This blog was written by James Parkes, a work experience student who spent a week with Cosmic in July 2017.
In an age where online business is becoming ever more prevalent, it is important to speculate about the future of this increasingly popular method of commercial transaction. Not only does keeping in line with modern technology affect the way businesses sell their products but also the way the consumers will interact and access the business’ products and services. To aid you in the prediction of the future condition of this market I will provide the current and future predictions of the state of e-commerce.
Currently, the state of the ECommerce industry seems bright with 2016 online sales up 16% compared to the previous year and IMRG’s predictions seem to point to a further 14% of growth for 2017. Looking at 2016 as a whole the largest growth experienced by any one product type was accessories with a 38% increase in online sales while products like: lingerie, gifts, and footwear all experienced a growth of 33%, 26%, and 22% respectively, however, the year was not so great for the health and beauty sector with a meager 3%. It is uncertain to what 2017 will hold especially with online sales fluctuating between product types in 2016 and the start of 2017, but there is some reassurance in this quote from Bhavesh Unadkat the Principal Consultant in Retail Customer Engagement Design at Capgemini:
2017 will be filled with a level of uncertainty depending on the progress and impact of Brexit, however with the investment retailers are making in improving the customer shopping experience, I am sure it will be another record breaking year for online sales.
In terms of the future, however turbulent 2017 turns out to be, the ECommerce industry will be part of our shopping lives. The forecast from Business Insider UK shows that both ECommerce on mobile devices and personal computers will both decline over the next 3 years to 2020 resulting in the yearly growth for Personal Computer shopping predicted at a minuscule 1%. Not all is unfortunate for the coming years, the predicted yearly growths for online shopping on mobile devices is speculated to decline less dramatically so that it reaches a 34% yearly growth. With both of these major technologies on the decline it leaves us with the question: What technology will fill the need for a commercial transaction platform in the future?
In conclusion, I believe that from the supplied evidence that it is safe to say that business will not be easy in the coming years but it's not going to end the careers of established online giants. If a company adopts and accepts new technology such as website optimization for mobile devices and marketing strategies such as personalized advertisements to the consumers, it will fair well within the new business landscape that is forming in the coming years.