E-commerce or electronic commerce has become a massive part of our life nowadays. With all these apps, online retail stores and service providers, our life has become a little easier. The best feature of this trend is that it’s from the comfort of our homes. Some examples are ordering food online, buying home decor or electronics, hiring a driving service, paying utility and other bills and much more.
Things that previously took hours to finish and navigate now can be done in minutes with a few clicks on your favourite device or even using a digital assistant like Alexa, Siri or Google Assistant.
Shopping and banking took away so much time in the past, many folks often went to one store, and if they were in the market for a blanket, they commonly purchased one that was available even if it did not match or they were not totally in love with it. If you did have time to shop around to multiple stores, it could eat up an entire day and use lots of gas even then a lot of the local stores often carry the same product lines and showcase the same trending items leaving consumers with the same items as their friend and family.
Now we can do this all from our favourite device while laying back on the couch. Many online stores offer free shipping or very affordable shipping in most cases, and you can find the colours and unique items you actually want. It is still lovely to go to the mall or your favourite store with family or friends, but it is not the only option anymore, which is excellent for consumers.
Retail stores are being creative now to get shoppers to come in; a lot of them are creating in-store experiences for customers by offering free coffee or snacks: games and playrooms for kids also quick checkout kiosks and much more. As we progress along with more and more online options, physical retail stores will have to dig deep and be creative to attract customers into the stores again.
The e-commerce marketplace is massive and will keep growing and generating new opportunity for everyone. Peer to peer marketplaces, Business to Customer or even the Business to Business marketplaces have been going through this massive shift as well.
Many current business models need to adapt quickly since technology is changing all the time, or they are at risk and could face significant problems shortly. We all have seen this lately in society with all the major retail store closings we witness each month suffering from less foot traffic.
With all this change we open up new doors and new opportunities, we also reduce time spent doing mundane tasks which help us live our lives and spend more time with family and friends.
