Pandemic triggered e-commerce

The robust growth of the e-commerce industry in 2020 accelerated the digital transformation, both for consumers and e-commerce industry players, and ‘new normal’ became the life-style for most consumers. A rise in e-commerce startups too was witnessed as more and more people started adopting contactless payment options. The trend certainly gave a big boost to fintech and e-commerce across key sectors in the UAE economy. The spurt in players led to a competitive market which will throw a challenge to every e-commerce player to retain their consumers, your competitor is just a click away!

David Pidgeon, chief operating officer, Redtag, said: “I think overall it’s probably a fair observation to say that e-commerce in most businesses flourished in 2020. We expect advances in technology — in retail — to move at a pace, and sometimes it’s easy to be influenced into the latest new digital development, so you have to choose well. The new normal is offering new platforms, channels, and opportunities for businesses to engage with their customers, and this is the area we will focus on the most  — how we can continue to use technology to help us gain a rich understanding of our customers and to serve them better.”

The growth of the GCC e-commerce sector will be accelerated by the effects of Covid and reach $50 billion (Dh183.5 billion) by 2025, according to Kearney Middle East report.

It predicted that e-commerce will become the main source of growth in the retail sector over the next five years, which has grown from a mere $5 billion in 2015 to about $24 billion in 2020.

Verloop.io founder and CEO Gaurav Singh, said: “In e-commerce, one size fits none. Customers expect a personalised approach that makes them feel special. Businesses now have to communicate with their consumers to build meaningful, continuous, and delightful interactions. Meeting a customer’s ever-changing and increasingly requiring expectations and habits requires the brand to support a customer 24/7 across channels. While most customers want the e-commerce players to be connected round the clock, others are interested in live chat or email, while some want to talk to brands on Twitter.”

“People will adjust to the new normal by acquiring new skills that are well suited for the digital era where machine-to-machine interaction will reduce man-to-man interaction. Instead of humans, you will interact either with robots or chatbots, taxis will run on their own, without drivers. It is an interesting world that we are entering powered by the fourth industrial revolution and run on artificial intelligence, big data analytics, robotics, biotechnology, cybersecurity, and genetic engineering,” added O’ Hara. — sandhya@khaleejtimes.com