Anant Shukla of Embitel Technologies On The Top 5 E-commerce Trends Shaping the Future of Online Shopping
An Interview With Francois Marchand, Editor of The Ecomm Manager
Blockchain in E-commerce: The buzzword blockchain has been around for quite some time and our society is starting to understand the full effect of integrating this technology in e-commerce. Using this, ecommerce websites can offer transparent and fraud-less transactions as blockchain has a great stronghold in data security through its Distributed Ledger Technology.
As e-commerce continues to grow exponentially, businesses must stay up-to-date with the latest trends and innovations to remain competitive in the ever-evolving online shopping landscape. In this interview series, about “Top 5 Ecommerce Trends Shaping the Future of Online Shopping” we are talking to e-commerce experts, industry professionals, and thought leaders with in-depth knowledge and experience in online shopping trends. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Anant Shukla of Embitel Technologies.
Anant is an ecommerce leader with more than 15 years of experience and a proven track record in B2B sales, account management, strategic alliances, and consultative selling. During this period, he has helped B2B, B2C, and B2B2C brands to create true omnichannel experiences. He has exposure to multiple industries including Retail, Automotive, Fashion, Lifestyle, Health, Home Furnishing, Fintech — BFSI, Travel, & Real Estate. He was recognized for his expertise and honoured with Top 40under40 Sales Professional of the Year award by APMP UK in 2021.
Thank you so much for your time! I know that you’re super busy. Before diving in, our readers would like to get to know you. Can you tell us a bit about your backstory and how you grew up?
Thank you for having me! Yes, of course!
So it all started in the city that I grew up in — Indore; which is now hailed as the cleanest city in India. Apart from being known for its cleanliness, the city is also a budding space for ambitious businessmen. If you happen to visit Indore, you can witness a plethora of local businesses striving to climb the ladder of success.
I pursued most of my education including graduate level (B.Tech in Computer Science) in the same city in the year 2006. I have many memories of my time in Indore, I just can’t pick a specific one.
After spending more than 20 years in the city, I decided to move on to new pastures.
In 2008, I got into one of the top B-Schools in the country, Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies — JBIMS, Mumbai to pursue my masters in marketing. This was after I cracked SNAP-MAT by achieving a grade in the 99.98 percentile. It was a great learning experience for me.
A stand-out experience during my time in JBIMS was when I was part of the placement committee which helped me develop a solid network. Since then, I have had the opportunity to cover at least half of India due to my profession.
I have worked in Gurgaon, Pune, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai & Hyderabad, and have worked internationally for a firm in Singapore.
What led you to this specific career path?
Witnessing the local businesses in Indore closely, I was fascinated and wanted to know more about the “Art of making a sale”. In addition to this, I have always been interested in technologies that empower people — and e-commerce has that ability.
E-commerce has immense potential and we’ve seen businesses 10x their value in a very short period using this business avenue. Being able to consult & help businesses in achieving their goals triggers a sense of fulfillment in me.
I have been associated with digital experience in e-commerce since my time at Accenture Consulting where I was enabling sales practices in the Interactive team. The association was about 5 and a half years long.
During this time, I realized the unique challenges that businesses face in transcending geographical boundaries and creating personalized shopping experiences. Due to life and educational experiences leading up to this, I could offer solutions to tackle the challenges businesses faced in navigating the dynamic e-commerce landscape.
This fueled my motivation to specialize in e-commerce consulting.
Can you share the most exciting story that has happened to you since you began at your company?
After joining Embitel, I am privileged to have the opportunity to listen to the needs of businesses and provide them with strategies & tools to convert their e-commerce dream into a reality. This is a story that I live through and cherish daily.
On a personal note, my most exciting story is an achievement. For the past 16 years, I have also been working as a Freelance Consultant for APMP — Association of Proposal Management Professionals, UK on a pro-bono basis. The organization has gained global recognition by training professionals in sales. Recently, I was recognized as one of the Top 40 under 40 Sales Professionals, in 2022 by them for my contributions to this fraternity. The award was presented in Delaware, US. So yeah, that’s a memorable story!
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?
Well, the plus point of working in the e-commerce domain is the exposure to several interesting business ideas regularly.
Recently, we achieved success in delivering a PoC in the budding domain of Conversational Commerce for a globally recognized powerhouse in the consumer goods industry. Our one-of-a-kind solution blended the power of conversation with native social commerce features.
The solution caters to B2B & B2B2C business lines. It was integrated with features to ease business & customer interactions using multiple trending communication channels such as WhatsApp, Line & Facebook Messenger. To generate quality sales opportunities, we also integrated this conversational commerce solution with Meta & Magento Commerce capabilities.
The PoC was driven by data and helped both the buyer and seller make better decisions across the buying journey.
The solution was a grand success, and the client is in constant dialogue with us to scale it up to test additional features & functionalities.
