While Online Retail Shopping Will Become Stronger, Offline Retail Will Lose Its Global Footprint

Offline retailers may have a very limited future due to emerging online retail shopping websites.

If the e-commerce leaders are to be believed, the consumer will deal directly with a manufacturer, potentially leaving out retailers for a lifetime.

Today, the controlling rights belonged to the retailer, but in future, it will shift to the manufacturer. The customer and manufacturer both will be there, contacting directly cutting out the role of middle-person such as a retailer. The statement comes from Nansha district of Guangzhou, China, where overseas and Chinese tech and e-commerce leaders have gathered to discuss the future of artificial intelligence, and various other emerging technologies.

There will be a shift in power dynamics within a company’s staff, where the importance of a CEO will give way to the staff that comes face-to-face with a customer, said Chen Xiaodong, CEO of Intime, an e-commerce platform run by Alibaba. “I think I will have another job as chief entertainment officer,” he said.

The best example of this statement can be, “brick and mortar is in trouble and even almost every retail giant is closing hundreds of stores. Meanwhile, the future of online shopping and e-commerce will that we continue to expect hyper-customized concierge and on-demand services, and “containment,” the integration of ultra-convenience, consumption, and entertainment.

Ultra-Fast Delivery, ease shopping convenience to purchase from any remote location, and choice to choose from a variety of products are some factors driving the growth of e-commerce. Moreover, the adoption of smart devices and the latest mobile technologies is playing a big role in the growth of e-commerce.

The growing popularity of smartphones has grown ten-fold since 2014. In fact, the global sales for smart devices are growing considerably each day against the fall in the unit prices. This has made the smartphones affordable and available to almost every group-income people in the world. Further, growing prevalence of mobile internet combined with increasing disposable income is driving more customers to e-commerce. Moreover, customers are getting sharper and more informed about their needs and available solutions than never before and ease of online transactions has gained customers trust over online payment.

In the coming years, retailers will constantly need to evolve, innovate and unify their omnichannel efforts so shoppers’ paths to purchase offline or from stores are as frictionless as possible. While there is considerable uncertainty about who will rule in the multichannel retailing, two things are certain: online retailing will continue to grow and will be a dominant form of retail.