The 15 biggest trends in e-commerce
1. continuous shift in sales to online
Slowdown: yes, trend reversal: clearly no. Online trade in goods increased by around 10 % in 2014 compared to the previous year. Foreign providers were able to increase their market share. For the current year 2015, more than 90 % of the study participants expect further growth in e-commerce in their sector and therefore a continued shift towards online. Over a five-year period, all respondents expect growth: 40 % of them expect sales to increase by 50 % or more compared to 2015. Growth is the most attractive aspect of the e-commerce market from a provider perspective. Mobile devices are expected to trigger another growth spurt once the checkout processes on smartphones are simple, fast and secure. Swiss providers are hampered by falling prices and the significant increase in competition from foreign providers in some sectors.
2. competition between systems
In Switzerland, some very efficient online providers have already established a good foothold in the market. In view of the continuing increase in competition, they are not content with this, but continue to invest in expanding their offering, improving their services and increasing internal efficiency. The level of maturity achieved in this process means that the relative progress made by internal measures is becoming ever smaller. The next step in development will be to increasingly tackle optimization at higher organizational levels, both within the Group and externally. It is clear that organizations can respond to the digital transformation to varying degrees. Have groups such as Migros or Tamedia already exhausted the potential of their acquired online expertise? Are established business ecosystems in danger of remaining stuck in rigid structures? That would be dangerous, because e-commerce is becoming a competition between value creation systems.
3. foreign providers continue to gain ground
"Switzerland opens the floodgates for German online retail" was the headline of the German blog Exciting Commerce on January 15, 2015. The sectors affected by cross-border competition - which is by no means all of them - know that they will have to live with a further outflow of purchasing power abroad. However, the study panel cannot speak of resignation.
4. euro devaluation depresses sales development
Most online and offline suppliers reacted to the drastic devaluation of the euro in January 2015 by adjusting their prices quickly. The lower prices lead to declining sales and contribution margins for the same sales volume. This hurts, as it does in other markets. The expected volume growth will not be able to compensate for the nominal decline in sales everywhere. Nevertheless, the initial great uncertainty has largely subsided within three months.
5. new sales driver: mobile
The drivers of the shift towards online retail are largely the old familiar ones: Increased consumer competence, the higher performance level of specifically targeted retailers and, in fourth place, lower prices on the Internet. However, the study participants now see increasing mobile Internet use as the most important driver. Mobile orders are still developing well, especially for companies where customers use the service frequently.
6. still no breakthrough with mobile
The mobile share of traffic is still higher than the share of orders - in many cases, conversion is even worse on smartphones than on PCs/laptops. As a result, mobile optimization is a top priority. In some cases, mobile-optimized websites are reducing the importance of apps; for specific situations and applications, however, apps are experiencing a new upswing. The biggest hurdle, however, remains the check-out. The first convenient one-click solutions are already available for this: For example, customer identification can be carried out via device recognition. Payment is then made automatically according to the procedure defined during initial registration.
7 Sustained momentum, slight consolidation
The dynamism that has been growing for years and the increasing level of competition place high demands on companies to adapt. This is not always successful. In the travel industry, for example, where the digital transformation is already well advanced, Kuoni's announcement that it was withdrawing from the tour operator business caused quite a stir. A few months later, SBB followed suit with a similar decision. For industry insiders, these events confirm the theory that successfully mastering structural change is an essential prerequisite for the survival of even renowned companies.
8. flight forward through investment
In order to survive the increased competition, a great deal of investment continues to be made. A large majority of study participants consider long investment phases to be necessary in order to achieve and maintain a leading position in e-commerce. Almost two thirds of companies state that they intend to invest even more in 2015 than in previous years. Consequently, a further increase in performance levels can be expected in e-commerce in the near future.
9. shift to direct sales for fashion brands
The fashion retail industry is the only sector to observe a strong trend towards disintermediation, i.e. direct sales by brand manufacturers. This trend is taking place both in-store and online. At the same time, many attractive brands are opposed to their retailers selling their products online as well as in-store. This undermines the plans of retailers who want to pursue a multichannel strategy.
10. cross-channel retail concepts in the high
In no other year of the seven-year study series was the approval of cross-channel retail concepts as high as in this year. Even a clear majority of e-commerce pure players now believe that pick-up points, service points, pop-up stores or flagship stores could be useful additions for them. However, the challenges of implementing such concepts have not become any smaller as a result. The internal transformation in particular is a Herculean task.
11. "The customer is at the mercy of the delivery"
This quote from Sami Liechti from BLACKSOCKS sums up the most serious deficit in physical fulfillment as rated by the study participants. It is still very difficult for customers to ensure that they receive a shipment at a specific time and place. This ability to plan is currently considered by many to be more important than the shortest possible delivery time.
12th catch-up race for food
coop@home has reduced the sales gap to market leader LeShop to a third; five years ago it was still half. The consistency with which Coop is expanding its own logistics infrastructure in order to be able to deliver groceries to customers' doorsteps on the day of ordering with a delivery window of one hour is impressive. A second logistics center was opened in Bussigny in 2014. Is Coop in the process of establishing a largely nationwide logistics infrastructure for home deliveries?
13. computer science: Between the ladder to heaven and the nail in the coffin
More than ever, IT is one of the key success factors of an e-commerce company. The assessments of the performance of the study participants' own IT differ widely: for some, it is the basis of a decisive competitive advantage, for others it is a nail in the coffin. Many companies have large and long-term investment projects in IT underway. Generational changes in online stores are associated with long beta phases in order to actually achieve the desired performance and conversion.
14 Personalized communication: now after all
For many years now, companies have been talking about wanting to take better care of their existing customers, improve the quality of communication and introduce CRM systems and personalization. For a long time, this remained lip service. Now, however, since the acquisition of new customers has become so expensive, this is being pursued seriously. However, it is much more difficult than most people expected. The projects take longer, there is still a lot of refinement work to be done on the data, IT systems and service providers cannot always meet the expectations placed in them.
15. expansion of revenue opportunities
Increasing revenue potential in the small Swiss market has been an issue for years. The companies were therefore asked how they would like to expand their revenue opportunities. The answers show that the first priority is income from the company's primary area of expertise, for example by expanding the product range in the case of retailers. Revenue from the sale of complementary goods or services is in second place. B2B sales are increasingly being targeted by around a third of companies. Selling more abroad is only a weak trend. Three companies have already had bad experiences with this and are reducing their foreign involvement again.Source: E-Commerce Report Switzerland 2015. Ralf Wölfe, Uwe Leimstoll. June 9, 2015. The full report can be downloaded free of charge here download.
