Owners of online stores are familiar with the concept of “electronic commerce” firsthand; they already know the answer to the question “e-commerce - what is it?” But if you get to the bottom of it, many nuances emerge and this term takes on wider meaning.
E-commerce: what is it?
The general concept is as follows: e-commerce is understood as a certain approach to doing business, which involves the inclusion of a number of operations using digital transmission data when providing goods or providing services/work, including via the Internet.
Thus, it is any commercial transaction that is carried out using electronic means communications.
The work scheme is arranged as follows:
- anyone can be a blogger or any other owner of their own Internet page) registers in this system;
- gets its own link;
- places a special code on its web page - an advertisement for the selected official partner of the e-Commerce Partners Network appears;
- monitors website conversion;
- earns a certain percentage for each purchase by a visitor to your website who follows an affiliate link.
WP e-Commerce
A large number of people are now passionate about e-commerce, primarily due to the desire to create their own website, a unique online store to sell their own products. To meet this growing demand, developers have focused on creating e-commerce templates. Let's look at what this is next.
One such example of template is WordPress e-commerce. It is a shopping cart plugin for WordPress (one of the most famous web resource management systems), intended primarily for creating and organizing blogs). It is provided completely free of charge and allows site visitors to make purchases on the website.
In other words, this plugin allows you to create an online store (based on WordPress). This e-commerce plugin has all the necessary tools, settings and options to suit modern needs.
He remembers what mistakes the company made before it acquired 15 thousand regular customers and reached revenues of 90 million rubles a year.
Mistake 1. Choosing an engine for a website without assessing future tasks
The eternal problem: take a ready-made CMS (cheaper, faster, there is ready-made functionality, but you can’t jump beyond this functionality) or write a website from scratch (everything can be customized, but it’s time-consuming and expensive)? We initially wanted to create a special service, plus implement a subscription system that is not available in the CMS, so we took the path of creating a custom website.
To do right choice, it is important to describe the functionality of the project in advance and assess whether you need detailed customization, or whether ready-made solutions are enough. If there is enough functionality, but you don’t want to experiment and dive deeply into development issues instead of sales, then it’s better to start with a CMS. Later, you will understand the needs of the project and create a custom website without unnecessary refactoring.
Mistake 2. Working with one logistics company
No matter how good it is, sooner or later either prices will start to rise or the service will deteriorate. In addition, different logisticians have different tariff schedules, and it is more profitable to work with some in Moscow, and with others in the regions.
Faced with the fact that logisticians are the weakest link in our chain, we came to the conclusion: we must initially focus on concluding contracts with several companies and, if necessary, quickly change them. As a result, we connected about ten companies (some through the wonderful aggregator Shiptor, some directly) and made the selection algorithm a site optimal option delivery.
Mistake 3. Not thinking about possible working capital shortages
If the project grows very quickly, at some point the goods will begin to be purchased before they are delivered to the warehouse. We were faced with the fact that at the beginning of 2018, mothers tried and appreciated our diapers and began to sweep out in a couple of days the volumes that we had imported for a month according to the supply plan.
This was very pleasing, on the one hand, but on the other, it led to an empty warehouse, assortment gaps and hundreds of comments on the pages. As a result, we upset and lost clients, and getting them back turned out to be very difficult.
The conclusion is this: you need to think in advance about where to get working capital in case of a sharp increase in demand. Possible options:
Through loans – Alfa Potok and StartTrack services
Receiving subsidies from a production (factory) interested in maintaining and growing the client
Direct investments from business angels or funds
Mistake 4. Use classic traffic channels
Everyone understands that a start-up online store will not be advertised on federal TV: it’s the same as shooting at sparrows with a laser gun. But not everyone understands that the classic channels for buying traffic (contextual, media, retargeting) for most product categories are already on par with TV in cost and efficiency! They are expensive, instantly wipe out the promotion budget and at the same time give a very low conversion into real sales. The way out is atypical steps and new tools, working with opinion leaders, telegram channels, insta stories, virals and cross-marketing.
