At this moment, there are a lot of new technologies that could have a massive impact on eCommerce. A large number of them could cause some problems for many specialists who are trying to anticipate which solutions to invest in. That’s why, as every year, since 2014, we asked eCommerce Managers about their past and future technology investments. We have created a detailed survey to make the results more precise. Based on their answers, we have created a report that can maybe help you a little.
First, we asked Managers about their eCommerce investments last year.
It clearly shows that they have invested heavily in Cloud Hosting (38%), Content Marketing (38%), Email Automation (33%), Business Intelligence (31%) and Marketplaces (31%).
Cloud Hosting was the favorite buzz-word of all eCommerce platforms last year so this is quite an obvious investment area. What really surprised me, is Content Marketing – it’s a much bigger issue than we thought. The fact is, that last year we heard a lot of stories of retailers who drove more than 30% of sales by content. We also have seen growing interest in PIM (Product Information Management) Systems. Content Marketing, as well as Marketplaces, were pointed to as areas where business can reach the highest ROI.
The next step was asking them about their investment plans in the following year. The top spots go to: Content Marketing (33%), Big Data, Business Intelligence, and Email Automation (27%).
Having these two datasets, we could calculate changes between 2017 and 2018. Thanks to this, we were able to see the most crucial trends to keep an eye on.
There is no big change in the most important areas for investment in 2017 and 2018. Only Cloud Hosting has decreased significantly but this is because the majority of Managers transformed architecture already and no additional investments are planned.
A big change is for new trends that emerged this year and attracted the attention of eCommerce Managers. They declared increased investment for the next year in: PWA +200%, Serverless Architecture +200%, Same Day Delivery +133%, Cryptocurrencies +100%, AI +100% and Programmatic Ad Buying +100%. For sure many of these projects will be pilots/proof of concept but still, it looks like a whole bunch of new technologies to implement.
We also asked about technologies that are bringing the highest ROI right now and about technologies with the biggest transformative potential. Then we created a map of trends for 2018.
How to read this?
Do IT – these trends deliver you not only a high ROI but are also crucial solutions from a strategic (long-term) point of view.
Quick Wins – these trends will bring you a ROI quite fast and easily. No-brainers. Just implement these. These are: Omnichannel, Social Commerce, Email Automation and Digital Content. See another approach and get benefits of Drop Ship Lifestyle.
Game Changers – trends which are not mature yet and you will wait for a ROI, but these trends will transform eCommerce and you should at least get familiar with them. These trends are: Predictive Analytics, Personalization, Chatbots (Conversational Commerce) and Big Data.
To find out more about eCommerce trends, download our report.
Published January 24, 2018
