BUSINESS STRATEGY
Key eCommerce trends to watch in 2018 (and beyond)
About tech giants, personalization, artificial intelligence and many other trends relevant to both small businesses and large companies
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Disclaimer: this analysis is a collection of personal thoughts, data points and quotes from experts. All info is publicly available. The content hereby written does not reflect in any way the position of the company I work for.
Dear reader,
eCommerce is in exponential growth. Let me share with you some data points: Global eCommerce market is expected to Reach $4Tn By 2020[1]. Internet retailing is set to reach $2.8Tn worldwide by 2022, with a CAGR of 12.4% in the period 2017–2022[2]. So the question is no longer if or when to play, but rather how. As in this new world, everything moves at pace, looking at eCommerce trends might be a good starting point to help draft a good eCommerce plan or strategy. So, point by point:
1. The first can be considered as a macro trend: GIANTS WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD. eCommerce giants are already dominating online sales. Amazon, as example, is trying for several years to crack China, one of the biggest and most promising markets, but also invested millions of dollars in strengthening its footstep in the Indian market. On the opposite side, Alibaba makes its moves to win customers outside of China. So now businesses should no longer think were to play in terms of geography, but rather in which platform and how to win the hearts (and wallets) of online consumers/customers. Just to give you a few metrics around this topic: the number of online transactions happened during Cyber Monday in 2017 was 8.6M in Amazon vs. 1.2M by a giant like Walmart. On the other side of the world, Singles’ day became the largest retail promotional day in the world, taking place in China. The record has been set by Alibaba, and then surpassed in 2017 by $7Bn, beating out all other online retailers.
Ask yourself: in which platform do I want to play? How am I planning to win customers using Amazon, Alibaba, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat? Do I really know my customer and their habits/behaviors in each platform?
