With some countries facing COVID-19’s second wave and a lockdown lurking around the corner, many businesses are still unable to return to normal, while eCommerce retailers which saw a spike in recent years were able to thrive and teach us a valuable lesson for handling a crisis in this new reality.
The trend can be seen positively as people find a way to fulfil their requirements even at dire times and businesses reach out beyond the physical constraints of the walls of their store.
On the downside, this trend cramps out a lot of newcomers to an already saturated market where competition is brutal, to stand out smart measures needed to be taken and automation is the smartest long-term choice.
Price comparison
Amazon, eBay, AliExpress, and many more eCommerce platforms had become a staple name in societies around the world. Both young and adult alike will most likely experience the far-reaching impact of those retail giants by either receiving or purchasing items through their services.
Tablets, Smartphones, and laptops web accessibility led customers to spend more time shopping, and the more time they spent the better they learned to manipulate and use the available tools for their best interest. Prices, as a result, became more competitive than ever before.
Customers today are likely to visit several leading websites looking for the lowest price and shipping costs and start rating before committing to a purchase. Retailers seeking to compete with this easily accessible information should use the right tools, such as automating their price comparison process with the right applications.
Manual scanning for competitors is time-consuming and ineffective. Instead, automated tools will fetch the required product data and price on constant intervals from the web at ease. They will give the edge necessary for competing.
A better understanding of upcoming trends
Compared to traditional retail transactions, eCommerce had its share of cons. A known fear of customers was the difference between the shown item on the web and its functionality after arriving at the customer’s house. In an attempt to overcome this, technological tools were introduced, such as augmented reality and various other applications designed to bridge the gap of imagination and reduce frustration.
Tapping into sources such as vocalized search results, customized browsing experience, and human-like A.I. support systems can ensure ever-growing data pools which are valuable for assessing upcoming trends in retail and eCommerce markets alike.
Following this data crumbs will prove invaluable for business owners as understanding trends will drastically change the way they face the market and progress.
Market research
When it comes to intelligent design, research, and understanding results, the human element is still not out of the picture yet.
However, human labour isn’t as needed for collecting data as previously was the case, giving up its space to automated tools that can easily scan vast numbers of responses and consumer interactions in a more cost-effective and efficient way than any human can.
Gathered information such as relevant keywords used by your customers can then be automatically translated into shareholder presentations or visualised diagnostic charts to ease the process of achieving the desired insight. Due to the efficiency inherent in the low cost and speed, the sampling can be repeated for better effect or in personalised formats and smaller or larger scopes.
Cheaper, more reliable and faster the automation tools grant their user the vision needed to plan ahead. Aiding to plan the next step by learning who is the client base and how to reach it.
Market automation
When a business reaches out to its customers, it’s much more than just seeking exposure it’s about understanding what they feel about your product. Each click, each second spent on examining a product or reading a promotional text is an indicator of interest and potential deal. Many programs are therefore developed and designed to pick up on this information and act, analyse, or both for the benefit of the business.
Automation’s diverse roles can be seen from the basic email delivery systems ensuring promotional material and surveys reach their destinations to complex appliances of voice recognition and analytical tools.
No doubt that expanding the client base and securing more growth is a factor of how efficiently data is collected, that coupons reach the right customer at the right time giving him that personal touch and nudge needed for the sale.
Supply chain automation
The change of goods from one hand to another is as important as the initial stages which lead to the transaction. Each of those steps is a two-lane communication road that will impact further business, tight well-organised shipping, and delivery system will speak in volumes and resonate with customers.
The greater and further a business aims to reach the more complicated those steps become, with more regulations and restrictions to adhere to. Each border crossing, local or international, different laws and tariffs introduced and demand abiding to.
In response services offer various automation tools that will make smooth work any operation from one end to the other, taking care of payment processing, invoices, shipping schedules, transfer routes, tariffs regulations, and much more.
Conclusion
We experience changes that the likelihood of which had not been seen since the industrial revolution. They are sweeping the web, automating much of the tedious heavy manual labour previously done by human hands. In order not to drown, one must ride the wave, learn about this change, and adapt it as the tools to stay competitive. Early adopters are known to be the biggest winners in eCommerce and the process has already begun.