Raconteur published a special report in The Times of London. The report, called Future of E-Commerce, highlights the trends and developments that will shape eCommerce in the coming years.

You can download your free digital copy here:
Future of E-commerce - The Times (6.332 KB)

The special report addresses the challenges brands face when selling online and offers expert advice on how to tackle these issues. The report investigates how brands can compete with Amazon, why social media is transforming shopping and ways to harness the power of automation. In addition, Alibaba’s UK business development director reveals what makes Chinese consumers click.

Here’s a top 7 of what we discovered along the way:

1. Stakes are high in "battle of Amazon"

One quarter of all office space in Seattle is Amazon’s. In the UK a quarter of warehousing let in 2016 was to Amazon. From robo-warehouses to drones, Amazon’s dominance across the e-commerce supply chain may seem daunting. Yet as we find in Charles Orton Jones’ opening article, it’s all to play for – probe and there are weak spots. We explore the ways in which those who find the right strategy can find a prosperous niche in this new ecosystem.

2. What makes the Chinese click?

British businesses export more to Ireland than China. Population 4.5 million compared with 1.4 billion. The reason? Brits are intimidated. The language is for many unfathomable, the geography forbidding, basic knowledge lacking. The shopper will browse while chatting with friends and taking in a live stream by their favourite brand; more engaging, immersive and advanced than what us Brits are used to. In an interview with David Lloyd, UK Director of Alibaba, we discuss why British businesses are not taking advantage of the "insane" opportunity the Chinese market presents.

3. Business is playing catch-up with e-retail

I mentioned in a previous article that B2B e-commerce appears to be moving at the rate of a sloth wearing ankle weights. Buying widgets, stationery, office furniture or anything else needed to keep a business running tends to be cumbersome, clunky and slow. Yet according to Frost & Sullivan the global B2B market in e-commerce could be worth double the size of the B2C sector by 2020. Punch Taverns are responding to the stock management needs of taverns and pubs in an interesting way. As David Benady writes:

"Where once publicans would have gone down
to the cellar with a clipboard to fill in an order
form or wait for a representative from the
brewer to visit to take the order, today’s
system is selfservice and seamless"

Cheers to that.

4. Clicking to buy on social media has yet to win over customers

We all know social media has the power to reach a hard-to-engage audience, but the very nature of social media – the ability to share, recommend and show products to friends – holds massive potential for shoppers. However, as Rachel Barton points out "moving beyond like to buy is no easy task". Dennis Jones, CEO of Judopay, argues that selling via social has little potential:

"Twitter recently shut down their buy button
and we don’t anticipate Facebook
experiencing more than moderate success with
theirs"

So what’s holding the West back? Find out in Alison Coleman’s article.

5. People… standing on the shoulders of robots and digital capabilities, are the future of e-commerce

"Like a fossilised dinosaur footprint,
e-commerce has left a lasting mark on retail,
yet is increasingly absent from the
customer’s mind"

Ian Jarvis paints a vivid picture of the next phase in retail’s development; augmented humanity.

6. Luxury retailers can be shy online

While John Lewis attributes 34.5 per cent of its sales online, luxury conglomerate LVMH (owner of Louis Vuitton, Givenchy and Fendi) musters only 4 per cent. Why? As Claire Adler explains, rarity and exclusivity often lie at the heart of the luxury business model, while digital communications are all about global access. From diamonds to augmented reality trainers, this piece on personalisation stresses that brands must focus on customer centricity, rather than using the latest technologies simply because they can.

7. Machines are turning wheels of e-commerce

It would be daft to have a report on e-commerce that didn’t examine the impact of automation and AI on the customer journey. In this final article Nick Easen cuts through the hype of buzzwords spanning from blockchain to programmatic commerce, painting a fascinating vision of the future of e-commerce.

You can download your free digital copy here:
Future of E-commerce - The Times (6.332 KB)