December is one of the most, if not the most, busy times of year for ecommerce outlets. From the end of November through to the hallowed Christmas Day morning spending splurge, shoppers globally splash out. In North America alone, Americans spend over USD$3tn at Christmas.
With that in mind, ecommerce retailers have been scrambling for months to get ahead of the latest technology curve and get themselves out in front over the course of this holiday season. As you’re keeping an eye on your Christmas countdown, keep your other eye on seeing these trends pop up.
Small Vendors Getting Savvy
Lots of big business tools have filtered down this year to give a better experience to smaller-level buyers. From voice recognition to access to big data via the likes of Google, all of the tools are out there for smaller vendors to be seen and make a success this holiday season. Used by most major retailers, selling consultants AMZShark suggest big data is keyto getting ahead of the curve, a view echoed by experts at Bloomberg.
1-Click Ordering Liberation
You may not have noticed, but when you head to Amazon you’re able to order with 1-click. Now, have you ever noticed that on another website? Turns out that Amazon patented this process – and the 1-click patent expired this year. This has the potential to turn the market upside down somewhat, as it’s been noted from research that consumers value their time so highly that websites taking over 3 seconds to load will be abandoned. Expect similar treatment towards slow purchasing.
Bitcoin Luxury Market
Possibly begrudgingly, but with decent pace, the US markets are starting to adapt to the terribly disruptive Bitcoin crave. Whilst the coin hasn’t previously found much traction outside of the over-the-top luxuries market, the new found sense of belonging of bitcoin amongst American markets and trading means that plenty of sites are offering Bitcoin payments. Expect to see many more trades conducted in the coin, which could have an interesting effect on prices pretty much everywhere else.
Those are the main tech trends you can expect to see over the holiday period this year. More access for smaller vendors in the scrum, more currency options, and perhaps better ordering services across the board. What might crop up next year?