What is E-commerce ?
The e-commerce sector has revolutionized the way we shop, due to its comfortability, convenience and personalization. E-commerce has become the mainstay of how most stores operate and will continue to dictate the way we buy and sell going forward.
The E-commerce industry
Did you know that rock legend Sting played a role in transforming the history of tech and business? On August 11, 1994, Phil Brandenberger of Philadelphia made the first ever credit card purchase using encryption over the Internet, thus marking the beginning of the e-commerce era. The world's first e-commerce purchase was Sting's 1993 CD "Ten Summoner's Tales."
The popularity of e-commerce has grown tremendously in recent years, with more and more people using the Internet to buy and sell products. The buying experience offered by e-commerce is superior to that of traditional brick and mortar stores. With traditional shopping, we get dressed, go to the store, look around, and buy something (regardless of whether it's the cheapest option). The Internet gives us a much more powerful alternative to brick and mortar.
E-commerce provides us with a wide variety of choices from many different online stores. "Cyber Monday" is a day where you can find lower-than-normal prices on the best products the internet has to offer. E-commerce proved to be the most convenient and easy way to shop on Cyber Monday 2019, with US shoppers spending a total of $9.4 billion, $3 billion of which were made through mobile devices.
The Internet has also become a virtual small business incubator, where entrepreneurs can set up their businesses online and reach a global customer base. E-commerce has leveled the playing field for small businesses, with approximately 24 million e-commerce sites today.
E-commerce not only personalizes the shopping experience for buyers, but also for sellers. Thanks to e-commerce, sellers can programmatically display specific advertisements and products that directly appeal to an individual customer. By using data on what sellers have viewed or put into their online carts, retailers can remind buyers to purchase recently-viewed items, making the selling process more efficient and helping online retailers increase profits.
Have you ever come across an ad for a pair of shoes you were just looking at 5 minutes prior? What about hotel deals to a city you were just doing some research on? This is the level of personalization that e-commerce enables. Personalization is a process that helps to recommend products that may be of interest, based on data gathered from previous interactions.
Future E-commerce Trends
To sum it up, it holds a lot. E-commerce is transforming industries and creating new ones as we speak. Listed below are a few of the trends we can expect for e-commerce in the next few years.
Personalization
Having knowledge of a customer’s habits is essential for e-commerce to progress, as it creates a better experience for both the seller and buyer. Online retailers increase profits and customer loyalty by providing customers with access to products they love and media, content, and personalized recommendations based on their purchase history and demographics. By optimizing shopping experiences, websites can connect customers to the products they want quicker. This builds trust with consumers and makes for a more streamlined sales process.
Mobile-First
Online ordering has become more convenient with the use of phones and tablets, as people are now able to shop even when they are not at their desktop or home. Optimizing an online platform for mobile-first users will improve customer satisfaction, and increase profits. Mobile wallets are becoming increasingly popular among consumers who value convenience and security.
Omni-channel experience
The goal of omni-channel e-commerce is to provide customers with a personalized shopping experience that is as close to perfect as possible. A customer looking at a new pair of running shoes on a website could have purchased a pair of running shorts beforehand from the same website, leading the site to suggest the shoes that most people buy with those shorts. The customer could have been looking at different sites to purchase shoes on their iPad and then received targeted ads for those exact sites on their phone’s search engine. The representative could use past purchase information to improve the customer's next purchase.
Content Marketing/Social Media Strategy
The role of content marketing and social media strategy in e-commerce is vital, and e-commerce companies are going to great lengths to gain a loyal customer base. By producing clever and engaging content, companies are able to bring in customers and get them to buy their products.
Company blogs can provide content that would be useful to customers making product decisions. Content, usually in the form of stories, that is designed to educate the reader about a car's efficiency and safety in order to encourage them to make a purchase. As a recruiter, if you are interested in employer branding or finding new candidates, our content may be of use to you.
Nowadays, content marketing is done through platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Social media provides novel opportunities for e-commerce businesses to reach and engage potential customers in new ways.
E-commerce Examples
The e-commerce industry is composed of smaller subcategories that are defined by the merchandise and products that each digital store offers. Some e-commerce sites provide services and goods directly to customers. Others sell to other businesses. Some stores mainly offer physical products while others only sell digital services. Below are a few of the main popular forms of e-commerce:
B2C E-commerce:
Business-to-consumer (B2C) ecommerce is defined as a commercial transaction between a business and an individual consumer. Example sites are Amazon, Walmart, Ikea and Etsy.
D2C E-commerce:
D2C companies have gained traction in the past few years by providing a more focused range of products, compared to the traditional online marketplace model. Because a D2C company often takes care of logistics, research and development, and customer service in-house, they often have a higher consumer satisfaction rate.
B2B E-commerce:
The B2B industry is one that involves the sale of products or services from one business to another and is expected to be worth over 6 trillion dollars by the end of 2020. Some other well-known B2B companies include Microsoft, Oracle and IBM, which all sell various technology solutions to other businesses, and Costco, which sells millions of products wholesale. Shopify could be seen as a B2B product as they provide entrepreneurs with hosting and e-commerce website solutions.
