'Putting innovation at the forefront of the e-commerce industry

With the adoption of new technologies, e-commerce businesses are rapidly evolving as well. Just like a liquid, e-commerce businesses must be agile enough to keep up with the trend and mobilise with new business patterns and models accordingly if they want to maintain their growth momentum and be a part of the greater digital ecosystem. 

There is no denying that the world keeps changing, so does the taste of consumers. That's where the role of innovation comes into play. Like every other brand, businesses dealing with consumers also need to change their operational modules by incorporating the latest business innovations and trends. This is especially true for e-commerce as the nature and shopping tendency of shopaholics keep changing. The competition in the e-commerce sector is fierce, so only those living up to the customers' expectations will survive in the race. 

Just for example – two new concepts are known as 'showrooming and webrooming' are making rounds on social media, and the shoppers are actually 'availing' these features before making any purchase. They roam around brick-and-mortar shops and online marketplaces to compare and contrast products and prices before reaching any decision. So, online marketplaces are resorting to different procedures so customers can make informed choices. One such technology is AR (Augmented Reality). With the help of AR, e-commerce sites can offer the facility of experiencing the products live to the customers. For instance – online marketplace Daraz has recently introduced Bangladesh's first-ever in-app live stream shopping experience combining entertainment with instant purchasing. With the help of Livestream technology, the consumers can engage directly with sellers in real-time and feature a diverse range of content, including product showcases, trivia games, and Q&A sessions. 

Moreover, customers nowadays want a rewarding experience when it comes to online shopping. That's why even the biggest e-commerce sites in the world come up with customer-friendly offers and innovations. However, our local marketplaces are also tapping into different tactics to ramp up the customer experience. Coin-based loyalty and reward program like dCoins is this kind of good initiative to make the experience of online shopping all the more exhilarating. Innovative steps like this are essential to increase the customers' engagement and maintain the growth trajectory of the e-commerce business. 

Another exciting business trend is people are now more interested in completing their online shopping using mobile phones. Mobile e-commerce is expected to snowball and become a market of $3.5 trillion in 2021, which amounts to almost 73% of e-commerce sales.  So, businesses doing e-commerce must focus on enhancing the shopping experience of smartphone users by introducing new and innovative features so that the customers can make online purchases more conveniently. 
There is no alternative to offering bespoke services to the customers. The taste-driven demand of the customers are changing every day, so the changes must be adopted by the e-commerce entities as well. Because in online business, one must remember that marketplace is like a virtual door, and only the best and brightest ones can enter. And by merging trends with tech, one can easily attract customers to the door of their businesses. 

Our e-commerce scene is booming; more and more e-commerce businesses are joining the queue. Market leaders need to realize that only the right business innovations can develop a sustainable digital ecosystem and regain customers' trust.