We decided that our product would speak for us. We distributed diapers to famous bloggers and just mothers with a large number subscribers on social networks, asked them to test and write honest review, even if it is not laudatory. In total, almost a thousand mothers tested our diapers; most of them left positive reviews. We discussed possible improvements with those who had comments and implemented them in new batches.
Mistake 5. Hoping that IT can be closed with a couple of outsource programmers
Modern realities are as follows: to stand still, you need to gallop. Especially if we're talking about on the introduction of new sales and conversion models (bots in social networks, cross-platform returns, orders through instant messengers, sales tunnels, A/B landing pages with intricate mechanics). Any e-commerce activity turns into a complex integration task that involves third-party APIs and requires painstaking configuration and synchronization of all systems.
You need to be aware that two programmers will have time to drink a macchiato and issue an invoice in two or three months. And to develop a project, you need a cohesive development team, consisting of at least a QA tester, front-end and back-end developers, a devops coder and a project manager. Moreover, they must work on a permanent basis. If you want to become a market leader and make good service, prepare to become a development guru with a group of such teams.
Mistake 6. Depend on one supplier (or production)
He will definitely raise prices and start twisting your arms when serious momentum appears. You need to constantly look for new options. Only in this case will competitive offers appear.
At the very beginning, we selected a number of top factories for the production of our diapers - from among those that make premium European and Japanese diapers. Therefore, when counterparties tried to dictate uncompetitive terms, we made it clear that we had alternatives. One plant was even changed, but this decision was dictated, among other things, by the need to improve our product. As a result, we reached a state of comfortable partnership.
Mistake 7. Increasing warehouse costs in proportion to business growth
In this case, the margin will always be minimal. When we were faced with the fact that, with orders doubling, we needed more warehousers (in other words, hands to process), we first began to recruit new staff. But it turned out that this only increases costs and creates chaos.
Having rethought the work of warehouses, we optimized the order processing system, created an assembly line and automated everything that could be automated. The company met the subsequent doubling and then “tenfolding” of the volume of orders with the same number of warehouse personnel.
We did the same with operators: we chose the Asian e-commerce model, in which a maximum of processes are automated and contact with customers is minimal. Now we have a couple of operators processing the number of orders that ten operators in other stores cannot always handle. Since the order is automatically sent for shipment, confirming the stages via SMS, operators do not have to call customers three times, voicing each step.
Mistake 8: Believing that there are universal solutions
It is naive to believe that now you will think through everything once, then you will implement it and happiness will come. Or you will find an ideal counterparty and work successfully with him all the time.
The service requires constant changes. Some things work, some don’t, you have to constantly experiment and redo a lot.
Likewise with counterparties, no matter how great they are, their circumstances, prices, and quality will change. To maintain a given level of product and service, you need to constantly test new partners.
Just like in sports, in order for muscles to grow, you need to regularly put in effort, change exercises and approaches. We changed the composition of diapers, and the factories themselves to take into account the wishes of customers, and logistics companies, and warehouse locations to improve delivery services, and approaches to processing orders, and many IT mechanics and systems for automating processes. The project is in constant motion.
Mistake 9. Not listening to your customers
Until we collected delivery estimates, we did not know which logisticians make serious mistakes and make mothers nervous. And without direct communication With moms, we wouldn't improve our overnight diapers by changing the thickness of the absorbent.
Mistake 10. Not thinking about usability at the start
The “Let’s get involved in the battle and then we’ll see” method (and add everything we need with A/B testing while working) does not always work. The fact is that between the state when you have almost no users and you can implement anything on the site, and the state when you have set up a system for continuous delivery of changes to the site (CI / CD) with several levels of test environments that protect against errors, may take a very long time.
And during all this time, it will be difficult for you to make significant changes to the site, since innovations will inevitably lead to some bugs or improvements. And with constantly growing traffic, it can be very painful if your edits in the text suddenly lead to the disappearance of the “Buy” button, as once happened with us. Angry mothers immediately reported this to us.
