E-Commerce is going to undergo a high number of changes because of technological and social
factors. I’ll describe the future of e-commerce and 9 trends that will exist in the future.
1. Augmented Reality Will Be Commonly Used Augmented reality simulates in-person shopping
experiences by allowing customers to see how a product might look on them or in their home.
With AR, customers click on a product and instantly see it overlaid wherever they point
their mobile device. And when customers can view products from every conceivable angle
in an interactive 360-degree experience, it gives them a better idea on the value that
the product can offer.
Smartphones, smart glasses, and other handheld and wearable devices will provide the bulk
of these experiences.
Shopify AR is an example of a tool that already allows customers to view products in natural
environments before buying them. This helps to ensure that the product is fit for the
purpose intended. This helps customers make informed decisions quickly when it comes to
choosing a brand to buy from.
And here’s what most people don’t realize: augmented reality is likely to be more widely
used than virtual reality.
According to Grand View Research, the global virtual reality market will be worth $67 billion
in 2028. By comparison, the augmented reality global market will be worth $340 billion in
2028. That means that the augmented reality global market will likely be 5 times larger
than the virtual reality global market.
2. JARVIS-Like AI Assistants Will Begin to Become Popular
Most people in developed countries could have AI assistants to improve the quality of their
lives. According to Peter Diamandis, founder of Singular
University, services like Alexa, Google Home, and Apple HomePod will expand in functionality.
They will eventually expand beyond just the home and become your cognitive prosthetic
24/7. Depending on what permissions you grant to it, a secure JARVIS-like software could
listen to all your conversations, read your emails, monitor your blood chemistry, and
more. With access to all of this data, this AI-enabled software would learn your preferences,
anticipate your needs and behaviors, shop for you, monitor your health, and help you
problem-solve in support of your mid- and long-term goals.
And by the mid-2030s, we will begin using brain-computer interfaces to connect to the
human neocortex, according to Ray Kurzweil. This will allow us to interact with AI assistants
with our thoughts and bring this technology to an entirely new level.
3. Crypto May Become A Common Payment Option To reach more consumers, especially Generation
Z and Millennials, brands will need to accept as many payment options as possible. The price
fluctuations for crypto currencies may begin to stabilize over the next decade, which will
make them more attractive payment options for large companies like Amazon and large
payment processing companies like PayPal.
On top of that, most cryptocurrencies use blockchain technology to record transactions.
Basically, blockchain is a shared database that allows multiple parties to access data
and verify that data in real time. Blockchains make it difficult or impossible to change,
hack, or cheat the system. According to Grand View Research, the global blockchain technology
market will grow from $6 billion in 2021 and to $395 billion in 2028. That’s a whopping
65 times increase in just several years. With such a massive increase in the use of blockchain
technology, most industries will have a far greater familiarity with blockchain and cryptocurrencies
in general.
4. Autonomous Delivery Drones Could Become Mainstream
Delivery drones are capable of handling and automating shipping in different volumes,
all without human intervention.
The advantages of automated shipping for e-commerce are many. They include:
• Speed in delivery time • Reduction of freight costs
• Accident reduction • Decrease in human error
• Reduction of co2 emissions • And customer satisfaction
Amazon Prime Air will deliver packages up to 5 pounds within 30 minutes or less using
small drones. Amazon has been developing and testing the platform through Prime Air development
centers in the U.S., the U.K., Austria, France, and Israel. And in August 2020, Amazon received
approval from the FAA to operate its Prime Air delivery drones to “safely and efficiently”
deliver packages to customers.
Also, UPS Flight Forward was the first company to get the U.S. government’s full certification
to operate a drone airline. In 2020, UPS Flight Forward and CVS partnered to deliver prescription
medicines from a CVS pharmacy to The Villages, Florida, the largest U.S. retirement community
in the U.S.
5. Virtual Reality Will Play an Essential Part of Marketing Initiatives
The use of virtual reality devices will allow people to view products from any angle imaginable
and see those products in action within virtual environments.
With virtual reality, we could quickly change the type of product we’re looking at and
change the environment so that we could view the products in different contexts.
It’s expected to transform multiple industries such as education, social media, video games,
and entertainment.
6. In-App Purchases on Social Media Platforms Will Be Commonplace
Facebook and Instagram make it easier than ever to let consumers buy products without
ever leaving those platforms.
Facebook Shops lets you set up a shop that people can browse and lets people buy your
products directly on Facebook. You can already see brands like ThreadBeast
setting up these types of social media storefronts.
Instagram Shoppable posts allows you to add your products to your Instagram posts and
enable easy checkout without ever leaving the platform.
Likewise, Pinterest has a Buyable Pins feature that allows shoppers to buy products directly
on Pinterest.
These are perfect tools for companies to increase their sales because 54% of social media users
research products using social media. Not only that, these tools simplify and shorten
the customer journey and reduce abandoned transactions.
7. Emerging Markets Will Play a Huge Role In July 2021, there were more than 4.8 billion
users online. That was 63 percent of the world’s population of 7.7 billion.
Cybersecurity Ventures predicts that there will be 7.5 billion Internet users by 2030—that
would be 90 percent of the projected world population of 8.5 billion in 2030.
A high percent of those additional internet users will live in emerging markets like India,
China, Brazil, Russia, and South Africa. That’s going to lead to an extra 2.7 billion potential
consumers on the internet.
That could lead to a massive increase in profits for e-commerce based companies of all sizes.
8. Voice Commerce Will Grow in Popularity Voice commerce will top $40 billion in the
U.S. by 2022. Even though the global smart speaker market is growing rapidly, the majority
of voice activity occurs on mobile devices through virtual assistants.
It’s also very common for consumers to use voice search features in search engines such
as Google and Bing to search for products. Since voice search typically happens in the
form of questions, the page ranking of various websites and webpages could be greatly affected
over time.
9. More Product Descriptions Will be in Video Format
According to studies conducted by Social Media Today, 60% of shoppers would rather watch
a product video than read a product description.
Also, 64% of shoppers are more likely to purchase a product after watching branded videos on
social media.
These studies help prove that shoppers want more interactive experiences when making a
purchase to better understand the value being offered.
Additionally, the video format is ideal for providing product demonstrations and utilizing
internet influencers.
Amazon is already using more product descriptions in the video format and this trend will only
grow throughout the entire e-commerce space.
Thanks for watching. Make sure to watch the video to the right about the future of augmented
reality.