The future of e-commerce will not only change due to the development of technology and digital developments but rather in line with the wishes of consumers. The problem of lack of face-to-face communication, especially after the pandemic, has given companies essential clues about the future of e-commerce. Many studies have shown that the sales volumes of brands that use the development of technology to understand consumer demands and behaviors increase. For example, as the simplest operations, you can see on which page the consumers are bored, on which page they give up on the product, and what interests them. You can also see through which channels consumers reach your products and brand and through which channel they complete their shopping.
According to Deloitte‘s research data;
Although 47% of consumers see and buy the product on social media, they still need to complete the purchase through the social media platform.
Research shows that you need to do integrative marketing.
So, how will the future of e-commerce take shape with all these digital developments? First, examine a few new trends awaiting the e-commerce sector in the coming years.
Digital Customer Service
What we mean by digital customer service is not just support methods such as chatbots or WhatsApp support lines. Customer service with video calling, which is still used today, is a real example of digital customer service. Interacting with the customer and making virtual shopping more attractive with the power of face-to-face communication will significantly affect the future of e-commerce.
Personalized Offers
Although it is a feature used by many websites, personalized offers are generally based on previous searches and purchases. Therefore, tailored offers need to be considered more comprehensively. Offering customized recommendations to customers by combining many factors, such as demographic features, location features, and purchasing habits, increase sales volume considerably.
Social eCommerce
Social e-commerce brings up the other people factor, which is the biggest shortcoming of virtual shopping. Research shows that people want to know the opinions of others when shopping. Social e-commerce provides a suitable ground for this. Brands such as OpenSky, Fancy, and ModCloth have laid the groundwork for social e-commerce and enabled users to experience this. Consumers can receive comments from people with similar tastes and consult their opinions by sharing their collections.
Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality
One of the features that e-commerce lacks is that consumers only see the photo of the product and cannot fully perceive it. This problem will be eliminated thanks to virtual reality and three-dimensional image technology. Big companies such as Ikea and Apple have used three-dimensional images instead of two-dimensional images on their websites. Although three-dimensional photos are not easy to use, all two-dimensional images will be replaced by more realistic images on e-commerce sites as the technology becomes simpler.
Drone Delivery
Drone delivery has been an exciting experience tested by companies like Amazon and UPS. Thanks to drone delivery, orders can be delivered very quickly on the same day. However, there have been many concerns of people about security issues. Therefore, the infrastructure for widespread use has yet to be formed for the time being. However, it is predicted that drone delivery will be on the agenda again in the coming years and will be used to a large extent.