Mistake 11. Hiring great specialists and relying on them for everything
I wish I could hire a supermarket specialist, SMM specialist, usability specialist, or (insert any specialty) so that he can close the direction and solve all the problems! Alas, it won't work.
- Firstly, no one, even the coolest specialist, will be able to unambiguously convey the vision of the founders or adopt the motivation. Still, you will have to delve into all the problems and nuances on your own.
- Secondly, at the start, the super specialists on staff will eat up the lion’s share of the budget, and will not be able to use their skills effectively, since the store will not be technically and operationally ready for innovations.
We prefer to take on stars as mentors or order hourly consulting. We also gladly work with mothers on maternity leave. Our principle: no one will understand a mother better than another mother. For example, Anna Khilkevich is the ambassador of the NappyClub brand, mother Katerina manages our pages on social networks, and mother of many children Irina is responsible for product management.
The global e-commerce market is growing rapidly. Which countries account for this and what features do each market have? Remarkety specialists analyzed the markets of various countries around the world, both developed and developing, to identify the peculiarities of running an online business in each of them. Thus, in particular, the volumes of e-commerce markets in various countries, the frequency of using mobile devices when making purchases, popular payment methods, the time at which residents of certain countries prefer to make purchases, the effectiveness of email campaigns within marketing strategy V different countries and other features.
No. 1 - China
The e-commerce market volume is $562.66 billion. 33% of purchases occur from mobile devices (tablets and smartphones), 67% from desktop computers. The average age of an online buyer is 25 years old. Shopping is the fastest growing online activity in China.
China is the largest e-commerce market in the world, not least because of its population. There are more than 600 million Internet users in the country. Shopping is the fastest growing online activity in China. At the same time, email marketing has great success in the Chinese e-commerce market. In a survey, 75% of consumers said they were ready to make a purchase after receiving a special offer in the mail.
No. 2 - USA
The e-commerce market volume is $349.06 billion. 13% of purchases are made from tablets, 15% from smartphones, 72% from desktop computers. Thus, Americans buy more through computers, less through mobile devices. 72% of SMEs do not trade online. Although there are approximately 191.1 million online shoppers in the United States, only 28% of small businesses sell their products online. In general, more than half (57.4%) of American stores operate online. For most American shoppers, the key is to be able to check the availability of goods in a warehouse or in an offline store located near their home. 
No. 3 - Great Britain
The e-commerce market volume is $93.89 billion. 12.1% of purchases are made from tablets, 16.5% from smartphones, 71.4% from desktop computers. 33% of online sales are made after 6 pm. Online trading accounts for 30% of the country's economy. The UK ranks third in the ranking of e-commerce markets. Online sales in this country account for more than 13% of the total retail sales. Most Britons use PayPal, debit and credit cards to pay for goods online. 70% of UK consumers have a smartphone, but only 16.5% use it for shopping. Interesting fact- a third of online sales are made after 6 pm. This may be due to the fact that locals often place online orders at pubs.
No. 4 - Japan
The e-commerce market volume is $79.33 billion. 6% of purchases are made from tablets, 46% from smartphones, 48% from desktop computers. 97% of Internet users make purchases online. Japan's favorite online activity is reading email. Almost the entire Japanese Internet audience, which makes up 80% of the total population, makes purchases in online stores. It is the second most popular online activity after reading email. Recent research shows that Japanese consumers are spending more time at home than ever before, meaning they are spending less time shopping in traditional stores. This opens up great opportunities for online retailers. However, it is worth considering that the Japanese approach the choice of a trading platform with all responsibility, giving preference only to reliable sellers with a good reputation who offer quality products. Reviews of various products are very successful.
