues. To track this information, eCommerce websites have come to rely heavily on Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools. These tools can store all stores of data about customers and make it easily accessible to the entire team.