Another interesting project that comes to mind is the concept of developing a super app that sells vehicles from multiple automotive OEMs under one marketplace. This is a novel concept and something that can help buyers immensely. Imagine the ease of product comparisons with an app like that!
E-commerce marketplaces like these are the ones to watch out for!
You’re a successful business leader. What are three traits about yourself that you feel helped fuel your success? Can you share a story or example for each?
As someone who has worked in sales, I know just how important it is to prioritize the customer. That’s why I’ve always focused on three key traits that have helped me succeed:
Customer Centric Problem Solving, Consultative Selling, and Innovative Thinking.
One experience that stands out to me is when I was working at Wipro, and we were in talks with a customer about developing a custom ecommerce platform for them. They wanted to visit us in person to discuss the project, but our facility was in a large tech park with strict security protocols. One of these protocols was that vehicles were not allowed beyond a certain point, and navigating the park could be difficult for those unfamiliar with it.
Rather than seeing this as an obstacle, I saw it as an opportunity to personalize the customer’s experience and solve the problem. We decided to use the company’s mascot-themed marks on the floor to guide our clients to the conference room. This personal touch proved to be pivotal in persuading the brand to choose us as their service provider.
This experience highlights the importance of the three traits I mentioned earlier. By being customer-centric, consultative, and innovative, we were able to create a solution that not only solved a problem but also impressed our client.
Excellent, thanks so much for sharing that. I want to shift gears and talk about e-commerce. What was the original vision for your e-commerce business? What pain point(s) were you trying to solve for your customers?
As mentioned earlier, I have had a long stint in this field and have had the opportunity to lead my own business. The vision for these businesses revolved around customer-centric problem-solving, consultative selling, and innovative thinking. The motivation behind this vision is to facilitate seamless connections between companies and their buyers.
The goal is to establish efficient and meaningful interaction with the customers by providing strategic consulting, creating solutions that streamline communication, enable personalized experiences and enhance customer satisfaction.
Since I operate in the Indian market, I have tried to resolve the main pain points through solutions that make businesses more accessible to customers via mobile apps and PWAs.
India has the second-largest number of mobile users in the world, and therefore, we need solutions that address diverse users. Hence, increasing the accessibility of businesses using Mobile Apps and PWAs has become a key pain point.
Another pain point that I have addressed is the factor of personalized shopping experience. Brands need to focus on presenting relevant recommendations based on the customer’s preferences. For example, no one would appreciate getting recommendations on speakers and woofers in their pursuit of buying a headset. Brands need to help customers by providing adequate relevant options to ease decision-making.
In this era of “On Demand Fulfillment”, increasing the access points to your store by adopting the omnichannel model and offering a personalized buying experience will take you a long way.
How do you see the e-commerce industry evolving in the coming years?
From where I stand, I see the industry evolving in a way to accommodate a customer’s changing mindset. A typical customer today is looking for options to switch from owning a product to becoming a user. Basically, ownership to usership model.
The change in consumer mindset could be linked to the growing cost of owning a product. E-commerce brands must pay attention to facilitate this changing trend. This trend has been highlighted in the law of diminishing marginality wherein the increased consumption of a product leads to its gradual decline in satisfying the needs of a customer. A clear-cut example of this can be seen in the number of car purchases after the successful implementation of the Ola’s and the Uber’s of the world.
The total cost of ownership could be reduced by introducing subscription models wherever possible.
How do you balance the need for innovation and experimentation with maintaining a stable, reliable e-commerce infrastructure?
That is an interesting question. It’s often a trade-off honestly. One factor that influences the balance is the budget. Without necessary investment, focusing on innovation and experimentation becomes the secondary goal when compared to maintaining a stable, reliable e-commerce infrastructure.
The stability and reliability of an e-commerce website’s infrastructure cannot be compromised at any point as the primary functionalities that define a digital store depend on the infrastructure.
However, implementing innovative solutions is necessary too. So, when it comes to balancing innovation, leaders can ask the question “Does the innovation address the immediate needs of the customer?” & “Does this innovation fit into the architecture, or will it require an overhaul?”
OK super. Here is the central question of our interview. What five emerging trends do you believe will have the biggest impact on the future of online shopping? Please explain each in detail.
Well, e-commerce brands need to be alert as technologies that aid e-commerce are evolving rapidly. So here are the 5 trends:
Blockchain in E-commerce: The buzzword blockchain has been around for quite some time and our society is starting to understand the full effect of integrating this technology in e-commerce. Using this, ecommerce websites can offer transparent and fraud-less transactions as blockchain has a great stronghold in data security through its Distributed Ledger Technology.
As blockchain comprises a well-distributed and traceable database, e-commerce brands will have easy access to receipts and warranties. Along with this, transactions can be completed at a lightning pace.
