The Next Generation of Ecommerce

Amazon celebrated its birthday on July 5, 2017. The conglomerate already commands 37 per cent of the eCommerce market according to recent projections and will be responsible for half of all the online sales within 3 years.

Taking these numbers into consideration, it’s easy to forget that both Amazon and eCommerce are still in their infancy in the grand scheme of things.

In spite of the futuristic advances such as the new drone service and 2-hour delivery, success in the long run starts with an understanding of the potential points of friction and fundamental market opportunities.

What does the future of eCommerce hold for 2018 and beyond? The answer is in the following trends:

eCommerce is enjoying growth, but represents just 9.1% of retail sales

The market share of eCommerce in Q3 2017 expressed as a percentage of the overall retail sales has grown to 9.1% according to the U.S. census bureau, which is up from 3.5% just one decade ago.

However, brick and mortar businesses are still dominant, and by a huge margin. The quick growth coupled with a low market share means that the opportunity still exists for new players to outpace the leaders in the industry.

High-growth businesses should find ways to enjoy success in business and life. Companies that wish to capitalize on this trend also need to focus on optimizing the in-store experiences for customers in conjunction with the eCommerce expressions.

B2B eCommerce dwarfs B2C eCommerce by more than $2 Trillion

You might not have already made an investment in your own eCommerce wholesale channel, but you have probably considered it. The B2B eCommerce numbers speak for themselves after all. Statista estimates that the gross merchandise volume of B2B eCommerce transactions in 2017 is projected to equal $7.66 trillion up from 2013’s $5.83 trillion.

The difference in growth is almost equal to the whole amount of projected transactions in business-to-consumer transactions in 2017 at $2.143. The average conversion rate of business-to-business survey respondents was 10%, which is more than 3 times higher than the 3 percent average that B2C eCommerce executives reported.

The opportunity naturally comes with its own challenges. All B2B eCommerce buyers are also potential B2C eCommerce shoppers. Having shopped at Amazon, they are also likely to be conditioned to desire a similar experience i.e. streamlined, direct, and fast operations without any resistance between search and checkout. They are likely to prefer buying at the website and not via a sales representative.

It is mandatory to experiment with self-service B2B eCommerce.

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