“Nothing ever becomes real till experienced”. John Keats.
Who knew that the above quote by the famous English poet John Keats could well summaries today’s digital commerce conundrum of enterprises.
It is widely known and accepted now, that technology is no more just a backend tool to run your business, but is driving the industry towards the peak of modern-day retailing. One of the reasons for this acceptance is the business case. Global retail e-commerce sales will reach roughly $4 trillion by 2020. The second reason is the urgent need to engage with customers and unfold experience-driven commerce.
Up until a few years back an actual shopping experience would be walking into a store and experiencing the actual shopping. That is not the case anymore. I will not be surprised to see in a few month’s time, technologies like augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR) providing vendors with an option of displaying their products in immersive details. For enterprises this means an immediate way to engage with customers as it allows consumers ability to envisage using the product.
Hence, building a robust online experience for customers has never been more critical. But with a technology roadmap that has the ability to merge with new innovations. One of the technology that has been around for sometime is voice assistant. We have seen several usages of chatbots in enterprise ecosystem. But with the advent and increase usage of Amazon’ Alexa, Siri from Apple and Google’s Google Assistant, enterprises need to optimize these into consumer offerings.
For enterprises this means they should have a strategy in place that will integrate purchase, payment, delivery and re-order information into their voice platform. At a time when consumers want things fast and convenient, voice assistants have moved on from being just a device to play music to an easy way to buy goods and services. According to the Consumer Technology Association two-thirds of voice shoppers access a digital assistant every day.
What has caused this shift in bringing ‘experience’ to the core of everything? The answer is quite simple, connect with consumers. Also, transactions are now performed in an on-going cycle 24/7 and are no longer a distinct activity. A customers journey now merges online and in-store experience. This convergence of digital and in-person intricately linked creates the symbiotic commercial ecosystem we call omnichannel.
This is further gets accentuated in an increasingly hyper-commoditized market, where everyone though want to compete with the giants like Amazon, Alibaba and Flipkart, they also want to look different. Tools like AI will allow enterprises to go a step further in bringing personalization for a superior customer experience.
We at e-Zest have been partnering with clients to strategies a roadmap that allows them to integrate these technologies seamlessly into their solutions. We deliver a commerce experience that is: Smart, Seamless & Scalable – a winning strategy for transformative commerce and cornerstones to effectively lead in the digital economy.
We believe that envisioning a digital commerce business is one thing; getting users engaged is another. This reminds me of Magento Imagine 2019, which is around the corner. This event is one of the largest of its kind for the global e-Commerce community. It will also gives us a chance to learn more, share more and bring more value to our clients with our continued partnership & participation. We are geared up for the show this year and look forward to bringing you some incredible insights about everything commerce.
