Faster and more efficient
Buying things online will become seamless and streamlined, IGD predicts, with login and payment happening via facial, voice or touch recognition technology.
Unattended deliveries to the home, cars or even straight to the fridge will become more common.
Amazon Key, for instance, is a service being rolled out in the US, which allows the online behemoth to deliver groceries to people’s homes even when they are not there. Prime users buy a security camera and a wifi connected lock that means the courier can enter the person’s home and leave the packages.
These developments will provide both opportunities for retailers and manufacturers, say the IGD analysts. They predict increasing collaboration among different actors in the supply chain, such as manufacturers pooling resources to sell directly to consumers.
Data from the online store will guide product development, for instance, with retailers able to see gaps in their ranges through unfulfilled search requests, while customer ratings, reviews and feedback to chatbots will also give them a better understanding of product quality.
But there will also be new challenges and potential inefficiencies.
“Shoppers will expect faster deliveries, and this means smaller, more frequent orders. Customers will also be less forgiving of mistakes,” the report says.