E-Commerce 2015: What’s Coming?

By 2015 there will be an estimated 3.4bn people surfing the web.

By 2015 there will be 3.4bn people surfing the web.

Thats a lot eyeballs.

Mobile traffic accounts for 10% of web traffic currently and could be 50% by 2015.

 But “we have only seen the tip of the iceberg for this technology” in terms of availability, says Jake Hird, eConsultancy’s Director of Research, speaking at Online Retailer conference in Sydney this week.

So what will the retail and marketing environment be like in 2015 and what will be the relevant technolgies?

QR codes, although big news at the moment, won’t be here in five years, Hind believes.

He reckons Near Field Communications (NFC) – the touch and tap payments technology – is the way mobile shopping is going.

NFC will be widely used by consumers in the future, eConsultancy predicts.

Facial recognition (FR) technology, where a user’s identity will be immediately recognised when they visit a particular site, will also be massive, and Facebook’s recent purchase of another FR technology startup supports this thesis, Hird predicts.

The ‘connected TV’ will also play a large part in the retail environment of tomorrow, with product placement becoming more interactive in the age of Smart TVs with touch and Internet capabilities.

There will be many opportunities in this space, eConsultancy believes. LG’s newly announced ad platform for Smart TVs in OZ, called smartclip, pay heed to this.

The eConsultants are also predicting the “Internet of Things” where a multitude of devices will become web connected – for example showers are currently being fitted out with touchscreens – so it could be a case of whats not connected to the web in the future.

Multiple touch points “will turn into thousands” and there will be more accessibility and inter-connectivity for consumers both in-store but also in other sites, says Hird.

But there will be also more complexity as the number of touchpoints increases, he adds. Hird cites retailer strategies in the UK like John Lewis who have installed kiosks in locations allowing customers to simply browse in its online store.

Many predict some major High Street retailers will be closed in five years he adds, but whether this becomes a reality has yet to be seen.

The ecommerce guru cites the words of Google Chairman Eric Schmidt: “if you don’t have a mobile strategy you don’t have a future strategy. “

And speaking of strategy, online and offline are now converging into one and no longer separate entities. “Data is the key for marketers” and ads will be more targeted than ever, Hird predicts.

But he also cites EU regulations on cookies which could put a spanner in the works for retailers looking to tracks user buying patterns.

“We’re in an experience age but moving to utilitarian age with real time interaction on devices. There will be “multiple digital platforms and it’s very difficult to know where these will be” – in the home, retail store etc.

Instead of the 4Ps of marketing (product, price promotion, place), retailers will be thinking of the 4 Es – experience, everyplace, exchange and evangelism.

But one thing is for certain, the future of retailing will be lead by technology, says Hird. “Steering the digital ship will be done through technology.”