Ecommerce continues to evolve, and 2017 is likely to be an important year for ecommerce in general and the payment industry specifically. While we can’t offer an exhaustive list of everything that’s likely to change this year, we can offer some comments on ecommerce trends 2017 is likely to see along with some ideas about how things will change for the payment industry in 2017.
Here are a few predictions:
Chat bots will become more widely used. Google Allo, Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and other services are now offering integrated bots that can help with booking, shopping and customer service. Consumers will need to become familiar with and comfortable with interacting with talking machines. Sometimes called conversational ecommerce, this trend brings a little naturalness back to the mechanical online shopping experience.
Artificial intelligence will become more integrated into people’s lives. In fact, many people already use AI devices like Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri every day. There is Google’s Assistant and Microsoft’s Cortana too. Increasingly, we expect people to order using an AI device. All ecommerce brands need to keep a watchful eye on how changes in human interaction with artificial intelligence impact their industries.
Mobile gets even bigger. Mobile traffic has already overtaken desktop traffic on the web as a whole, and mobile payments are becoming increasingly popular too. Increasing acceptance of mobile payments by consumer is among the trends we expect in the payment industry in 2017. Streamlined paying and tying mobile payments to loyalty programs is also a wave of the future that’s arriving in 2017.
Personalization and customization become even more essential. Customization of content, products and ads will become more sophisticated in 2017. That means more collection of data in most cases. If there are any ecommerce trends 2017 is certain to see, one is certainly an increase in the use of data to personalize the Internet experience – more than every before.
We also believe same day delivery and an increase in selling through social media and other social platforms will happen in 2017 too.
How can you be part of the trends of the future rather than being negatively impacted by them? Why not contact us to learn about how the UniPay payment gateway is designed in the modern age to meet the needs of forward-looking companies?
At UniPay, we’re here for you when you’re ready to face the future of the ecommerce and payments industries.