No. 5 - Germany
The e-commerce market volume is $74.46 billion. 11.5% of purchases are made from tablets, 16.2% from smartphones, 72.3% from desktop computers. More often email The Germans open in the morning. Half of online sales come from Amazon and Otto. 85% of the German population are Internet users. Among online retailers, the most popular among Germans are Amazon and Otto, a German marketplace. It is not easy for small and medium-sized businesses to compete with such giants, but there is a way out. The most popular trend in online trading in Germany is fashion. So if you have a small store fashionable clothes, you could develop quite successfully in the German market. When promoting an online store, it is worth considering that despite the high degree of Internet penetration, German residents are not very active in social networks. For example, only 17% of users check their Facebook in the morning. Germans pay much more attention to email.
The ability to return goods is of great importance to German consumers. Germany shows a very high return rate - up to 50% of all orders are sent back to the store. Therefore, in order to keep customers happy, it is important for online stores operating in Germany to consider a return system and organize free delivery.
No. 6 - France
The e-commerce market volume is $42.62 billion. 8.1% of purchases are made from tablets, 11.1% from smartphones, 80.8% from desktop computers. Only 68% of French people use the Internet. 19% of purchases are made on foreign websites. Only 68% of France's 66.2 million people are internet users. This is significantly less than in the UK, USA, Germany and China. Also, the French spend less money on online shopping than residents of these countries. However, in terms of e-commerce market volume, France ranks 6th, ahead of South Korea, Canada, Russia and Brazil.
No. 7 - South Korea
The e-commerce market volume is $36.76 billion. 1% of purchases are made from tablets, 50% from smartphones, 49% from desktop computers. The most high speed Internet in the world. Most people shop between 10 and 12 pm. On average, for every resident of South Korea there are up to 5 credit cards. For comparison, in the US everyone has an average of 2 cards. This explains the high credit debt of Koreans. South Koreans love sales and promotions. And the most fast internet only promotes online shopping. Unlike the Germans, who like to shop in the morning, and the British, who prefer evening shopping, South Koreans can definitely be classified as “night owls” who stay up late in front of the screen. South Koreans often buy American goods. In all likelihood, this is due to the fact that local South Korean products are nine times more expensive than their foreign counterparts.
No. 8 - Canada
The e-commerce market volume is $28.77 billion. 7.5% of purchases are made from tablets, 8.7% from smartphones, 83.8% from desktop computers. 45% of purchases occur on foreign websites. About 70% of smartphone users make purchases through mobile devices. Just under half of Canadian consumers prefer foreign sites. The reason for this is high prices for local goods, which, although of similar quality, cannot compete with cheaper American and, especially, Chinese goods. In addition, foreign online retailers offer a wider range of products compared to Canadian stores. Transportation costs in Canada are 3.6 times higher than in the United States.
No. 9 - Russia
The e-commerce market volume is $20.30 billion. 12% of purchases are made from tablets, 8% from smartphones, 80% from desktop computers. The most popular payment method is cash on delivery. About 13% of Russians make purchases on the Internet. Mainly to save money and time. The most popular product categories are electronics, clothing and footwear. The main difficulties faced by e-commerce enterprises in Russia are the lack of access to high speed internet in some regions there is also undeveloped road infrastructure. Unlike residents of other countries represented in the ranking, Russians prefer to pay for purchases in cash upon delivery.
No. 10 - Brazil
The e-commerce market volume is $18.80 billion. 4% of purchases are made from tablets, 8% from smartphones, 88% from desktop computers. 18% of all online stores sell clothing and accessories. Only 8% of purchases are made through smartphones. When shopping online, Brazilians prefer fashion stores. Such sites cover about 18% of the Brazilian retail network.
India
India was not included in the ranking of the largest e-commerce markets, but it is also worth paying attention to. The Indian market is the largest emerging ecommerce market. Despite the fact that Internet penetration in the country is just over 10%, the volume of online commerce is constantly growing. The most popular trends among Indians are electronics and fashion. Along with the growing number of online shoppers, the number of mobile users is also growing in India. Nowadays, most purchases are made through a mobile device. The main challenge in the Indian e-commerce market is delivery. In most parts of the country, infrastructure is poorly developed, especially in rural regions.
