An industry that has seen massive growth in the past few years is ecommerce. According to Statista, this growth was 25.7% in 2020, with the pandemic giving a boost to worldwide retail ecommerce sales. China has the highest volume of retail ecommerce sales, Statista adds.

To most customers, ecommerce is the online store or digital platform they can purchase products or services from. However, there is more to ecommerce than this and a whole ecosystem is involved in making those sales happen.

Components

One of the key components of the ecommerce ecosystem is the ecommerce platform, which is why vendors invest heavily in ecommerce application development. However, an ecommerce platform alone does not suffice as payment gateways, marketplaces, and online marketing are also key components of the ecommerce ecosystem.

While enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) are two key tools required when running an ecommerce business, an inventory management system (IMS) is also vital. In addition to this, the ecommerce ecosystem may also include software for accounting and shipping.

The role played by these key components and their importance depends on the size of the business, as a small-sized business may not require the same ecosystem a mid-sized company does. Software developers keep this in mind when developing and integrating the necessary tools and software to build an ecommerce ecosystem.

In a mid-sized business, the ecommerce platform will be connected with the ecommerce website, which uses online marketing tools. The ecommerce platform will also require a payment gateway to facilitate online payments. Accounting software, shipping software as well as CRM and IMS will also be key components in the ecommerce ecosystem of a mid-sized business.

Marketplaces are also among the key components of an ecommerce ecosystem.

These components are either connected directly to the ecommerce platform or are connected to other components in the ecosystem. However, they all carry out different tasks and activities that make ecommerce sales and transactions a possibility.

The future of ecommerce

The components that make up the ecommerce ecosystem are constantly changing with the emergence of new technologies. This means that the growth ecommerce has seen in the past few years will continue for years to come.

Ecommerce is a developing industry but there is so much potential for growth in emerging markets like China, India, Brazil, South Africa and Russia. According to Economic Times, e-commerce in emerging markets is expected to grow from about 15% of all retail sales in 2017 to 20% in 2022.

Referring to a report by The Boston Consulting Group, an Economic Times article titled, ‘What to expect from ecommerce in emerging markets by 2022’ said, “About three billion consumers in emerging markets will be online by 2022. Most of them will use the internet to collect information before buying products, pushing the level of digitally influenced purchases to nearly $4 trillion.”

It is thus safe to say that emerging markets like India, China, and Brazil will shape the future of ecommerce, with significant growth seen in the coming years.

B2B ecommerce

When we think about ecommerce, it is usually business-to-consumer or B2C ecommerce that comes to mind. While B2C ecommerce has dominated the market, forecasts show a growth in B2B ecommerce.

A study by Zion Market Research, for instance, found that B2B ecommerce is expected to gain profit worth $25.59 million by 2028. “Moreover, with the rise in B2B ecommerce end-users in the past few years, nearly 70% of firms are planning to introduce B2B ecommerce tools for effectively carrying out business activities online in coming years,” Zion Market Research stated.

An ecommerce app development company should thus look into B2B ecommerce tools in addition to B2C ecommerce tools.

Sustainable products

Consumers will only get more environmentally conscious in the future and this would have a direct impact on the ecommerce ecosystem. Ecommerce platforms will be required to cater to the environmentally conscious customer not only in terms of sustainable products but also environmentally friendly business processes and activities.

Consumers today look not only for sustainable products but also sustainable packaging. However, consumers are also looking for ways to cut the carbon footprint of online shopping and this thinking would affect components like shipping as well.