"The current retail ecosystem, that ensures doorstep delivery of all customer choices, has turned the tables for the e-commerce sector significantly. It has made shopping a virtual experience for millennials with mobile becoming the most preferred mode. Online movie sites, OTT solutions, social media platforms, aggressive influencer marketing campaigns, and vernacular content seeding has increased the use of online platforms for ordering products and services."

The current retail ecosystem, that ensures doorstep delivery of all customer choices, has turned the tables for the e-commerce sector significantly. It has made shopping a virtual experience for millennials with mobile becoming the most preferred mode. Online movie sites, OTT solutions, social media platforms, aggressive influencer marketing campaigns, and vernacular content seeding has increased the use of online platforms for ordering products and services. Some of key online trends that will rule in the coming year include:

Customisation: Customisation helps brands entice customers to shop for their products. Brands are innovating their products by leveraging their consumer’s feedback in designing, features, usability, etc. A similar level of spontaneity can be seen from grocery shopping to checking travel plans to buying insurance products online.

Convenience of shopping: Convenience has become an important factor for users in choosing brands and products. Shorter delivery times, delivery slot options, flexible payment options, choice of shipment locations, easy returns, seamless servicing, swifter ways of query resolution, live-assistance, etc are impacting consumer’s purchasing behavior. In turn, this is creating opportunities for entrepreneurs to create a market for newer products purely based on consumers’ needs. ‘

Social commerce drives purchases: Inspirational blogs, celebrity engagement posts, live videos, and fashion information are driving people to buy products online with recommendations and suggestions from their friends. Consumers are spending more time on tiny little screens to watch the live premier of product tutorials by a well-known celebrity on social media, ‘DIY’ videos on OTT platforms and share their personal shopping experience on online network groups. This is affecting the supply chain, marketing, distribution, product innovation cycle hence, revolutionising the entire customer shopping experience.

Smart mirrors serve as changing rooms: Serving as virtual changing rooms, smart mirrors will enable customers to try new outfits without actually putting them on but will also be able to share their virtual image on social media to take suggestions from friends before buying a product.

Apart from these, there will be massive changes in the traditional retail industry. Shopping stores will function like websites and websites will function more like stores. Robot shopping assistants like Spod, Budgee, etc will aid in management of supply chain, check product stock, find pricing errors and lookout for misplaced products. If an in-store customer has any question beyond a shopping assistant, the consumer can start video conferencing with a human assistant further deepening the human-machine partnership.

Alongwith these, the invasive trends of AI, VR and augmented reality coupled with a high-tech 5G network infrastructure will revolutionise shopping experience for Indian consumers.