‘Going Digital’ will be the significant change that we are going to experience in 2013 in commerce. Growing usage of internet (thanks to Facebook, Google Plus and Twitter) is impacting the online shopping as well. Customers are looking more on online shopping because of the following reasons,
- Rewarding policy and structure
- Get to know the feedback from other customers
- Flexible Return Policy
- Fast and Flexible Delivery Options
- Pick in Store, Reserve in Store etc
- Personalized shopping experience through Content, Communications and Promotions
In 2013, E-Commerce area is going to be exciting due to various factors. I have accumulated few trends that are going to influence the Digital Commerce in 2013.
Cross-Channel Commerce: Multi-channel Commerce is going to impact highly on the E-Commerce area. Retailers would be planning to advance their traditional E-Commerce application and offer the shopping experience through different channels like mobile, tablets, kiosks, in-store etc. Cross-channel integration also demands for a centralized inventory system and track the in-store inventory online so that customers can reserve the product in the store and collect from there within a short time.
Interactive Media will be used widely to keep the customer engaged and entertained.
Recommendation Engines will be massively used for providing a personalized customer experience. Personalized Communication and Offers will make a big difference in the new-generation online experience.
Loyalty Management: Increased usage of Loyalty Points would be another trend. Currently, most of the retailers are offering loyalty points on purchase. Customers are also getting educated about the points and they are more inclined towards purchasing with the benefits of points. Third party Loyalty Providers like Payback etc. is getting common with Customers and retailors are integrating with third parties if they don’t want to maintain an in-house loyalty system. Apart from Points, more loyalty schemes including specific discounts, privilege to pre-order products etc. would be added features in 2013.
Small players must be planning to go online and enable the online shopping experience with minimal cost. This will make the Service Providers to think beyond ATG Commerce, WCS and Hybris. Small scale E-Commerce application like Demandware etc. will be active in the market to support small retailers.
Social Media has already done a great job for E-Commerce in 2012, it was a great start and different small retailers and organizations have utilized Social Media very well. It would be interesting to see how Social Media –E-Commerce integration is getting evolved in 2013.
Significant Strategic Changes by internet game changers like Google will impact highly on E-Commerce area. The major change is that Google’s decision to end the free Product Search and replace it with a paid service called Google Shopping. This will ensure that, reliable and competitive retailers will continue giving better shopping experience to the Customers and eliminate the retailers who list products since the service is free. Also this gives an alert to the retailors that they need to be ready to face any challenges because of the rapidly changing E-Commerce world. Retailors required to adapt these changes quickly and enable their systems else they cannot sustain in a perplexing world.
Going Global: Expanding the business to other global areas through online. Many retailers finding that going online will be the safest and preferred direction to expand the business so as the revenue targets.
Expand the Customer Services: Improve the customer services through 3rd party review sites by providing feedback and take necessary steps on negative reviews and appreciate the positive reviews. This practice is currently followed in TripAdvisor.com etc. and the responses from the vendor will make a significant impact on gaining new customer base and retaining existing ones.
‘Going Digital’ will be necessary for every retailer in coming years but that doesn’t means that they have to pull the shutter for their in-store shops. Though few of the customers still want to purchase in store by feeling the product, those will also want to check the product online before going to store. This is increasing the possibilities of cross-channel integration.
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