By Ferin Peter Submitted On March 30, 2016
The exponential growth of the internet has substantially impacted the way transactions are performed in trading and commerce. Current statistics show that 40% of internet users from around the world have purchased something online, at least once. In the year 2013, a whopping 1.2 trillion dollars was spent by internet users in business-to-consumer e-commerce transactions. But e-commerce means a lot more than just shopping online; it's about employing various digital technologies to facilitate the overall smooth performance of producing and delivering products and services. Let us look at the big picture of today's e-commerce and what its future is going to look like.
At present, the main friction experienced by "e-customers" is in payment options. The bottleneck here is the complexity of security measures. It is only a matter of time before newer technologies tackle this issue and allow people to buy without a credit card number or obstinate authentication procedures. At present, the customer has no choice but to follow the payment methods offered by sellers. In the future, it will be the other way around, where payment options will be solely based on the preference of the customer.
At the same time, prevention and detection of fraud will be totally automated and manual review of transactions will be entirely eliminated. This will also present an opportunity for merchants to be relieved from the liabilities for fraudulent transactions. Only a few companies offer same-day-delivery of online purchases, at present. But soon, logistics will evolve benefitting from latest technologies and more and more companies will be able to provide instant shipping. But it is not recommended for all businesses, especially the small ones, as it involves having sufficient capacity to address the workload. Capacity in processing orders means having adequate personnel, equipment and even floor space. This may not be within the budget of many small players.
Customisation and personalisation is one area where brick and mortar businesses still have the edge over e-commerce. But newer technologies are emerging even in this front and philosophies like adaptive e-commerce,where the customer is offered with curated listings tailored to their tastes and preferences, are in the offing.
Above all, the divide between desktops and mobile devices is getting increasingly narrow. In order to prosper in e-commerce in the future, you need to shape the entire culture of your business into a mobile-oriented manner. Before making any crucial decision, you need to keep asking yourself how this going to look on a mobile screen.
Near field communication (NFC) technologies have a significant role in today's e-commerce and the trend is going to grow. As vouched my many big players in IT, the added security features of NFC technologies combined with the sustained growth rate of smartphone penetration, there is no denying that NFC is going to be an integral part of the future of e-commerce.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Ferin_Peter/2269737
No comments:
Post a Comment