It is estimated that global sales in the e-commerce industry in 2021 will reach $ 4.5 trillion. It will be a record sum, what is showing the potential of this market.
This does not mean, however, that the e-commerce market guarantees every case to become a success. It requires face a lot of challenges. Here are some of the most serious ones.
Good products with a market demand from consumers are the basis for building a profitable e-commerce platform. The best way of verification is to conduct an in-depth market analysis, track competition and, if possible, implement the product on the market and test MVP. In this way, a feedback from recipients can be obtained. It will allow you to find out whether it is worth investing in products or in which direction to pursue their improvement.
Generally, it is not easy to operate on the e-commerce market. Due to the great potential, there is enormous competition, which sometimes can turn out to be a difficult factor to overcome. An interesting alternative is to look for a niche and attempt to enter the market.
When giving an example of an e-commerce platform, one of the most important elements to take care of is the traffic on the website. In fact, it's all about getting the largest audience possible. So let's evaluate the potential of a given market.
By making a global analysis, we can come to some interesting conclusions. It turns out that the largest e-commerce market is China. Its value is estimated as $ 672 billion. US takes the second place - $ 672 billion, and the third largest market is the United Kingdom- $ 99 billion.
Other countries in Western Europe also look perspective enough. The fifth place in this ranking is for Germany - $ 73 billion.
The sales and marketing aspects of the e-commerce industry are very important. Generating profits will not be possible without introducing constant innovations, reacting to market changes and adjusting to clients' preferences. Recently, there has been a significant increase in the importance of mobile phones in the purchasing process. An interesting fact is that Social Media channels - in particular Instagram and LinkedIn - largely create user behavior, stimulating them to buy specific goods.
Considering the preferences of customers, it is worth taking care of the highest quality of e-commerce platforms that enable a simple and intuitive purchasing process. One of the crucial elements may be a seemingly insignificant question of a language. The latest data shows that as many as 75% of consumers want to make purchases in their native language. In turn, 59% of respondents declare that they almost never use e-commerce platforms that are not in their native language.
Static data allows you to further characterize the customer’s profile. What else do they say? Globally, over half of consumers pay for credit card purchases. 42% opt for direct debit, and nearly 40% use debit card.
To ensure technical facilities and user-friendly product functionality, you cannot forget about choosing the appropriate technology. Current trends determine usage of innovative solutions, following continuous improvement, which, of course, involves the need to select right technology.
The noticeable trend for e-commerce platforms is Ruby on Rails. The world's largest brands use it to build their platforms. You can read about the ways technology can stimulate the growth of an e-commerce platform in this article.
