E-commerce will see a boost, thanks to Covid’s permanent impact, new tech
In 2015, Amazon sold its first book over the internet, for a few dollars. After 26 years, according to Forbes, the same company sold merchandise worth $386 billion, a yearly increase of over $100 billion from 2019. What words can describe that leap?
Worldwide, e-commerce is expected to rise by 26.7 percent year-over-year to $4.891 trillion in 2021, as estimated by eMarketer, and the figure is expected to skyrocket to $6.388 trillion in 2024. Compare that, for example, to Saudi Arabia’s $263.9 billion budget, having in mind that the kingdom is the largest Arab economy. To have a clearer picture of the contrast, merchandise exports from the MENA region to the rest of the world stood at $893 billion in 2017, according to OECD.
One thing to note is that purchases via mobile devices are expected to grow to $3.79 trillion in 2022, according to Payvision.
The huge expansion of e-commerce is not the only trend observed in this arena. There are others that business people should keep track of, especially if they seek to expand through traditional or online sales across the globe. They need to stay one step ahead of the competition by taking advantage of the new reality.
Before we go into the details, it should be noted that e-commerce and localization are organically connected, because you need to address the target market in its language and thus you need professional providers of the localization service. Daqeeq.co is an online platform that not only helps in translating campaign literature into Arabic, or from Arabic to English but boasts an insight into the local culture that ensures messages get across to the intended audience.
The first thing that comes to mind when e-commerce is brought up is the impact of COVID-19 on the business. Of course, online shopping has gone through the roof during the pandemic, but will it keep the uptrend?
According to Oberlo.com, citing experts, “the impact of the coronavirus will not just be a short-term boost to e-commerce but one that’s here to stay,” because more people have experienced the convenience and the benefits of e-payment, and also thanks to rising penetration rates worldwide.
Another major trend is that young buyers are increasing, while the older segment is also seeing the curve heading up, albeit at a lower ratio, according to surveys, which put the percentage among young people between 18 and 34 who have increased their purchases over the internet at 67%.
This leads to highlighting the significance of social media, whose role is expanding with the new “push-button-to-buy” features on some platforms. Social media have become the haven and heaven of independent vendors, with statistics showing a rising trend among users to buy from these businesses. A survey has shown that 57% of consumers said they are willing to buy from start-ups for the first time.
In the near future, dozens of thousands of shops will be using Augmented Reality technologies, adding a new sense of excitement to the shopping experience. Add to that that personalized transactions will take this experience to new levels, as 50% of consumers deem this service important to them, a survey by Bazaarvoice has found.
Also soon, consumers will have an array of media to check the item they want to buy, and not only photos. Visual commerce is on the rise, especially image recognition. This type of promotion combines “consumer-generated media, interactive content, engaging videos, and … augmented reality.”
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