Omnichannel & Mobile Commerce: As I said earlier, ecommerce brands need to make themselves accessible to customers through various channels. A modern customer looks for a well-packaged and connected experience. No one is ever idle these days and omnichannel commerce serves the needs of a modern customer by letting them buy a product on the go.
Using omnichannel technology, one can start a buying process on their laptop and complete it on their phone, tablet, or other digital devices. With the world going digital, ecommerce brands with omnichannel experience are the biggest winners.
AR (Augmented Reality) & VR (Virtual Reality) Integration into Ecommerce: Ecommerce is gradually positioning itself as a formidable option to buy a product. A common dilemma everyone has while buying online is “Is this the right product for me? Will this fit my needs?”. With AR and VR technologies, ecommerce brands can easily solve this dilemma.
AR and VR help online stores provide a real-time shopping experience using solutions such as 3D Mesh technology and Magic Mirrors/ Virtual Reality Mirrors for virtual product trials. The apparel industry, including clothing, jewellery, and accessories is already benefiting from these technological advancements.
Quick Commerce: Nobody likes to wait, and the patience levels of consumers today are becoming wafer-thin. With the successful implementation of quick commerce, consumers receive their orders quickly.
Strategically setting up warehouses enabled the quick commerce trend and many world-renowned brands such as Amazon and Flipkart are benefitting from it. Similarly, in India, several quick commerce options have emerged to meet the daily needs of the customer, such as BlinkIt, Zepto, and Swiggy Instamart — just to name a few.
AI (Artificial Intelligence) & Personalization: AI is making its presence felt across the ecommerce sector. It’s being used to quickly analyze data and determine the best strategy that an ecommerce store can adopt to increase sales.
One such result of analyzing the data through AI is offering personalized shopping experiences and product recommendations. Many brands have already seized this opportunity to stand out amongst competition, and I do not see this trend slowing down anytime soon.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
LinkedIn! You can find everything about my professional life on LinkedIn. It’s a one-stop channel to dive into my entrepreneurial endeavors, achievements, testimonials, thoughts on the industry, and my own blog as well.
You are a person of significant influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
Due to my background in sales, there’s one change that I’d like to bring in and witness in the industry. I’ve observed that ecommerce brands are increasingly shifting focus to sell their top-of-the-line products. I feel that in the process of doing this, they end up prioritizing the quality and customer experiences pertaining to these products.
Rather than mainly focusing on the quality of their top-of-the-line products, brands need to strive to improve the quality of each product. Along with this, it would be so much more beneficial for all the parties to sell an experience rather than just a product.
I’d also like to see Embitel become a top ecommerce implementor, especially in the automotive sector. Global brands such as Adobe are already seeing us that way, so I think it’s just a matter of time before the world perceives the impact of Embitel Technologies this way.
Looking ahead, what are the biggest opportunities and challenges facing the ecommerce industry, and how do you plan to address them in the coming years?
The biggest opportunities that ecommerce industries have can be fulfilled by implementing the 5 trends I’ve mentioned earlier. The essence of these opportunities is to bridge the gap between providing a full-fledged retail shopping experience at one’s fingertip, but only faster.
Coming to the challenges, I feel the biggest one is going to be choosing the right business/ecommerce consulting and services partner. The process of choosing the right consultant can be long and arduous. This aspect is critical to the success of the ecommerce store, as consultants will have a say in the tech stack which realizes the brand’s ecommerce dream.
An example of this is choosing the right ecommerce platform. Choosing the right ecommerce platform can be the difference between creating a run-of-the-mill ecommerce store and a scalable digital store with stunning user experience.
So, I would suggest ecommerce brands perform thorough research on how they can achieve their goal and not just accept whatever suggestion they receive out there.
Is there a past trend that’s now common practice in ecommerce that you would have spent 50% more time focusing on? Which one and why?
That’s an interesting question. One such widespread practice in ecommerce that I would have recommended focusing more on is payment gateways. In the past, it was common for ecommerce websites to have one or two payment options. If a customer couldn’t pay using them, they simply couldn’t complete the sale.
The whole point of ecommerce is simply to make the entire buying process simpler; however, the lack of accepting different channels for payment contradicted this purpose.
Who’s at loss here? Is it the customer or the ecommerce brand?
It’s definitely the e-commerce brand as customers could jump to another option at their disposal.
Ecommerce brands have now realized the value of offering multiple payment options in UPI, Credit/ Debit Card, Wallet, Cash on Delivery, Pay Later, and Netbanking.
I want to thank you so much for your time and for sharing your expertise with us. I wish you continued success!
About The Interviewer: Francois Marchand is the editor of The Ecomm Manager. Throughout his 20+ years in journalism, communications, and marketing, Francois has created and managed high-value content for Postmedia, Vancouver Film School, and Unbounce. He loves helping business leaders grow their skillsets and knowledge base to stay ahead of the competition. Visit The Ecomm Manager: theecommmanager.com
