Online Shopping — Next Five Years
It’ll be interesting to imagine what online shopping might look like in the next five years. With Amazon propelling ahead as a result of the pandemic, it’ll drag forward with it many smaller players who’ll also help usher in a new era. Here are some predictions.
- Ease of Ordering
Almost all sites will have the ease of ordering like Amazon. Credit card and shipping details will be ready and accessible whether the order is by web browser or app.
2. Social Ordering
You like something on Instagram or Facebook or TikTok or whatever social media network is big in five years from now? You click to buy and order and it it’ll arrive the next day. No adding of any details or checkouts. Facebook might debit your Libra account to make this happen seamlessly.
3. All You Can Eat
We’ll likely see an all-you-can-eat model for some households. For $500 month or some similar amount, you can order from a list of household items and have them delivered within hours.
4. Eat at home
Meal services and other same day groceries will be the norm from Amazon and Walmart, as well as many grocery stores.
5. Predictive Ordering
You won’t have to wait to be out of toilet paper to have it delivered. Amazon will predict when you’re out and order it for you. Same with milk and other staples (oh, and staples). You can always return or cancel, but Amazon will take the initiative.
6. Ship through Amazon
Want to get something delivered from your home to somewhere within hours? Well, Amazon is now your courier. Same for any business that needs to get something to a customer quickly. This service might be available like AWS to merchants. Shipping might extend to service calls or small gigs like Fiverr.
7. Cardboard Pick Up
Municipalities are going to get sick of picking up boxes from Amazon. Prime members may have the ability to leave their boxes on the porch and Amazon will pick them up and re-use them.
It’ll be fun to see whether any of these hold up but online retail will be much easier over the next five years and what we experience today will seem antiquated.