The Association of Internet Trading Companies (AKIT) has prepared a study of the online jewelry trading market in Russia. The market is growing, although not as dynamically as we would like it to be active players, however, online jewelry trading is showing strong, stable growth.
The results are based on market data from open sources, as well as research results from the AKIT analytical center.
.Volume and dynamics of the online jewelry sales market
In general, the jewelry trade market is showing growth, which, although not spasmodic, is showing confident movement.
So, if in 2016 the trade volume amounted to a total of 180 billion rubles (-18% compared to 2015), with the share of Online sales in 1% , and offline - 99% , That 2017 the year has already shown total revenue of 187.5 billion rubles (+4% compared to 2016). At the same time, the share of online sales reached 3% , offline – 97% .
Forecast for 2018 – 200 billion rubles (+6 compared to 2017). Online (in case of legalization of distance selling) – 7% , offline – 93%.
In 2018, according to our forecasts, the market will return to the levels of 2015, after which there was a powerful decline. The increase will occur, among other things, due to a significant increase in the share of online orders after the legalization of online jewelry trade in the summer of 2018.
Average purchase bill
RUB 15,200– online shopping; 25,000 rub.– offline purchases.
It should be noted that more silver products are sold online, while gold products are sold offline. In part, assortment priorities are related to the age of the consumer audience - for online shoppers it is somewhat lower, and young people perceive silver products with great interest. Gold jewelry is designed for an older audience. Platinum jewelry, due to its high cost, is not a spontaneous purchase, and buyers take their acquisition very seriously. Therefore, the proportion of platinum jewelry purchased online is extremely small.
When ordering in online stores, the share of silver in pieces is 64% , gold - 33 % , platinum – 3% . When purchasing in stationary retail, the share of gold in pieces is 33% , silver – 60% , platinum – 7% .
Methods for purchasing goods
Today, the problem is that in order to deliver, the company must have a special license, so only specialized carriers, of which there are only a few in our country today, can deliver jewelry. This is due to the high percentage of self-pickup of ordered goods, while only one order out of ten is delivered by couriers.
91% – in our own stores, 9% – courier delivery.
Percentage of customers refusing ordered goods
In 2017, the percentage of customers refusing ordered goods reached 22% on average.
The reason for such a high percentage of refusals, first of all, is the fact that jewelry is chosen as a gift, focusing on one’s subjective taste, after which it does not suit or does not like the person for whom it was ordered. In addition, often the photo does not correspond real view products. Therefore, people refuse to purchase something already in the store or choose another product.
It is worth remembering that jewelry belongs to the category of emotional purchases, so the refusal rate for them is traditionally high. According to the law, it is impossible to take advance payment for jewelry online, so the percentage of non-repurchase of goods does not decrease over time. In this regard, retailers selling jewelry online should take the design of product cards in the catalog more seriously, providing potential buyers with the most complete and objective image of jewelry.
The most popular jewelry purchased online are:
1.Gold earrings
2.Pendants and pendants made of silver
3.Wedding and engagement rings
The main share of cross-border goods falls on costume jewelry, while products made of precious metals are ordered much less frequently from foreign online stores - while remaining an emotional purchase for many, jewelry requires fast delivery. And the long wait and the risk of receiving something that is not what is expected makes foreign online platforms a weak player in the jewelry segment. In general, the share of such purchases from foreign sellers today accounts for order 8% .
Most often, jewelry is purchased on the following foreign sites: Ebay, Amazon, Asos, WatchShop.com. Jewelry is mainly ordered from America, Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland, and Thailand. In this segment, the share of Chinese goods is minimal and amounts to less than 1% .
It is worth noting that sending jewelry by postal operators is prohibited by the international postal convention.
Speaking about regions, it will not be possible to make discoveries - the most active region in terms of the number of online jewelry orders is Moscow (42%), followed by St. Petersburg (26%), Krasnodar Territory (13%), Tatarstan (10%) and Chechen Republic republic (6%).
