E-commerce always surprises us. There’s something interesting popping up every now and then that catches our attention and hook us towards it. The spirit of such innovative ideas is what keeps the eCommerce business going which we are continuing to know more about it.

eCommerce multi-vendor marketplaces are sprouting rapidly causing an increase in the market’s growth which is expected to reach the amount of $6.54 trillion in 2023 compared to $3.53 trillion in 2019. There’s no doubt in it as each one of them is offering something unique in order to stay competitive.

With 2020 coming up right away, there are a few interesting ideas which if you as a newcomer in the online marketplace are willing to try. Take a look!

1. Voice Commerce and Chatbots

Surprised? Well, it is no shock today that we are surrounded by robotics. Machine learning and Artificial Intelligence are slowly becoming a part of our life, self-learning robots are freeing humans from tedious tasks, and a day without them seems almost impossible, all because of their smart and fast analysing skills. Therefore, the demand for such useful and helpful virtual intelligent assistants is surely going to exceed 1.8 billion users in 2021.

In 2019 itself, the level of user experience has risen above due to the incorporation of AI assistant on an e-commerce website, which proves it is the future. The hands-free interaction with a smartphone is what makes it even more lovable among users as all you need to do is command it. Some of the greatest examples are; Siri – communicative software support of Apple, Google Assistant – an artificial intelligence personal assistant for Android devices, Alexa – one of the most popular personal AI assistants created by Amazon in 2014.

Similarly, yet another innovative creation is Chatbots, an implemented feature on the platform that gives high-accuracy and immediate responses to the users’ requests. It collects, analyses, and processes the data given by customers in a live-chat and gives them valuable and relevant information within a blink of an eye.

2. Progressive Web Apps (PWAs)

It is very clear by now that mobile users are multiplying day-by-day and that mobile shoppers are ruling out the desktop shoppers due to the ease and convenience of it. With the rising M-Commerce sales, there is one latest online marketplace trend that is breaking records since its discovery, i.e. none other than PWA (Progressive Web App) technology. Its amazing combination of a website and a native app, make the site load faster, run offline, demands no downloads, increases mobile traffic, doubles up conversion rates, spices up user engagement, and much more, are benefiting eCommerce websites worldwide which is why it is the favourite of Google when it comes to ranking websites.

3. Augmented & Virtual Reality

Augmented reality (AR) & Virtual Reality (VR), we often have heard both the terms which appeared to be a dream once has now become indeed a reality. AR – one that allows you to visualize how a particular item would fit in any environment without the need to physically bring that item into that particular environment is absolutely mind-blowing. Initially implemented in video games, AR is now taking over eCommerce websites and is providing customers with an advanced buying experience like never before.

Whereas VR, gives you a virtual demo of how your imagination will look like for real. With its special 360° VR headsets, you can enter a virtual world and feel things as if real. Hence, in a way, AR and VR, both are making the buying experience of users in an online marketplace, more immerse and advance.

Related Blog: Multi-Vendor Marketplace – Benefits and Challenges

4. Wallets and Block-chain

Today is the time of digital payments. Electronic payment methods like e-Wallets, net banking and credit/debit cards, digital currency, etc. have become the most preferable methods for the people today. Due to their easier and faster mode of payment, trending technologies like Apple Pay and Google Pay have become the most-used and hot-favourite payment gateways which are actually minimizing the rate of last-minute checkouts and cart abandonment.

Block-chain, another rising trend, is yet another secure digital payment method that is going to boom in 2020 for sure.

5. Drone delivery

Yes, the one that we witnessed only in movies or seemed like a scientific fantasy, is now a reality which is going to take eCommerce marketplace to a whole new level. Many eCommerce marketplace giants are planning to spice up their delivery process by implementing drones to accelerate their delivery process and to boost the user experience. One of the best examples is Amazon’s service called Prime Air which uses aircraft to autonomously fly individual packages to customers within 30 minutes of ordering. Surely, it is a big thing but as time passes, it will be no surprise that soon drones will deliver orders at our doorstep.

Wrapping up

Above are only a few ideas that we believe will be the future of eCommerce, other than these, transactional social media, in-car e-commerce, dynamic pricing, drop shipping business model, hyper-personalization with AI are some of the other trends that we can expect soon which will definitely change the way online marketplaces operate and users interact with them.

So, if you are planning to create a multi-vendor eCommerce marketplace and get started with any of the above trends, approach MobiCommerce for an effective multi-vendor eCommerce marketplace solution today.

Dipika Jadwani

Dipika is a skilled marketer who manages marketing communications at MobiCommerce. From content and social media to branding and PR, Dipika overlooks all aspects of digital marketing meticulously at MobiCommerce. She collaborates extensively with the sales and operations teams to bring more business and build a loyal customer base.