Commerce today is more accessible than ever. With online marketplaces, individuals and companies can trade transnationally with fewer hurdles and with more purchase data than they’re willing to digest. Even with behemoths like Amazon and eBay at the center of it all, surrounding them are constellations of smaller, original and specific online stores finding success.
What’s powering digital marketplaces are the great equalizers for sellers who play ball — global internet access, broadband ubiquity, and a simple purchase experience. It’s a fascinating time, but there are challenges.
A shifting political climate underpinned by protectionism, fading trade agreements, and imposing tariffs have threatened global commerce. While nations such as China are embracing their power as a global trade powerhouse, the United States is shifting towards an isolationist role. These issues were on the table at the World Economic Forum 2017 Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, last January, where Tradeshift also held an event.
In the present day climate, we chose to explore how businesses can weather the storm of disruption spawned by the globalization of technology. A new report by expert and Director of Solutions Marketing at Tradeshift, Vishal Patel, titled, The Rapidly Changing Face of Global Commerce in a Digital World, picks up the topic for a thorough analysis.
Get your copy of The Rapidly Changing Face of Global Commerce in a Digital World
The report details the longstanding history of trade and commerce. After all, civilization was built upon our ability to transact with one another. See how far commerce has come, and more importantly, where B2B commerce is headed. The future of commerce is connected, highly personalized, and comparatively easy to enter. For new startups, adopting this model has proven to be simple. The same cannot be said for many incumbents, and it could cause their decline.
Consider the ‘death of retail.’ Shoppers no longer want to meander through a mall and sift through choices. Instead, they opt for e-commerce for same-day delivery of almost anything for the lowest price. Hence, innovation and investment have flooded the e-commerce realm in search of consumers willing to spend. This digital marketplace experience is now creeping into the B2B space. If history is any indicator, digitally connected early adopters will likely emerge victorious.
The report details how this can play out, where in the world we are seeing rapid progress, and the coming age of inclusive commerce.