In terms of gender, the portrait of a jewelry buyer in online and traditional retail looks like this:
Online: men aged 25-34 years – 58%, women aged 35-44 years – 42%.
Offline: men aged 28-45 years – 75%, women aged 36-46 years – 25%.
Alexey Fedorov, President of AKIT, summed up the analysis of the market for online sales of jewelry:
Considering that the ban was passed in 1992, it seems that jewelry is equated with weapons, drugs and alcohol substitutes. We all understand that the period of black marketeers and strange sellers in coats on the Arbat is long gone. Now the production and sale of jewelry has long been a civilized business. And with the help modern technologies You can present jewelry on the site in a wide variety of options and in the most favorable light. There are even augmented reality technologies that allow you to see how jewelry will look on a person. An additional barrier is the high cost of acquiring and logistics difficulties.
At the same time, we see that the amount of traffic to the websites of jewelry manufacturing companies is growing by tens of percent annually, which confirms the consumer’s interest in choosing and purchasing precious goods via the Internet.”
The decline in purchasing power has slowed the development of online commerce. In the near future, the b2b segment may become the market driver - large industrial enterprises have already acquired online stores.
E-commerce remains the fastest growing market in Russia, showing growth of more than 10% per year. At the end of last year, market dynamics amounted to 13%, experts from the Association of Internet Trade Companies (AKIT) and Data Insight agree in their estimates.
The market volume in 2017, according to AKIT, amounted to 1.04 trillion rubles. According to Data Insight estimates, sales of physical goods on the Internet reached 945 billion rubles. and will overcome the level of 1 trillion rubles. already this year.
However, the growth rate of e-commerce has decreased slightly. In 2016, the market grew by 25%, according to AKIT. And if we talk about material goods without music, software and so on, then, according to Data Insight, the pace slowed from 23 to 18%, respectively. One of the main reasons is the decline in the purchasing power of Russians. Last year, according to the National Research University Higher School of Economics, it fell by 9%. The main share of online sales falls on Moscow and St. Petersburg: more than 31 and 11% of the market in monetary terms, respectively.
Base for growth
Until now, the pace of development of the e-commerce market in Russia has been ahead of the world. Of course, the low base effect has an effect, explains RAEC Director Sergei Plugotarenko: the share of online retail in the total volume of retail trade in Russia is quite low - about 4%, and in developed countries - about 12%. In his opinion, the growth potential for e-commerce remains. There are several reasons: the ongoing “mobilization” of the population, the growth of cross-border trade, an increase in the number of payment methods, improving the quality and expanding the geography of delivery, restoring the purchasing power of the population, and the development of marketplaces.
World experience also shows that online trade is growing faster than offline and inspires optimism among participants in Russian online retail, notes Alexander Borisov, Chairman of the Committee for the Development of the Consumer Market of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. All leading retail chains, according to him, are convinced that the opening of a new store does not automatically increase sales, unlike the launch of the online segment. The M.Video company, for example, already calls itself an online company, since 70% of its clients begin a purchase by visiting the website, says Alexander Borisov.
In the first quarter of 2018, online sales set another record, showing an increase of 82%, M.Video told RBC+. About 20% of the company's total sales in the chain's stores are made online, and three out of four customers who make a purchase online prefer to pick up their order in the store.
Driver - logistics
Over the past few years, Russian online retailers have managed to optimize the delivery of goods, says Alexander Borisov: “Delivery times for purchases from online stores have decreased by two to three times.”
Firstly, customers began to more often choose the “order and pick up” format - in a store or at a pick-up point - when there is no need to wait for the courier, they say in M.Video. And the second trend is that large private players have appeared in the logistics of delivering online purchases, who consider this market promising and are investing in this segment.
Last year, the Business Lines group of companies announced the expansion of the network of small-format divisions - receiving and issuing cargo weighing up to 50 kg - in cities with a population of over a million and their intention to increase their share in the e-commerce segment. According to Kommersant estimates, investments in the project could amount to about 700 million rubles.
