Global E-Commerce Trends to Watch

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As online shopping becomes a standard experience for consumers, Global E-Commerce companies are competing harder for business and looking to expand into new markets and regions around the world. Consumers are looking at global products as their “local” economy and companies are expected to deliver products in record time. The lines continues to blur between an “in-store” experience where you walk out the door with your purchase, and an online experience where you can now choose One Hour Delivery (Amazon), same day delivery (Google Express), or instant delivery (Uber Rush). Shoppers also now have the opportunity to grab extreme deals outside of traditional blitzes like Black Friday. Amazon premiered its new “ Prime Day” and other retailers are flowing suit. Let’s take a deeper look into the top trends for Global E-Commerce.

China Continues to Grow

As China continues to outpace the United States in total online sales revenue, the Ecommerce industry is certainly beginning to watch. China surpassed $562Billion in 2014 [1] and recently Tech Crunch reported that they estimate Chinese E-Commerce sales to reach $1Trillion by 2019.

 

China is growing in sales around the world but is also looking at new innovations to deliver to the most remote regions of it own country. These innovations will surely spread to other markets as retailers such as Alibaba and JD look at new delivery strategies to reach consumers outside of major cities. Alibaba is also looking to capitalize upon America’s small businesses as it opens new offices in the United States and begins to implement it’s next stage of growth. Recently Jack Ma gave a speech to the Economic Forum in New York where he stated, “Our vision is in 10 years, we will help two billion consumers in the world shop online… We need more American products to go to China…We have 100 million hungry people coming to buy every day.” [2]

Delivery Will Continue to Disrupt E-Commerce

The spotlight is now on disruption in delivery methods for E-Commerce purchases. Amazon recently released Same Day Delivery and One Hour Delivery called Amazon Prime Now , which is available on a mobile app in certain zip codes. For an upgraded fee a courier will deliver to your location in a special Amazon Prime Now bag. This is a great service for customers who need a product immediately, however there is still a question on the value difference between same day delivery and one-hour delivery. The consumer hunger for instant gratification will continue to drive E-Commerce delivery innovation. Uber is beginning to disrupt this space with its new E-Commerce delivery service called UberRUSH. [3]

 

Businesses can sign up with UberRUSH and have instant delivery at their disposal. This is a great concept for small businesses and also a strategic partnership opportunity for larger organizations. Lyft has recently won the contract against Uber to deliver coffee for Starbucks, however this is the first in a series of partnerships between delivery services and major E-Commerce and retail companies as they compete to fulfill the appetite for instant delivery.

Looking Beyond Black Friday


Black Friday has traditionally been the opportunity for retailers to get shoppers into stores or push huge deals online. However 2015 has been the year retailers introduced huge deals during the summer instead of waiting until the holiday season. Amazon Prime Day premiered this past summer as Walmart quickly followed suit with its own deals. There were mixed reviews from consumers to the types of products offered, however Amazon’s sales still rose 93%.[4] The E-Commerce giant has proved that they can attract just as many shoppers with a huge discount push during the summer as the holiday season. These type of results put into question the need for a “Black Friday” shopping season, which was first put into place in order for cash revenue to go positive into the “black.” If E-Commerce retailers can have these sales results at any point during the year, we could be looking at the turning point of how the industry re-defines the shopping season and its own cyclical revenue patterns.[5]


This past year has been a huge one for E-Commerce. More shoppers are using mobile devices in emerging economies driving user experience innovations and delivery disruption in all regions of the world. It will be interesting to watch how delivery, design, and discounts will drive E-Commerce innovation.

[1] Article-AdWeek (2015): Morrison, Kimberly, September 8, 2015, Top Global Ecommerce Markets and Trends Infographic , http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/top-global-e-commerce-markets-and-trends-infographic/626303

[2] Business Bloomberg (2015), Cao, Jim, Cao, Bonnie, June 9, 2015, US Small Business is Key to Alibaba’s Growth, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-09/u-s-small-business-key-to-alibaba-growth-outside-china-ma-says

[3]Image- UberRush: https://rush.uber.com/how-it-works

[4] Article- CNN (2015), Goldman, David, Despite Complaints Amazon Sales Soared 93% on Prime Day, http://money.cnn.com/2015/07/16/technology/amazon-prime-day-sales-increase/

[5] Image- Feedfront (2015), Amazon Prime Day is Coming, Collins, Shawn, July 8, 2015, http://feedfront.com/archives/article009123


By Angeley Mullins

November 2015