What is digital commerce | A guide to modern e-commerce (2024)

What is digital commerce in the era of CX?

Defining digital commerce today looks very different than it did even a few years ago – there are many more steps and considerations that must be factored into the definition, and you cannot properly explain it without all of them.

That being said, let’s define digital commerce.

What is digital commerce: Definition

In its’ most simple definition, digital commerce provides the ability for consumers to buy services and products online, without having to speak to or contact anyone – it is an end-to-end process of selling goods and services through digital channels.

And as we know, within a few clicks of the mouse, nearly anything you want can be delivered to your doorstep.

Modern commerce encompasses all of the touchpoints and processes throughout the entire consumer journey.This means that all of the tools, processes, and technologies used to create the online offer are critical to the overall definition.

Some of the facets of the modern definition of digital commerce include:

1. Content development and product descriptions
2. Research and development
3. Marketing, promotions, and social media
4. Analytics
5. Customer service
6. Customer experience
7. Customer data management

Of course, anyone selling their goods via e-commerce must remember that all content and processes must be optimized for all forms of digital engagement, including SEO, UX, mobile/smartphones, desktops, tablets, etc.

Innovate or go home: To meet CX expectations, digital commerce requires constant revamping

In a recent report from Gartner, some interesting predictions for the world of digital commerce by 2023 emerged. Among them:

1. 15% of large digital commerce companies will have rolled out their ownmarketplaces
2. 80% of organizations that use AI as part of their digital commercestrategies will see 25% or higher improvement inkey performance indicators such as customer satisfaction, revenue, or cost reduction
3. Three digital commerce vendors will dominate the market by offering extensive application platform-as-a-service (aPaaS) innovations, extensive ecosystems, and rapid feature releases

This last point seems particularly relevant, both to nascent vendors andmore venerable large players alike. The message? Innovate or go home.

All roads to e-commerce begin – and end – with CX

While the frameworks of alldigital commerceplatforms have many things in common,the key element that defines a leader isthe ability to continuously offer new and ground-breaking features that will help clients consistently construct the process around the customer experience.

The landscape of commerce has shifted radically in the past couple of years, both in reaction to and as a result of game-changing new technologies being employed to automate previously manual processes, or to enable brand new abilities.

First, there’s the move to cloud-based, headless-first digital commerce platforms. They have enabled the front-end online storefront or in-app customer interface to be decoupled from the back-end commerce core, opening up a world of flexibility for a business’ partner ecosystem.

Headless commerce can also be extended into physical stores in the form of “endless aisle” capabilities, where in-store stock can be offset with quick-turnaround warehouse inventory on-the-spot, minimizing lost sales from stock shortages.

Or, considerthe effect of AI and machine learning on product visualization, storefront configuration, customer service chat functions, and more.

AIcan, for instance, drive personalization on a more granular level by allowing a single customer’s behaviors and intents to inform the actual content and layout ofthe digital store they interact with, in real time.

Make every moment matter

While nobody can predict the future of businessand the wonders it will bringwith complete accuracy, we can confidently lean into thetrend towards fully connected cloud technology platforms asthe primary means ofgetting there.

But, of course, technology isn’t all there is to success – it’s about remembering what matters most.

In the raceto the top in digital commerce, the winners will undoubtably be the ones that constantly look ahead, reimaginethepossibilities, and keep their focus firmly on thetrue benefactors of their offerings: the end customer.