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What's next for E-Commerce?

Date: 17 January 2012, Author: Steve Jackson

Having worked on many e-commerce projects and even built our own platform for e-commerce it seems that we are overdue a step change in the technology and processes behind buying online. This led me to research who was out there pushing the boundaries and in what direction they were being pushed.

Although there is no dominant trend, or player, at the moment there are some shoots of innovation out there that have the potential to change the landscape of e-commerce.

Social Shopping

The most obvious direction for e-commerce to go is to ride on the wave of social networking and become a more social or group experience as well. 

We are already seeing the first tentative attempts at this with many shops integrating with Facebook login, like buttons etc. There are also a number of applications springing up to allow vendors to open up a shop right inside Facebook, utilising all of the social features that Facebook delivers. I think we will see more and more of this.

The emergence of sites like Groupon, Kaboodle and ThisNext also point toward a future for more social shopping experiences.

Mobile Payments

Our payment systems have basically stood still for a number of years now but there are some interesting new developments like Google Wallet that could make payment easier, more secure and more mobile. Maybe integration with a technology like QR codes to automatically check out online using your mobile phone could be the way forward.

Personalisation / Localisation / Symantic

The web is moving apace to become more semantic, more personalised and localised, and this trend will continue to push e-commerce forward. Online stores will display products based on the users individual search patterns, things they already own, where they are, what the weather is doing outside their window!

AI / MMO Game Technology meets E-Commerce

There have already been a number of attempts to create a virtual shopping mall, for example kindest.com a few years back but they have failed to gain popularity. However, I believe the landscape is beginning to change and we have a gaming industry to rival the movie business in revenue terms.

These game developers are successfully deploying MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) games on a global basis and there is no reason why this infrastructure and technology cannot be applied to a shopping application.

Add to this the advances in motion tracking technology and it is only a short jump to imagine an application where we can walk through the shopping centre, pick things from the shelf and put them in our basket, all from the comfort of your own home.

Build in traditional product management, stock control and payment systems, add in some social elements and e-commerce has moved to the next level! A combination of all the above will drive e-commerce development over the next 10 years and there is opportunity for some new companies to take a dominant position in the sector.

Source: http://www.ospgroup.co.uk/news-articles/what-next-for-e-commerce.htm