When Nordstrom reported its financial results for Q4 2014, an exciting piece of news for investors was its online sales, which grew by over 19 percent year-over-year. While Amazon still reigns as one of the largest online retailers, e-commerce is no longer synonymous with Amazon alone.
Globally, large retailers such as Alibaba and Flipkart have established their own pockets of market share and have set new standards in technology and content excellence in the world of e-commerce computing. In the US, Seattle is becoming a new technology hub in this domain. Best Buy is setting up its technology center to focus solely on e-commerce, which gives Seattle another addition this year.
E-commerce has come a long way since the 1990s. Experts say 2014 was a complacent year for the world of e-commerce, whereas 2015 will have a major revamp in the way the market operates and the facelift it will receive in terms of new trends—social apps, content and commerce, in-house analytics, and cross-device tracking. All of these trends will continue to postively push e-commerce into the hands of users.
On the other end of the spectrum are the users who make e-commerce thrive. Users have been very open and forthcoming in trying new offerings from technology and content providers, including new shopping approaches introduced during holiday and special sale seasons. Users have played an important role in making this whole phenomenon not only a push from service providers but also a pull from their end.
Another angle covers the platform providers who help small retailers get online and instantly connect with a large audience. Such solutions have also contributed significantly to the growth of e-commerce. For example, Snapdeal in India is a popular platform that has been helping several retailers make it big.
There is a certain charm to brick and mortar shopping, and to whatever extent e-commerce may grow, retail shopping will never cease to exist. However, the technology providers, platform providers, content providers, merchants, and users coming together to give e-commerce a well-balanced push and pull is getting stronger each year.
Winning in the e-commerce world is not as easy as it sounds—it often has a conversion rate as low as 3 percent. While several attributes contribute to a successful e-commerce strategy, everyone agrees that customer experience and customer engagement top the list.
The future of e-commerce is very bright, and a lot of data has been collated about the booming growth e-commerce will see. 2015 is going to be a key year in preparing e-commerce for the future.
