This post will go through 3 brand-new phenomena that have actually risen since the new millennium in the field of commerce, showing just how major an influence the digital era has had.
The first step towards growth and transformation in the world of industries and retail has distinctly been the launch of online platforms: nowadays exceptionally renowned, some internet giants in this industry have been around for a while, but are in no way losing their success, as demonstrated by the interest of the head of the activist fund that recently took a stake in eBay. In the history and evolution of e-commerce, this platform has potentially been among the most important players, allowing users to both purchase and sell on it, and with innovative functions such as online auctions, that might be entered from all around the globe. Particularly in modern times, as men and women grow to be much more knowledgeable about how this consumerist society produces lots of waste for products we do not use anymore, being in a position to sell pre-owned things is a really excellent contribution from this type of e-commerce in terms of sustainability.
The domain of commerce is, for apparent reasons, closely linked to that of marketing and advertising, and the introduction of new platforms has absolutely indicated the need for completely new marketing tactics. As customers, we actually have certainly observed a significant range of brand new e-commerce business models and strategies, and the main new players in this particular sector appear to be social media platforms. As digital marketing becomes a fundamental part of advertising, figures like the founder of one of the largest funders of Instagram know the evolving times, and the platforms themselves have introduced brand-new functions that are specifically intended to make online shopping more straightforward, straight from the social network. With the advent of other internet services becoming progressively much more prevalent than the classic ones, such as streaming movies rather than watching them on tv, a social media post could replace tv commercials as the advertising format of the future.
Perhaps the latest development of e-commerce, observed only in the last couple of years, has been the rise of the figure of the influencer. Closely linked with social media marketing, commerce is slowly relying more on individuals trying and showcasing products to their audience, producing a somewhat more personal connection that a billboard or a consistent commercial might not have. With assorted systems of referrals or rewards, the future of ecommerce might be going hand in hand with that of this characteristic figure, and systems that facilitate this type of advertising and online behaviour are benefitting from this phenomenon as well, as seen by the interest of the chief executive of the bank that funds Hootsuite.