E-commerce, how it Got Here, and Where it's Going.

E-commerce is something many of us are already familiar with. Amazon, E-bay, Facebook market place, so forth. Many of us might not know where we'd be without it. In this blog, we will briefly go over what e-commerce is, it's background, and then breaking it down into it's core elements as look at current trends, and things to keep an eye out for moving forward.

What is it? How does it work?

E-commerce is the buying and selling of goods over an electronic network (aka, the internet). Over the past 2 decades, e-commerce has evolved from imagination, to innovation, to streamline with the rise of e-commerce sites like Amazon and e-bay. When Covid hi, and in-person shopping became temporarily obsolete in parts of the country and world, e-commerce sales accounted for over 16% of retail sales.

I'll skip the nitty gritty stuff, as many individuals not only understand how e-commerce works, but use e-commerce on a semi-regular basis. While it's great to understand e-commerce from a consumer perspective (which most individuals have), what about the business side of things.

As customers go through the checkout process, data and messages are being sent back and forth from the customer's browser and the server hosting the e-commerce site. Once an order is placed from the customer's side, that data is sent to the order manager. The order manager is a central computer that processes all incoming information. It accounts for inventory and makes mark-ups as items are ordered, ensures there are sufficient incoming funds to purchase the item, and notifies the server to send the customer to a "order is complete" screen.

Types of E-commerce business models.

B2B-Business to Business

The term "e-commerce" doesn't just refer to the typical products sold online and shipped to your residence. It distinctly refers to "the electronic exchange of products, services, and information." Businesses buy and sell their products, services, and information online all the time. Take the 2016 election for example. Facebook sold millions of individuals' personal information to Cambridge Analytica, to create targeted and personalized ads to skew potential voters views and outlooks on their nation. While unethical, still an example of how e-commerce can be used in more ways than the traditional.

B2C-Business to Consumer

Is the more common part of e-commerce that the general public is more familiar with. This looks like making purchases off of amazon and getting it delivered or purchasing the rights to a piece of digital information like a game or NFT. When focusing on a B2C type of business model, it's important to keep in mind the customer journey, and making that journey as easy as possible, with minimum pain points. Landing pages, remarketing, and outreach are going to be your best friends in this territory.

Innovations in E-commerce:

Thinking about starting your own e-commerce business? Great! You got your business model set, and your site up and running. Now, how are you going to 1-up the other e-commerce sites? Check out some examples below of what's happening in the market:

• Live Stream Buying: Content creators and merchandise companies are teaming up in a new form of influencer marketing, live stream selling. Content creators are showcasing products on their live streams with an easy "buy" button on the bottom on the screen, to buy the exact product being showcased. This brings back something that other e-commerce brands lose in the online world, impulse buying. Customers can see the products displayed from their favorite content creators, and buy it on the spot, despite it being irrelevant to the content and the creator.
• AI powered recommendations: Many mainstream e-commerce businesses, like Amazon, track purchase history, and make recommendations to you based on such. Recommendations can look like paring your purchased product with another product, or showing what other people tend to buy after they buy a similar product. On the other hand, if a product is left in your cart for too long, you may see notifications from said e-commerce site, telling you to go buy it, or even give you a discount for purchasing it ASAP.
• The "Digital Shelf": The digital shelf, is essentially the customer journey when it comes to e-commerce sites. It's a collection of understandings of how customers learn about, find, come across, and purchase your product. For example, when customers are looking to shop online, they typically go to the search bar of whatever search engine their using. That search engine will generate a query based on the criteria. Some items in the query may be exactly what the customer is looking for, or similar to. Understanding how your product ranks in that search criteria will further help you on your quest to more conversions!
• Live Tracking: Many mainstream e-commerce sites, like Amazon, have detailed tracking and reporting of ordered items. They give text prompts to let you know when the item is shipped, expected delivery date, and actual delivery date/time. You can even go into the app to track your order live. Some companies are using this idea of inventory tracking and taking it to the next level. Zella uses RFID chips to track orders/shipments, and even during the checkout process for a convenient and luxurious experience.

The world of e-commerce is constantly changing, with Meta looking to change the scope of how the internet is utilized, to Amazon looking capture more and more of the e-commerce market. Utilizing these changes and innovations, and implementing them into your e-commerce business, you will give yourself the leg-up to be the next best seller on the internet.