The most important problem of online stores is organizing high-quality delivery of orders to the client, the so-called last mile, says Farid Madani, CEO of Business Lines Group of Companies. The issue, he said, can be resolved by outsourcing logistics. “If you do the math, this approach, even over a short period of time, turns out to be more profitable than running your own courier service. At a minimum, due to expenses for employee salaries, repairs and insurance of machines, and to hedge risks from breakdowns on the line,” he says.
Restraining prohibitions
However, there are several problems that make the future of e-commerce not so rosy. Buyers continue to be careful with their spending. In 2018, online retailers were faced with a lack of buyer need to make purchases online unless it was an essential item, notes Data Insight partner Fedor Virin.
The Internet sells exactly what we rarely buy, and very little of what we buy often. Because it's either difficult (food) or prohibited (alcohol), he says. “People generally don’t go to stores very often, unless it’s groceries, alcohol, cigarettes, pharmacies or children’s hygiene,” notes Fedor Virin.
A ban on online sales of certain types of goods—medicines or alcoholic beverages, for example—as well as legal restrictions on online jewelry sales are holding back the market, notes Sergei Plugotarenko.
Alexander Borisov agrees with them, naming among the main problems also the legal regulation of online commerce, as well as increasing the security of online payments.
The Art of Sales
Online retail improves customer service and develops additional services online stores.
E-commerce players are paying more and more attention to content, says Eric Finnas, head of e-commerce at Avito. According to him, before making a purchasing decision, users study the issue in detail. If the online platform provides potential buyer maximum information, allows you to compare the item of purchase according to a number of parameters, gives advice and recommendations and thereby helps you make a decision; the chances of making a purchase on this site are much higher, Eric Finnas is sure.
In addition, the transition to mobile devices and the active use of user data continues. Smartphone applications save time: you can search for the necessary product without queues and on the go. “Now a client is ready to buy if he quickly finds the product on the website exactly what he wants. The online store helps with this big data: by analyzing information about our clients, their needs and interests, we understand what needs to be offered to the consumer right here and now,” says Ozon.ru representative Daria Negresko.
Virtual fitting rooms, other augmented reality capabilities and artificial intelligence are being used. Electronic voice assistants, chatbots on online store websites, face and object recognition technologies based on images - all this has already become a reality in e-commerce. In the near future, artificial intelligence will become one of the main elements of the e-commerce ecosystem, Eric Finnas is sure.
Industrial scale
A new trend is the entry of large industrial companies operating in the b2b sphere into the online trading market. In 2017, one of the world’s largest steel foundries and mining companies"Severstal". In terms of functionality, it is similar to a traditional online store. On it you can order steel, pipes, rolled products and other company products, as well as track their movement using a tracking number. At the beginning of this year, the Novolipetsk Iron and Steel Works (NLMK) also launched a beta version of its own online platform.
“For us, launching an online store is, first of all, creating another channel for our customers to interact with the company, and the number of users is growing,” Severstal told RBC+. According to the company, the global b2b e-commerce market is already 2.5 times larger than the similar b2c market.
75% of b2b clients prefer to use online tools to work with their suppliers, citing data from leading research agencies at Severstal. “If we talk about the steel industry, in China and India the number of online platforms for trading only rolled metal products is growing every year,” the mining company concluded.
Habitual growth without sensations
The entry of large industrial companies online will add momentum to the market. Without taking into account the b2b segment and intangible goods (applications, music, services, etc.), this year market growth is expected to be 18%, Data Insight predicts. AKIT estimates the market potential at 20% and expects growth to 1.25 trillion rubles. (if we take into account not only material goods). Sergei Plugotarenko from RAEC expects 20-25% growth in 2018. Over the next five years, growth rates will greatly depend on the dynamics of the purchasing power of the population and solutions to the problems facing the market, he concludes.
