Top E-Commerce Trends Explained

As you all know, E-Commerce has had a rapid uprising over the past decade with the likes of E-Bay, Amazon.com, and other large retailers leading the way. With that, Hazel Raoult of UsabilityGeek has researched the Top 5 E-Commerce Trends for 2013.

Below, I will touch upon 3 topics that Hazel talked about while adding my own perspective to why I believe these trends are rising.

1. Localization of e-commerce websites

Given the diverse cultures and economies across the world, it is clear that catering products and services to that of the locals is a viable strategy that has been used for decades. That is why you see the likes of Poutine at McDonalds in Canada, or the Chinese version of MS Office in East Asia. Therefore, it is only natural to see catering into the e-commerce world as well, with the increasing technological capabilities we have developed. 

2. Mobile Commerce
One of the biggest problems for online shoppers is that they are usually unable to test or physically see a product before purchasing it. Usually, the website interface involves a description, a picture, and payment information, which is often not enough to allow a buyer to make an informed decision. Now, E-Commerce sites are realizing this problem and are leveraging technology to create interactive product displays that give the customer a greater understanding and feel for the product. Sites such as Ikea allow you to create your own virtual room to really see how their furniture will look like in a real-world setting, to further entice their customers to purchase their products.

3. Interactive Product Display over Images

The amount of mobile phones in the US has drastically increased over the last decade, in which over 51% of Americans had smart phones as of 2013. Given the multi-faceted nature of the smart phone, that combines talk, text, video, music, entertainment, games, mobile banking, shopping, and YOU NAME IT, into one compact device, it is clear to see why more and more retail stores are leaning on a mobile application to further drive sales. Prominent mobile applications include that of Starbucks, Target, and Home Depot. 

Overall, these are just 3 of many E-Commerce trends that are rocketing this industry into the future! 

Netflix: Another Example of Successful Technology

Just today, Netflix shares (NYSE: NFLX) jumped up 16% to reach $385.62 after a favourable earnings announcement. This represents one of many indicators of the success this video streaming giant has achieved over the past year. In 2013, Netflix was able to gross over $4,000,000,000 ($4 billion has a lot of zeroes) in revenue through its streaming services alone. This 16% increase marks the largest gain in the S&P 500 index (SPX: IND) over the past year.

Looking back just a few decades ago, companies such as General Motors and GE were applauded for their ability to produce high quality, tangible products. These blue-chip companies represented the forefront of business and what companies then strived to achieve.

Now into the 21th century, technology has made it so less and less companies need their products/services to be tangible, in order to provide value. The service that Netflix provides, like many other tech companies, is sourced essentially from computer code made up of 0s and 1s, all powered by hardware and electricity. As of 2014, three out of ten of the the top 10 companies in the world by market capitalization was made up of technology stocks (Apple, IBM, and Microsoft). In the US stock market, Technology stocks now represented the 2nd largest sector by market capitalization, just under Consumer Goods; decades ago, this would have never happened. 

Even looking at just the video service-provider industry, we all saw first hand how technological innovation into virtual streaming was able to destroy the classic video store model... which led to the loss of our good friend, Blockbuster in 2010.

Netflix is just yet another example of how we are in the a new era of modern technology, and demonstrating how virtual and intangible ways of business can add tremendous value to our lives, as well as our wallets. 

So with all that in mind, I leave to you all a few questions:

Do you think technology will ever become the largest market sector? Where do you see Netflix going in the future? How can blue-chip companies innovate to survive?

Introduction to the Aspiring Technologist

Hello Internet!

My name is Patrick Zeng. I am a graduating student from McGill University with a major in Finance and concentrations in accounting and information systems.

All throughout my university career, I thought I would end up in the world of Finance. From watching finance movies such as Too Big to Fail or the Wolf of Wall Street (well done, Leo) .... 

.... to working my first internship at a start-up appeasing VCs and focusing on capital budgeting, I was thrilled by the ever-changing environment Finance had to offer.

As I continued to pursue a life of Finance, I was exposed more and more to technology. Through using trading platforms such as Bloomberg to learning about the history of technology in general, I realized early that technology was a key driver for everything we have in the modern world. As an avid problem solver, I could see that technology was a viable solution to solve MANY of the problems we currently have in the world today (which I will discuss later on). In addition, just like in Finance, technology was constantly changing, and offered a thrilling experience that fueled my curiosity.

With my interest in technology growing, I decided to embark on a journey to learn what drives innovation and technology and see the impacts it has in the business world, as well as how we live our everyday lives.

As the Aspiring Technologist, here is where I will be discussing my thoughts on HOW and WHY technology changes our world, in addition to shedding light on interesting trends that I have seen. Hopefully through this journey, I will be able to continue my growth as a technologist and learn to leverage it not only in Finance, but also to better the world.

Thank you for following, and stay tuned for more posts to come!