Humanization as the future of electronic commerce
August 11, 1994, is known as the date on which electronic commerce originated, since that day the first payment transaction was made through the network. Using a powerful version of data encryption designed to ensure privacy, Phil Branden was the first user of electronic transactions by purchasing a CD that was shipped to him by FedEx from the NoteworthyMusic warehouse in Nashua to Philadelphia.
Only 27 years have passed from this milestone and the growth of Electronic Commerce has had a truly vertiginous leap, in addition, seeing how it has positioned itself today in the world leaving behind the face-to-face stores, an effect that, boosted by the pandemic, and increasingly more innovative technological advances, makes us think about what is coming for the next 10 years.
Consumer companies are used to echoing US trends, while the East is where the focus should be today. It is a matter of stopping to look a little and we realize that the Chinese market is much larger and more creative, with fully technological companies that combine electronic commerce, social networks and advertising campaigns, with a clear objective; become department stores for the online purchases of 850 million digital consumers.
While China’s leadership in e-commerce is not entirely new, in terms of size, its market surpassed the North American in 2013. Then, when Alibaba went public in 2014, it was the world’s largest initial public offering. And today, the Chinese e-commerce market is valued at several trillion dollars, more than that of the United States and Europe combined.
However, as secure and compartmentalized as Western Electronic Commerce may seem, it is unlikely to become the dominant mode of purchase in the world. Beyond rich countries, the Eastern approach is gaining ground. Several of the major e-commerce companies in India, Southeast Asia, and Latin America are influenced by the China-originated strategy of offering a rich platform. in services ranging from fastfood delivery to financial procedures.
Experts assure that Electronic Commerce will continue, but like everything in life, it will evolve over time. Soon it will no longer be just that web page where a photo of a product appears, great offers and a promise of delivery in one day at your house. In the future, many sales will be hybrids. We will go to a unified commerce, the stores will increasingly host operations related to Electronic Commerce, becoming essential protagonists of many online shopping decisions. Therefore, hybrid purchases, where the physical and the digital are mixed, will be the future. As well as purchases by Live Streaming, a non-traditional Electronic Commerce model that is gaining strength in Latin America and which originated in China in response to the growing demand for online commerce.
Electronic Commerce has basically been the distributive algorithm of things, but if we think about how everything tends towards humanization, the possibility that technology gives us to connect consumers and sellers in real time, supported by the integral use of social networks. We understand that the future of eCommerce will or will not be hybrid.
- Sebastian Jaramillo Bossi, Co-Founder Kuick-
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