In the past, commerce was limited to showcasing basic product details and simple merchandising. However, it has evolved, diversified, and gained complexity, ranging from deploying interactive hubs for consumer marketing to handling associated services.
The widespread adoption of Internet-enabled devices such as smartphones and tablets allows consumers to access information across all digital channels. This has increased the need to develop reliable solutions that integrate these technologies with other business solutions such as ERP, CRM order management, call centers, SCM, and BI systems. These tools also help companies derive useful insights about individual customers.
In addition, vendors can view customers’ transaction histories to understand buying patterns and try to predict customer’s choices. This has led to a rise in demand for e-commerce technology solutions with integration capabilities.
Rapid adoption of technology by end-users
Technology plays a vital role in digital commerce, and growing technological literacy worldwide is also stimulating market growth. As the online market is flooded with new models of smart mobile devices, customers can easily upgrade to new phones and sell their older devices online. Thus, companies selling products online are working to continuously improve the end-user experience.
The emergence and widespread adoption of several new technologies has changed the way companies conduct their business. Some of the most prominent types include:
- Pure-play e-commerce companies
- Brick and click/brick and mortar companies
- Click-to-brick online retailers
The rapid increase in the number of brick-and-click companies has added more options for online shoppers. Several industry verticals are turning to e-commerce to expand their business reach, stimulating e-commerce software and services spending. For instance, the manufacturing segment is working to boost supply chain efficiencies through e-commerce and investment in new services such as M2M.
E-commerce also strengthens customer relationships and allows loyalty tracking and better reachability through the omni-channel strategy. This has increased the number of customer touch points through the web, social networking sites, and mobile devices. These channels are gaining popularity and have become important platforms for vendors to provide e-commerce solutions.
Increasing consumer demand for feature enhancements
The need for interactive commerce has increased as a result of widespread Internet penetration, high-speed Internet with better functionalities, and improvements in Internet applications. Vendors must understand individual requirements, as customers have varying needs and different buying patterns.
Consequently, vendors are offering personalized services to customers via online advertisements to customize their products. They are also using features such as active merchandising, social commerce, and changing product imaging. Advanced e-commerce technologies help vendors better understand customer needs and maintain a competitive edge in the market.
Enabling scalability and expanding geographical reach
Companies are concerned about the quality and functionality related to e-commerce websites, because disruptions in the user experience may reduce the existing and prospective customer base. This has created the need for robust IT systems that enable scalable and reliable online presence and cater to growing customer demand.
Enterprises selling products online are now targeting emerging markets with large customer bases. This is due to the fact that mature economies such as the US, Japan, and Western Europe offer relatively lower growth rates in terms of e-commerce adoption. E-commerce is therefore enabling companies to reach wider audiences in various regions, which aids the expansion of customer base and target markets.
