3 digital trends to keep your eye on ahead of 2020

Technology advancement and ever growing consumer expectations mean that 2020 will be another exciting year for those of us working in or with consumer facing industries. Clearly, it will be a great time to be a consumer, as shopping experience gets personalised and seamless like it’s never been. Here are the three trends that I foresee lifting off in 2020!

1. Conversational commerce – the evolution of eCommerce

This is mainstream in China where platforms such as WeChat have been used as a transactional platform for years. But in the rest of the world, 2020 is the likely the breakthrough year for conversational commerce which is defined as interacting with businesses and buying through messaging apps.

This year we had the opportunity to study this in depth, across many markets and it’s amazing to see the rapid pace in which it is growing. Up to 40% of the Internet population in Thailand and Vietnam are already buying on messaging platforms. Significant volume on eCommerce platforms comes from seller chats. Come to think of it, what’s not to like?

Customisation, personality, convenience – it is eCommerce with a human touch.

As the seller support technology of the platform evolves, this is likely to grow even further. The good thing is that, this is category agnostic, so I can be negotiating the price of an electric shaver, looking at pictures of a condo from an agent while trying to understand the fixed deposit structure from my banking relationship manager. Oh, the best thing is, this is without even realising that I am shopping, I’m just having a chat on WhatsApp while I do my meetings in office!

2. Real personalisation for consumers

For most clients, 2018 to 2019 were the years of data “discovery” where we learnt how much data we had about consumers and how impactful it could be in improving customer experience. We did many “proof-of-concept” exercises to prove that personalisation makes a tangible difference and learn how best to set-up this ecosystem.

Netflix, Starbucks, Google and now Lazada will continue to lead the pack as the benchmarks to beat in this space. But 2020 is the year, where I believe that the next set of leaders will embrace consumer personalisation. Do not be surprised to see the banks, rewards programs, ride hail players, eCommerce platforms and property agents start to get surprisingly better at offering you what you need at that moment.

This is a complex journey – impacting the technological architecture, analytics capability and the ways of working, but the reward is the consumer stickiness to the platform, which is what every seller wishes for. Personalisation could be the genie retailers are seeking!

Clearly, 2020 will be a great time to be a consumer – as shopping experience gets personalised and seamless, like it’s never been. Companies that get this right will win the hearts, minds and wallets of these consumers.

3. Omni-channel finally makes an appearance

After the initial years of confusion and indecision at the major incumbents, the last two years have been the period of several key players setting-up their online presence. With decent Internet, some patience and teeth grinding you could probably stay at home for most of your needs today!

But most companies realise that the same consumers are online and also walking into your branch and we need to have a way to connect those two experiences. While there are buzzwords such as "O2O" and "omni abound", not many have worked this out yet. There have been several challenges in the past including technology, organisation structure and a gap in capabilities to name a few.

But I believe 2020 will see the start of a real O2O play across consumer industries; be it banks, airlines, retailers, real estate players or even restaurants.

If your work involves engaging consumers and guiding the purchase journey, ask yourself if you are truly ready for this – mind-set, team and infrastructure wise!

The writer is Shiv Choudhury, managing director and partner, Boston Consulting Group.