eCommerce Business Will Become the Platform of Choice in 2014
No matter what you sell with very few exceptions ecommerce will become the platform of choice in 2014. With every little acorn grows a mighty oak. Even startups want to sell products worldwide online in a quick transaction. Ecommerce is the ticket to a more prosperous future, and heres why.
Harvard is Meeting the Demand for Ecommerce Education
When Harvard offers a course on something, you know its going to be the next big thing. The continuing education program recently began offering a course on launching an ecommerce startup that is intended for entrepreneurs. According to Harvard, the course dives into relevant concerns for ecommerce businesses of any size including business strategy, business models, distribution channels, entrepreneurship issues, legal issues, and market strategy. The course reviews the opportunities and risks, and students collaborate with others to apply their knowledge to real-life ecommerce projects.
Digital Startups Are Infiltrating Almost Every Market
When the Economist reports on an anticipated entrepreneurial explosion, you know you better track it. The Economist reports: Digital startups are bubbling up in an astonishing variety of services and products, penetrating every nook and cranny of the economy. They are reshaping entire industries and even changing the very notion of the firm.
What does this mean for ecommerce? Plenty. The Economists special report explains how startups operate, how they are nurtured, how they are financed, and how they collaborate with others. It is a story of technological change creating a new paradigm, which governments worldwide are supporting. And many of these startups are interested in selling products everywhere.
Ecommerce is Transforming Consumer Behavior
When research experts Steve King and Carolyn Ockels at Emergent Research, Small Business Lab report that ecommerce is essentially reshaping consumer behavior, you better prepare accordingly. King reports that people arent always just buying online theyre browsing and then going to retail stores to make purchases.
Wait, isnt that a bad sign for ecommerce retailers? Not necessarily.
According to ShopperTrak, holiday retail foot traffic has been declining for the past three years. The reason: online sales. King says that what makes the slowdown in retail foot traffic even more significant is that ecommerce is responsible for only six percent of overall retail sales, leaving lots of room for growth. As online sales grow, foot traffic may decline further.
With the change in foot traffic at brick-and-mortar stores, youll see more and more retailers ramp up to best service the needs of walk-ins, as well as push for more productivity with online sales. Youll see more retailers supplementing store sales with Internet sales because they go hand in hand. But as people get more crunched for time, ecommerce will take its own path and virtually take off. And youll see conversions taking place where physical stores will be able to instantaneously fulfill online orders. Bottom line: Retailers will make an online presence a top priority in 2014. Expect many to be in catch-up mode against their competitors.
Non-Traditional Partners Like Twitter May Enter Ecommerce
When theres talk that Twitter is interested in ecommerce, its a major wake-up call to the world that we are going to get a major burst of new ecommerce activity. According to a recent article on The Motley Fool, rumor has it that Twitter might jump on the ecommerce bandwagon. The company would accomplish this by way of a partnership with Fancy, the New York-based social commerce provider. Heres how it would work: You see a product you like, click on buy with Fancy and get your goods delivered quickly.
Should Twitter tune in to ecommerce, expect a powerhouse of additional revenue growth.
Even Starbucks is Focusing on Online Sales
When Starbucks makes serious changes to its leadership team that involve a laser-sharp focus on mobile and digital sales, you know the company is both nervous and preparing fast for the seismic shift to online buying. Yes, even CEO Howard Schultz has a newly expanded role within Starbucks. He will spend more time focusing on innovation and drum roll, please next-generation retailing and payments initiatives.
Why has this happened? Starbucks saw a massive change to its sales during the 2013 holiday season the chain had less in-store traffic and more online traffic. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, Executives say that hurt the companys performance because there were fewer people milling about at malls, meaning fewer opportunities for people to stop in at its cafes. Schultz wants to capture and grab loyal Starbucks customers online. What will he offer to keep driving revenue growth? Look for a Starbucks bazaar offering everything Starbucks related.
Most Retailers Are Serious About International Growth
When more and more successful retailers view global expansion as an artery for fresh, new growth, the world will become everyones market and thats just a hop, skip and a jump away. A. T. Kearneys Global Retail Ecommerce Index, which ranks the top 30 countries for their ecommerce potential, provides retailers a wealth of information for use in developing successful global ecommerce strategies and identifying emerging market investment opportunities. A key finding from the report: Todays most successful retailers see global expansion as a crucial platform for growth. Need I say more?
With ecommerce initiatives rising, retailers have an opportunity to better serve their customers the world over and drive continued revenue growth for their businesses and their industries as a whole.
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