Salesforce report: AI and digital wallets on the rise
The new Salesforce State of Commerce Report shows that the widespread adoption of AI in e-commerce is on the horizon, digital wallets are becoming increasingly popular as a payment method, and e-commerce is becoming more deeply integrated into the customer journey.
Online retail is on the cusp of the widespread introduction of AI, according to the results of Salesforce's State of Commerce Report. AI has already been used for more than 17 percent of all Christmas orders worldwide. This corresponds to a value of 199 billion US dollars. In Cyber Week alone, AI influenced online sales to the tune of 51 billion US dollars. 77% of e-commerce companies are already using AI, with 29% having fully implemented it and 48% experimenting with it. A further 20 percent of e-commerce companies are investigating whether and how AI can be integrated into their operations. The companies that have already fully implemented AI report notable benefits to internal processes and productivity. They state that the technology enables them to save an average of 6.4 hours per employee per week.
Purchasing via more and more channels
E-commerce is becoming increasingly embedded in the entire customer journey. Digital shopping functionalities are no longer limited to online stores or mobile apps, but are also being integrated into other points of contact with customers before and after the purchase. For example, companies in our large neighboring countries work with a payment function in marketing emails. The proportion is 40 percent in Germany, 50 percent in France and 50 percent in Italy. A recent study found that 59% of buyers have completed a transaction via social media - a meteoric rise from the 15% who reported this in a study in 2021. Salesforce data also shows that 10 percent of all traffic to e-commerce sites during the 2023 holiday season came from social media.
Changing payment methods
There has also been a change in payment methods. Digital wallets, such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and Amazon Pay, are particularly popular with customers: their use increased by 54% worldwide in November and December compared to the same period last year. The Swiss payment app Twint also reported an incredible 84% increase in usage in stationary retail. More and more companies in Switzerland are accepting the digital payment method, including many online retailers. According to Salesforce data, the highest average discount rate since 2020 was recorded during the 2023 Christmas shopping season.
The complete State of Commerce Report is here retrievable.
State of Commerce Report: Salesforce conducted a survey of 2,700 e-commerce, customer service, information technology, marketing, operations and sales/business development professionals whose roles include e-commerce strategy and execution. The data was collected between October 6 and November 8, 2023. Respondents were from Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.
