In this regard, MDEC has developed the “E-Commerce Trend Radar: Envisioning the Next Decade in E-Commerce” report towards setting out a forward-looking insight in line with MDEC’s strategies under Malaysia Digital and to work closely with relevant stakeholders to assess the opportunities that future trends may bring, in optimising the benefits of the digital economy.
MDEC’s E-Commerce Trend Radar: Envisioning the Next Decade in E-Commerce
The future is, by and large, unpredictable.
In envisioning the future of e-commerce, the team scanned the current e-commerce landscape and actively engaged with stakeholders to uncover drivers of change. The exercise involved conversations with global technology companies, regional e-commerce industry players and the local e-commerce community to learn about current developments and the direction that they are moving towards.
These conversations identified rapid developments within several game-changing key technological and socio-economic drivers that are expected to shape future innovations within the e-commerce ecosystem. These range from Anticipatory Analytics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) to Extended Reality (XR), Virtual Worlds, Conscious Consumerism to Next Generation Wireless.
Five plausible future trends
These key takeaways with social-economic and technological key drivers, along with “signals” in the form of observable indications in the emergence of innovations through early-stage deployment and adoption, have led to the anticipation and vision of five plausible future trends in MDEC’s E-Commerce Trend Radar.
Future Trend #1: Ubiquitous Marketspaces
Continuous advances in technological innovations will revolutionise the way we shop. We anticipate shopping to break out of conventional touchpoints beyond the current definition of e-marketplaces.
To attract the ever-shrinking attention span of consumers, brands and businesses are expected to strive towards challenging the conventional notion of convenience in the existing 3-click rule. We can expect a robust push towards an omnipresent market space to expand beyond the current confined definitions of a marketplace.
Commerce would be accessible in new pockets of spaces to extend to daily pursuits such as home appliances, in-car consoles, and intelligent wearables. Integrated sensors, ultra-portable powerful microchips, and ambient intelligence within the consumers’ everyday environment will enable ubiquitous marketspaces at the consumer’s disposal anytime, anywhere.
Future Trend #2: Hyper-Personalised Commerce
The ability to harness the abundance of real-time, granular consumer data will drive advanced analytics for brands and businesses to build highly individualised, customer-centric, and convenient shopping experiences. We anticipate highly personalised e-commerce to cater to the consumer’s unique and exact specifications.
Hyper-personalised commerce will go beyond anticipating every consumer’s preference to realising each consumer’s desired products to the exact specifications enabled by advancement and cost efficiency in 3D printing and 3D-visualisation technologies.
Future Trend #3: Ultra-Precise Delivery Network
Greater openness and a highly collaborative network is expected to cater to consumers’ demands for agile deliveries to adapt to their behaviour and lifestyles. We anticipate the future of fulfilment to be highly agile, dynamic and efficient.
The advancement in geolocation-based autonomous deliveries adapting to consumers’ lifestyles, coupled with the push for economic efficiencies and optimisation in delivery through open collaboration frameworks, are expected to drive greater fulfilment optimisation. We can expect fulfilment to be highly precise, enabling the delivery of goods straight into the consumers’ hands, locating the consumer who is always on the go, wherever they may be.
Future Trend #4: Metaverse Commerce
As social interaction, work, and relationships migrate into the metaverse worlds, new marketplaces can emerge to shift material goods. We are anticipating metaverse commerce to open up relentless new possibilities with immersive and spectacular hyper-realistic experiences towards delivering a fully functioning economy.
McKinsey’s June 2022 report highlighted that US$120 billion in investment flowed into the metaverse in 2022, with 79% of consumers on metaverse making a purchase. McKinsey forecasts that the metaverse can grow to US$5 trillion by 2030, with e-commerce as the largest economic force with a potential of US$2.6 trillion.
The trend towards metaverse commerce is empowered through, among other drivers, the rise in massive computing processing power, next-generation wireless network capabilities, disruptive payment technologies, and the widespread use of XR technologies.
Future Trend #5: Eco-Commerce
Eco-friendly and sustainable e-commerce practices have become inevitable with shifts in social attitudes and heightened scrutiny by eco-conscious consumers. We are anticipating the embodiment of the Environment, Social well-being, Governance (ESG) and sustainability agenda into mainstream e-commerce.
Driven by conscious consumers, technological innovations, inclusive policies and regulatory measures, businesses can be expected to be more responsive to embrace a strong ecosystem culture and continuous innovations across the entire e-commerce ecosystem to move towards a cleaner and greener future.
Preparing for the future of e-commerce
Anticipating the future also means preparing for it. We must lay the groundwork for a digital ecosystem that will be ready for any changes and disruptions in the e-commerce space.
Through strategies under Malaysia Digital (MD), the Ministry of Communications and Digital and MDEC are working in tandem to build the foundation of Malaysia’s digital transformation.
MD is a national strategic initiative to encourage and attract companies, talents and investment while enabling Malaysian businesses and rakyat to play a leading part in the global digital revolution and digital economy. By attracting high-value digital investments, creating a digitally savvy society, and facilitating a business-friendly and sustainable digital ecosystem, we can foster a digital economy that is prepared and resilient.
With Digital Trade as one of the Malaysia Digital Catalytic Programmes - PEMANGKIN - e-commerce is no longer regarded as the end game. Instead, e-commerce will be driven as the springboard towards Digital Trade.
Underpinning Digital Trade is the seamless and end-to-end data movement to enhance the transaction’s efficiency, accuracy, and reliability across sectors and industries. An open, reliable, interoperable digital trade ecosystem would optimise efficiency and convenience. It will promote transparency and traceability, reduce barriers and facilitate businesses to reach new consumers and markets within and across borders.
With the dynamic and evolving nature of innovations, policymakers, technologists, and businesses within the digital economy ecosystem should keep abreast of new and emerging future trends highlighted above to be ready to embrace game-changing shifts in the landscape.
I invite you to read and make full use of the “E-Commerce Trend Radar: Envisioning the Next Decade in E-Commerce” report here at https://mdec.my/e-commerce-trend-radar.
