Pitney Bowes: The top five e-commerce drivers for 2016 are …

In the coming year, seamless technologies that blend physical and digital channels will have a major impact on e-commerce.



According to Pitney Bowes, five key developments will primarily drive e-commerce in 2016. These are:



1. Internet of Things (IoT) technologies will drive better business outcomes

Machine-to-machine and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies allow retailers to extract and analyze data from industrial machines to drive better business outcomes. Business benefits include lower cost of operations, greater productivity and output and higher service levels. Businesses also need the flexibility to reach customers across their preferred physical and digital channels.



2. Small and medium businesses will greatly benefit from the digitization of physical communications

New technologies and cloud-based solutions are becoming available to integrate physical and digital experiences and simplify processes on one platform. For example, small and medium retailers can now complement physical mail pieces with digital experiences through QR codes, create more interactive and targeted direct mail, and deliver messages across multiple channels to boost impact.



3. Personalization and hyper-localization will drive explosive growth in global commerce

The e-commerce challenge facing global retailers is to create deeper, more personalized and localized experiences that resonate with consumers from varying countries and regions. To enable international purchases, retailers must use personalization and localization solutions to deliver what their global consumers want, while also taking into account differences in how they like to shop.



4. Data analytics will play a key role in fraud detection and prevention

Personal identities, which are captured in the databases of retailers, are almost always variable. Data quality solutions reconcile these variables and connect different personas to the same record, matched by a common address, in a simple, single view. This technology combats many varieties of fraud, while protecting against financial vulnerabilities and ensuring greater compliance.



Physical and digital technologies must be aligned to protect consumers and their personally identifiable information. Integrated solutions that streamline regulatory compliance can help, as can address cleansing and database cleansing software.



5. Omnichannel marketing will increasingly use data analytics and optimize physical and digital technologies to deliver a seamless experience for the customer

There are more opportunities for prospective and existing customers to communicate with a brand. Interactive and personalized video offers human-like communications that improve customer satisfaction, lower call center volumes and deliver higher customer retention rates.



“At Pitney Bowes, we are increasingly seeing clients of all sizes reexamine how physical and digital technologies converge to power commerce,” said Roger Pilc, chief innovation officer for Pitney Bowes. “Clients are already demanding a more seamless way of integrating their physical and digital worlds. Businesses will need to transform their competencies to seamlessly serve customers across the physical and digital worlds of commerce.”