The e-commerce sector is immersed in full digital transformation. If in 2020, approximately one in five companies (19%) made sales through the Internet in the European Union, forecasts point to in just ten years one in 3 will (30%), based on current growth volumes. A system that, however, will not grow to the detriment of traditional trade. Everything points to a ecosystem phygital in which physical and digital stores will coexist, expanding the range of possibilities for consumers to unsuspected limits.
In fact, our way of buying and relating to businesses has radically changed in recent years. issues like order food through an apprealize super fast shopping in a supermarket with our smartphone, or the simple fact of pay immediately with our smart watchThey seemed like science fiction just a decade ago. And in the same way, we already see how incipient technologies are beginning to have a greater presence, and allow us to draw the scene of the commerce sector in the next ten years.
The main effect of the digital transformation in commerce has been the multiplication of opportunities and facilities for users and consumers. Access to any product today is cheaper, faster and easier than ever, although evolution is constant, and the presence of digital media will be even greater in the coming years. Instead, the great challenges and developments in the sector are now found internally, in the transition towards a more efficient and sustainable model.
Noelia Lázaro, Packlink Marketing Director.
Buy in 2030, what will it be like?
According to INE figures, at the beginning of the last decade only 43% of Spaniards used the internet on a daily basiswhile today that number has been multiplied by two, reaching 85.8% of the population. In fact, 2010 was the year in which phenomena such as the smart phonesor social networks like Facebook Y Twitter, began to take off in our country. Their uses and applications have varied greatly, but today they are essential elements for the e-commerce sector. And although it is risky and complicated to predict the future, some current technologies They can help us glimpse what it will be like to buy at the beginning of the next decade:
- metaverse. It was one of the star concepts of 2021. A virtual universein which our avatars can interact, go to meetings, but also buy, play or go to shows. Goal, the parent company of Facebook, is the one who is betting the most on this virtual reality model. Mark Zuckerberg himself presented last year what it would be like attend a work meeting, and even play sports in this virtual world. Some brands in the textile sector have begun to present their own stores in the metaverse, it is already possible buy “digital plots”. More than a million people attended a concert last summer by the artist Ariana Grande. So it does not seem unreasonable that, in a matter of a few years, we can make our purchases in supermarkets or digital stores thanks to our avatar.
- Personalization. It is one of the great challenges of digitization, offering increasingly personalized experiences to users, based on their tastes and preferences. The large amounts of data we handle and our fingerprint they are the main source of the famous algorithms, which in recent years have been perfecting their capacity and getting closer to our interests.
- merged reality. In addition to virtual reality, augmented reality will improve the user experience. Whether through a virtual glasses or through the screen of our smartphone, simply by focusing on a product we can know its price and characteristics immediately through a digital interface.
- Smart products. Technologies such as the blockchain will allow us to access complete and verified databases when we access a product or service. just scanning a barcode of a food, we will be able to know when and where it has been produced, what has been its transit until reaching our supermarket, and what are its nutritional values and expiration date, all instantly.
- Showrooms. As we have pointed out, physical stores will not give up their space to digital stores, but will coexist and evolve. A fairly common prediction in the sector is the evolution towards the showroom model, especially in the textile sector. We can go to a store, learn about the products, try them, choose how to customize or modify them, and ask them to send it to us, whenever we want, home. In this way, we went from the store-warehouse model to a store-oriented store. user experience.
- Sustainability by flag. Our model of consumption and production is increasingly oriented towards circular economy, which aims to be the great phenomenon of consumption in the coming years. The textile sector is one of the champions. There are more and more options to give a second life to garments. From a fast and intensive consumption model, we will move to a product reuse model.
“We are heading towards a more sustainable and less crowded consumption model. Our consumer experiences will be more personalized. Everything will revolve around user experience. A change that will come hand in hand with the evolution of the logistics and transport sector, which if it is already fundamental for the retail sector, will acquire even more value and importance, both for companies and users”, concludes Noelia Lázaro, Marketing Director of Packlink.