Evolution of E-Commerce in the Last Decade

E-commerce today is a trillion-dollar industry. From the rise of the online marketplace to seamless shifting to using mobile devices for online shopping, e-commerce has tremendously grown over the last decade.

E-commerce or electronic commerce is the activity of buying or selling products over an electronic network. These business transactions are basically business-to-business(B2B) or business-to-consumer (B2C). We use e-commerce in our daily lives, some of the examples are Amazon, Flipkart, eBay, Quikr, etc.

Online Marketplaces

An online marketplace is a type of e-commerce site that connects sellers with buyers. There are multiple third parties available that provide products and services information. The website owner manages all the transactions of the electronic marketplace. Over the last decade, the online marketplace has gained huge popularity. Currently, companies prefer online marketplaces to reach out to customers for selling their products. These platforms offer varieties of products under one roof. Although, these are administered under the rules and policies of marketplaces. As a customer, it gives you the freedom to shop for anything you love without limiting the range. Moreover, the biggest benefit of online marketplaces is pre-existing customer bases. The top online marketplaces are Amazon with $280.5 billion net sales, Walmart with 127 million unique visitors every day, Kroger, and eBay with 182 million buyers worldwide.

Online Shopping Personalization

Personalization in online shopping refers to the process of delivering content, product recommendations, purchase history, browsing behavior on e-commerce sites. Online shopping personalization is the process that uses personal data to provide tailored experiences to product shoppers in a retail environment. Moreover, there are a large number of products available on e-commerce sites and each product must be visible to its right customer. Therefore online shopping personalization is important as it aims at providing individual products based on their needs and behavior. Almost 61% of online marketers know the importance of personalizing online shopping.

In a study, it has been shown that 59% of online shoppers believe that it is easy to find more variety and attractive products on personalized online retail stores. Thus, 45% of online shoppers prefer to shop from sites that offer personalized recommendations.

Modernizing of Ecommerce Platforms

Having an outdated website can make your site neglected.  

Thus the constant up-gradation of e-commerce platforms is equally important as it brings exposure, better reach, and an extreme shopping experience for the customers. Although e-commerce is two decades old, modernizing websites every three years makes the site look captivating, and increases the chances of customers landing. Having a site with the latest technologies with no confusing features encourages more visitors.

Mobile-Friendly Purchasing

Smartphone technology has been reshaped over the last decade. Everything has shifted from desktop to smartphone. The smartphone is conventional to carry hence it is more preferable. It has totally changed the search and buying process. Mobile purchasing has become the new normal. There are tons of websites and apps available. Moreover. mobile-friendly allows e-commerce websites to change their layout for smaller screens without compromising their content. In 2021 mobile commerce sales have reached $3.56 trillion. Mobile commerce today represents the majority of people that now experience the full spectrum of the buyer’s journey through smaller screens. The app marketplaces available for Android and ios create more interactivity and engagement through these platforms. Mobile commerce is an equally important part of the evolution of e-commerce. It has increased the ability to browse, compare, and buy products from responsive mobile sites. 

The Future Of E-commerce

Seeing the recent growth, the future of e-commerce might not be surprising. Emerging markets will play a massive role in the future of e-commerce. E-commerce is constantly upgrading and changing as the technology is improving. Therefore, in the future, people expect that delivery will be done through drones. Using drones for delivery will also make the delivery faster than ever before. Most people prefer online shopping as it is convenient. This is resulting in huge growth in e-commerce.

It has been estimated that purchases will rise from 14.3% to 22% by the year 2023. Additionally, experts have predicted that at the end of 2040, 95% of all purchases will happen through e-commerce.

Advantages Of E-commerce

• Improves purchasing experience
• Safe internet transactions
• 24/7 availability of online stores
• Getting varied ranges of products

Conclusion 

In the coming years, e-commerce will have a large impact on our society.  Expenses of e-commerce businesses are lower than a traditional business. As e-commerce businesses have lower operating costs, the money can be used for other aspects of the business. Moreover, it is popular among buyers and merchants and one of the reasons behind its popularity is that it is easily accessible through the internet. Anything you want is just a click away. Hence without any doubt e-commerce over the last decade has arisen brightly and promisingly.

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