Digital Commerce — Is it a technology or a business process? Some of us would have said ‘yes’ to both a couple of years back. Today many would take a pause to think before they answer.
Simply put, digital commerce is the buying and selling of goods and services using the Internet, mobile networks and commerce infrastructure. It includes activities that offer possibilities to deliver customer experience at all touchpoints throughout the customer buying journey – social, mobile, search, emerging channels.
The possibilities for greater outcomes offered by digital can be achieved through technology enablers such as data analytics, product and web content management systems, payments, order management and logistics systems to deliver a best-in-class customer experience.
Though technological advances are enablers that now make it possible to turn ideas into people-centric products, services, and business models; It actually is all about people and their connected experiences! These people are at the centre or at the core of every technology – it could be your workforce, customers, partners, a user of your product or a connected community. For winning in the era of digital disruption, you need to combine and blend the people, process and technology to perfection.
At the root of this transformation is a movement – a fundamental paradigm shift – from the siloed thinking, to that of sharing and collaborating all powered by emerging technology solutions that comprise cloud, mobility, data analytics, IoT & Artificial Intelligence /Machine Learning.
The surge of the mobile internet and the technology evolution that largely simplifies the process of completing online transactions are further reducing barriers to entry across a wide range of economic activity. Many have embraced digital commerce today as a more holistic way of doing business which allows them to more effectively direct their marketing and business efforts in an integrated way.
A few years ago, we described digital commerce as one of the top IT-enabled business trends that will profoundly alter the business landscape. The pace of technology change, innovation, and business adoption since then have been stunning. Consider the number of internet-connected devices and payments by mobile phone that is pushing toward the trillion-mark doubling the world’s stock of data every few months.
Today the users have computing and connectivity in their palms. Even small businesses like home run companies are connected to the vast amount of knowledge, people networks, things/objects. To top it all, this is all made easier through emerging technologies such as cloud, big data, analytics, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning or even the recent Natural Language Processing. Many newer technologies are coming to the fore while you’re reading this, transforming commerce and everything it comprises in a way to create & deliver value in the era of digital disruption. However, to maximize the potential of digital commerce, first & foremost, we must put the ‘user’ at the center of all our thinking – experience-driven commerce here is the key.
Experience-driven commerce is an immersive brand experience that has got some of the successful enterprises re-think and re-imagine their commerce vision. After all, meeting customer needs at every stage of the purchase and post-purchase journey create a memorable experience that matters to the customer as well as the business.
Experience now has entered to the core of everything, making businesses run on it and change the way products & services are discovered and purchased and even the way we seek support. These transactions are now performed in an on-going cycle 24/7 and are no longer a distinct activity. Both in B2C & B2B, digital commerce integration has become priority #1. Customer journeys now merge online and in-store. This convergence has become a new normal.
As a global digital and IT services company with a focus on digital commerce, we help businesses propel forward & deliver at speed by delivering a commerce experience that is: Smart, Seamless & Scalable – for transformative commerce to effectively lead in the digital economy. No matter the industry you are in, winning the customer journey by offering experience-driven commerce is going to be the key, way forward.
While many have been discussing experience-driven commerce for years, recent acquisitions and developments in commerce platforms and clouds have all led to increased interest in the topic.
Brad Rencher, Executive Vice President at Adobe, even stated recently that experience-driven commerce is “the future of commerce”.
But what is ‘experience-driven commerce’, and what does it mean for businesses?
Know this in the next blog.
