What can you learn from Digital Commerce Innovations
TLDR ; Innovations in the Digital Commerce space are on the rise. This space is not just about the big platforms like Amazon, Shopify etc but has attracted cutting edge innovators to solve frictions in the Digital Commerce Value Chain (from attracting customers to the platform to delivery of the goods). This is an intensely competitive game. In this section, I will be covering the 100k ft overview of how Digital Commerce industry operates and very importantly curate a list of Innovative players whose services are applicable in other sectors as well.
With COVID-19 accelerating Digital adoption, the biggest beneficiary has been Digital Commerce (Retail e-Commerce). Customers are very comfortable ordering anything from a salt to an electric car (and anything in between) and collect at their door . According to statistia , Digital Commerce is a c. $ 4.28 Trillion in Market size this year (2021) and is growing at the rate of 27% CAGR. This is still 21% of the overall Retail Commerce Industry and things can only get bigger.
For a technologist, Digital Commerce is a fascinating space to watch and learn from. Reasons being :
Large Platforms such as Big Commerce, Magento (Adobe Commerce), Shopify and many other players have made this play much easier for small to medium size merchants -
Access to powerful technologies through Open Source means entry barriers for innovators have vanished (or significantly diminished) to build your own platforms
Given the accelerated growth this industry is enjoying, several disruptive players have been trying to solve traditional frictions to ensure the customer experience is amazing (and hence more sales etc)
Hence a good grasp of Digital Commerce space can provide you unique insights which you can apply in your own craft.
Let’s analyse the Digital Commerce in the context of a use case : Think of Customers using a Mixed Reality App to browse through a catalog, assembling their bike online , paying through a Buy Now Pay Later FinTech and getting it delivered by the Fulfilment division of the Digital Commerce Player. This is no longer a innovative use case but a reality.
What is fascinating is not only the above use case but the ecosystem that enables the above to happen.
Broadly, constituents of Digital Commerce can be broken down to
Customer Management
Customer Reviews and Ratings
Customer Service & Support
CRM
Channels
Affiliate Marketing
Digital Marketing
Channel Management
Content Delivery Network
Content Management Systems
Mobile Commerce Services
Personalisation
SEO
Fulfilment & Logistics
Fulfilment Services
Fulfilment Software
International Commerce Services
Shipping Carriers & Logistics
Operations
Security Certification
Enterprise Search
Social Media Services/Marketing
Cloud Hosting
Performance Management
Financial Services
Order Management
Payment Security & Fraud Prevention
Payment Processing
We have specialists and innovative startups across each category and let’s explore the key players. I have been curating a list of interesting innovators in space and hope you will be able to pick a lesson or two from these amazing disruptors who are growing along the ever growing Digital Commerce Place.