Paul Fletcher, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Communications, shared his thoughts on what the future holds for Australian e-commerce during the Online Retailer Conference and E-Commerce expo that was held recently in Sydney. Below are some of his interesting insights.
“Online businesses will continue to exploit the internet’s potential in catering to specific niches.”
He cites the success of Disrupt Surfing, a startup that offer customers customised surfboards online, as an example.
“Mobile commerce will become increasingly important.”
This seems to be the trend as said in this article, although the potential of mobile has yet to be tapped.
“The physical distribution of goods delivered online will improve.”
Fetcher used Australia Post’s delivery tracking, mobile delivery management, 24/7 parcel lockers, and other services as examples of the delivery services Australians will come to expect from a retailing experience in the future.
“Online retail will become an export from Australia.”
Fetcher related that with the large number of consumers online, Australian businesses will now be able to target markets that would’ve been impossible to reach decades ago.
“New retailing opportunities will come from the Internet of Things (IoT).”
If the packaging of a good contains a chip that allows it to be tracked from warehouse to customer, that can give customers increased confidence when buying online,” he said. Fetcher cited G World Group’s “smart wine bottle” as an example of a business using the innovation.
With those, the future does seem bright for Australian e-commerce.
You can read the original article here.