5 Predictions on the Future of E-Commerce

Following the 2020 pandemic’s e-commerce boom, there are no signs that it will slow down in future years. According to the US Census Bureau, the third quarter of this year has seen a sales rise of 37 per cent in comparison with 2019. Although there is a tremendous rise in online shopping, buyers expectations have changed with exorbitant expectations from brands online platforms and limited tolerance for errors. Here are 5 predictions on the future of online shopping from Business Of Fashion:

1- Live, online customer service is here to stay

Shoppers are used to one-on-one service from stores, and therefore when purchasing online after the pandemics, many still expect to receive the same assistance from brands. There was an overall dissatisfaction from the tools such as chatbots and next-day messages from e-commerce platforms. It is well-known that such tools are often operated from remote workers with little genuine knowledge about the brand. Though, when retailers placed sales associates and in-store stylists to answer chats and email, there was an increase of satisfactions from online shoppers. Brands need to work with new technology to simplify communications between employees and customers via social media or text to keep offline one-on-one service value.

2- Delivery will take hours, not days

In a 2018 survey from PwC, 40 percent of respondents stated they would pay for same-day shipping and 23 percent responded they would pay for delivery that comes within 3 hours. With the rise of same-day delivery services such as Postmates and Uber Eat, retailers have now the opportunity to create a partnership that would allow delivery in metropolitan areas to be as fast as 45 minutes. Some retailers have partnered with last-mile delivery services to make same-day deliveries, using their stores as mini distribution centres that also enable buy-online, pick-up-in-store, or buy-online, return-in-store. Some retailers work with third-party fulfilment companies, who operate multiple warehouse spaces for their brand partners to ensure even faster delivery. Therefore, it is essential that sellers improve their delivery time if they wish to remain competitive in the near future.

3- Gaming is the next marketing tool

Researches highlighted that during the pandemic four out of five US consumers played a video game in the past month, and for people aged from 45 to 64 it increased by nearly half compared with 2019. Some influential fashion households are successfully using it to their advantage. For instance, Balenciaga released their latest collection in the form of a game called “Afterworld: The Age of Tomorrow,” in which players are invited to navigate a five-level fantasyland. Moreover, many brands such as Gucci and North Face are partnering up with games to create avatar “skins”, which is allowing them to generate revenue directly by creating virtual clothing people can buy with points earned from playing games (or with real cash). Gamers as influencers are also a relatively untapped market. It is creating a new market and opportunities that should definitely not be ignored by retailers if they wish to stay relevant in the future

4- The online “store” experience will evolve

Over the years, retailers have spent tremendous amounts of time and money to create state-of-the-art store experiences that would enhance customer satisfaction. Nonetheless, e-commerce has mainly remained confined by the conventional "select items out of photos arranged in grids". There is an overdue makeover within the online shopping industry, and it is likely to come from virtual reality technology. With creative agency as Obsess, online stores now have the opportunity to design such practices. For instance, if a retailer sells outdoor products, it could design an interactive website that looks like an outdoor environment. According to experts, there is an expectation that conversion from physical experience into virtual ones will be rising. From investing in web design to experimenting with virtual fit technology, innovative and ambitious retailers are already venturing into this next phase of e-commerce.

5- Fit tech will make a strong comeback

Japanese e-commerce retailer Zozo Inc. set out to perfect the virtual fitting process with its polka-dotted in 2017, where shoppers could purchase custom-sized jeans and button-up shirts. However, it was too ahead of its time and it failed to capture shopper excitement. In 2020, there is a surge in new start-ups that are managing to beat Zozo technology that could potentially be used by e-commerce platforms. Retailers seeking to reduce the number of returns could gravitate towards this new virtual technology. The fact that they could invite customers to have their measurements scanned in stores, then use that data to predict sizing and push styles online would drastically reduce the cost of returns or damaged and unsellable merchandise.”

Chen, C .(2020). The Future of online shopping. Business of Fashion