#49-Trends that will shape the Future of eCommerce (Part -2)
In the last piece, I shared the trends more from the customer experience perspective. In this blog, I will focus on the future trends:
India has over ~600 million internet users in Dec 2020, thanks to COVID-induced lockdowns. The number is second only to China.
The e-commerce penetration is only going to increase, and it stand currently at ~70 % of the active internet user population and at a market size of USD ~75 billion USD. COD (Cash on Delivery is still the most preferred medium of payment) for eCommerce.
In ASEAN, the eCommerce industry has already hit ~100 billion USD and is expected to tripled to 300 billion USD in the year 2025.
When there is a gold rush, the best way to become rich is to sell SHOVELS.
When there is an eCommerce rush, the best way to grow is to enable it
- eCommerce as an enabler- Ecommerce enablement for e-commerce players and SMEs is much needed before the 100% potential of the e-commerce boom in ASEAN is realized. Both eCommerce companies and global brands need end-to-end technology to centralize inventory, data, customers, and APIs integration.
D2C private commerce- D2C is a big priority for the global brands. If the global Fashion, CPG, Retailers are not building a #digitalcommunity #userbase they will eventually get disrupted by the intermediary platforms and ecosystems.
#D2C #channels also help with #dataandanalytics for #personalization , #loyalty and rewards proposition, #marketingcampaigns and the digitization of #supplychains. It is not easy to orchestrate one but the long-term benefits outweigh the challenges.
Customer attention and delivery logistics will be the 2 biggest challenges for D2C platform orchestrators. However, with the right ‘stickiness’, ‘subscription’, and ‘content/loyalty’ hooks, it is achievable. The CPG/Fashion global Brands need to find the right hedge between protecting and shifting sales online and at the same time ensuring long term defensive models are in place. All channels are important- self orchestrated D2C platforms and external partnerships with social/e-commerce to create a win-win.
E-commerce enablers companies that can help the global brands build their own D2C brands, will be in huge demand. Sooner or later global companies, will try to have a direct channel with customers and data/transaction ownership of the online sales.
Content platforms (OTT and Social influencers led e-commerce)- OTT platforms like Netflix or Disney plus can tie-up with the global brands for advertisement and marketing models. Imagine if your Netflix could become free if you did ~1–2 monthly transactions or watched/participated in some OTT integrated shopping festival. The past experience on TV live shopping has not scaled up, but the future could be different due to the rise of the influencers. A lot of brands will need the right strategic advice and technology tools to participate in these content-led eCommerce models.
Pricing Intelligence/QC Aggregator Platforms- Another common problem that shoppers experience is they check the same SKU in physical stores, on 2–3 eCommerce sites, and 1 D2C sites before they make the purchase. E-commerce aggregator platforms that bring the best quality and affordable deals to the customers will definitely get the right reception from the customers. These platforms can also share other useful information like- reviews, highest and lowest online price of the SKU over the last 2–3 years. The user-experience, deal listings, AI algorithms/analytics engines of the platform will be the key here and over a period of time, customer trust will come.
Customers are still waiting for the SUPER APP for the E-COMMERCE and Mobility single-use apps
Digital Decentralized leasing on high traffic commerce sites: While all the global brands have a presence on e-commerce platforms, sometimes they are looking for platform presence. If they get a private store (private cloud) kind of hosting within the bigger e-commerce platform, it will be a win-win. The agreement details and API-based store integration/cloud technologies need to be worked out but this will surely increase the trust that brands and marketplaces will have in each other.
AmazonBasics is one of the company’s private-label brands. It is like online retailers Costco’s Kirkland Signature brand or Walgreens’ self-branded drugs. Amazon doesn’t actually make the products, but purchases them from big manufacturers and has its own label and packs them.
Localized warehouses and logistics network for last-mile and same-day delivery- Logistics and delivery ecosystem that can ensure same-day delivery (drone-based delivery systems will bring this down to 30 minutes but the mass adoption and regulatory blessings maybe 10 years away)
Non-cannibalizing partnerships with platforms and offline businesses-
All platforms that have non-cannibalizing products must be partners with each other to give unified access to each other’s customer/user base. The platform partners must be exclusive so that the cannibalization does not happen at the product and channel (or partner )level.
For example, one e-commerce company must not partner with all the banks or the mobility companies. The partner ecosystem must be strategically orchestrated.
Regards,
Sidhartha Sharma
Platform and Digital Ecosystem expert
views are personal and you can follow him for the latest on Digital Strategy and Transformation
