Over the years, eCommerce has evolved from transactional platforms to interactive shopping journeys. These changes have seen worldwide retail eCommerce sales increase from $1.3 billion in 2014 to $5.2 billion in 2022 and are projected to reach $8.1 billion by 2026.

In this article, we’ll explain this evolution and how businesses can leverage content management and digital experience strategies to create immersive online shopping experiences that foster customer engagement and loyalty.

Defining eCommerce Experiences

eCommerce is the process of buying and selling goods online. Whether it’s a simple webshop that sells custom T-shirts or a B2B company that sells 4-figure subscriptions to its SaaS product, all engage in the activity known as eCommerce.

Although the eCommerce process ends after an item is sold, that doesn’t equate to the complete eCommerce experience. This encompasses the customer journey on the internet and the interactions with brands that lead up to it.

While this may be simple to understand today as we shop on desktop, mobile, and other devices, it took a while to get there, and there is still further to go.

The History of eCommerce

How has eCommerce changed throughout the years? Let’s take a look at some key moments.

• 1960s-80s: The first online service provider, CompuServe, was launched in 1969. Around this time, the Arpanet, a precursor to the internet, was used for early experiments in online commerce. However, it wasn’t until 1979 when English inventor Michael Aldrich invented electronic shopping and made the first transaction. Finally, the Boston Computer Exchange was launched in 1982 and became the first online marketplace for selling computers.

• 1990s: In the 1990s, the first iterations of the World Wide Web launched, including the Netscape Navigator web browser in 1994. With the internet publicly accessible, there was a surge in online activity and laying the foundation for eCommerce. Amazon initially launched to sell textbooks in 1995, and that year also saw the launch of eBay. PayPal was born in 1998, secure online transactions followed in 1999, and Alibaba was launched in the same year. This period marked the crucial foundations of what makes up eCommerce today.

• 2000s: In the 2000s came the dot-com bubble crash, which forced many early eCommerce startups to shutter. However, in 2004, platforms like Shopify emerged, offering a way for businesses to create and manage online stores. This period saw the rise of diverse digital platforms facilitating eCommerce.

• 2010s: The 2010s saw an increase in eCommerce adoption. The term Cyber Monday was coined in 2005, but it became a major event during this time as eCommerce companies grew. This rise in sales coincided with the launch of heavy adoption of various social media platforms, including Instagram, which opened new channels for sales.

• 2020s: eCommerce saw another major jump in the early 2020s, as the pandemic accelerated further growth of online shopping.

How eCommerce Technology Has Evolved

As the activity of eCommerce has evolved, so has the technology that enables it.

The Beginning: In the early stages of eCommerce, the activity was meant to facilitate simple online transactions. As companies listed more products online, it quickly became the most convenient option for customers to find what they wanted without leaving their homes.

The Present: Today, eCommerce is a pillar for many businesses. Companies rely on data and analytics to provide a complete view of the customer, from their first interaction to their most recent one. Using this data, it’s possible to build connected journeys that span multiple channels where customers interact, from websites to social media platforms and mobile apps.

The Future: We’ve also begun to glimpse the future of eCommerce, including the introduction of artificial intelligence to provide personalized recommendations and contactless payments that help improve the customer experience. The eCommerce experience is also being merged with the in-store experience.

Major retail brands have embraced and dominated eCommerce, enabling customers to order in-store and have them delivered online. In some cases, eCommerce stores are growing big enough to open physical locations such as Wayfair and Casper. As the offline and online worlds blend, this will continue to happen more.

Digital Commerce vs eCommerce

Businesses often use digital commerce interchangeably with eCommerce. While there are similarities, knowing the differences is crucial to seeing how things have evolved and how they impact the eCommerce experience.

eCommerce is centered around selling products to customers online or via digital channels. It involves everything from creating a webshop to processing payments and shipping the product to the customer.

Digital commerce, however, speaks to the entire customer journey online and the strategy for facilitating an engaging user experience. It considers everything from the moment a potential customer notices a product via a social media ad to the most recent email they received in the nurture sequence, three months after making a purchase and all the other activities in between.

Digital commerce involves not only the eCommerce website but the other processes and technologies involved in making sales possible, from the audience market research and SEO campaigns to the CRM and CMS that help with content commerce and the payments and logistic tools that help get items to the customer.

Trends to Consider in the Digital Commerce Landscape

Digital commerce encompasses another stage in the evolution of eCommerce. In order to take advantage of it and build immersive online shopping experiences that engage customers at every stage of the journey, businesses should consider the following trends.

Artificial Intelligence and Automation

Artificial intelligence has grown in relevance and importance in recent years, with several enterprises planning to incorporate it into their strategies. In fact, 79% of corporate strategists believe AI will be crucial to success over the next 24 months.

When it comes to eCommerce experiences, AI can help analyze customer data, make predictions about the best course of action, and provide personalized recommendations for which products customers should buy.

Mobile Commerce

Mobile commerce is a subset of eCommerce that involves the buying and selling products and services via mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Since mobile eCommerce sales make up 60% of eCommerce sales worldwide, enterprises need to prioritize this aspect of digital commerce and ensure that stores are properly optimized for mobile interactions.

Social Commerce

Social commerce means using social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn to promote and sell products. Instead of having customers transition from a social media channel to a website, the entire interaction from discovery to purchase happens on social media. This means having products on Instagram and TikTok Shops.

Social media platforms have dominated user attention for the last decade, and businesses will need to pay closer attention to these channels to provide the best eCommerce experience.

Voice Commerce

Voice technology such as Siri, Amazon Alexa, and Google Home have opened up new communication possibilities for customers and businesses. Using spoken commands and queries, customers can learn about potential products and even make orders from their favorite brands. This has expanded the reach of the eCommerce experience.

As the virtual assistants and devices that power these searches improve, businesses must prepare themselves by optimizing content for voice searches using voice SEO.

Omnichannel eCommerce

Omnichannel eCommerce requires businesses to provide a consistent and seamless shopping experience across multiple channels. Customers shouldn’t notice a dip in quality or cohesiveness as they move from channel to channel.

With more channels emerging and growing in importance year over year, from mobile apps and AR and VR devices to digital kiosks, facilitating omnichannel commerce will be necessary to keep customers engaged and loyal.

Headless and Digital Experience Technology Growth

Managing eCommerce experiences across multiple devices, taking advantage of the assortment of trends impacting digital commerce strategies, and keeping up with the rate of innovation will require businesses to adopt the right technologies to support them.

Headless technology in the form of headless CMSs, headless commerce, and digital experience platforms (DXPs) will grow in relevance for businesses that want to improve flexibility and scalability and keep up with the changes in eCommerce.

Customer Data Platforms

While enterprises leverage headless architecture and DXPs to manage the eCommerce experience, they must also rely on access to large volumes of data to enhance those experiences.

Customer data platforms (CDPs) can gather customer data and help enterprises create a more personalized shopping experience that considers user behavior, shopping history, and zero-party data shared directly with the business.

Launching Interactive Journeys with Content Bloom

eCommerce has evolved to include more than just transactions happening online. Businesses must implement interactive customer journeys that span multiple channels and meet customers where they are. To accomplish this, companies need to leverage modern technologies.

Content Bloom is an enterprise digital consulting firm with experts in headless technology, content management, and digital experience solutions. With our knowledge and guidance, we can help businesses select and implement the right technologies, design the ideal experiences for their target audience, and go to market faster with campaigns that drive conversions and increase customer loyalty.

Learn how to build the perfect modern ecommerce experience using a headless CMS by reading our ebook: Perfecting the Modern Ecommerce Experience.