E-commerce is growing across the globe. It’s the first truly global shopping space with the associated social interaction, aftercare and customer service. With this growth in e-commerce, has come a boom in associated and related industries and sectors. This article pinpoints some of these start-up opportunities and provides ‘food for thought’ for any future business investment in the current context.
Logistics and last mile delivery
Often referred to as the last leg logistics, this is the final stage in the delivery of products and services to the customer. It is currently seen as a vital part of the brand-building process in that customers want their products delivered within the set timeframe and this is also the only stage where there is any possible contact with the customer. This is one of the fastest growing aspects of logistics around the world. Customers and consumers want the things that they have ordered immediately, and as such the last mile delivery sector has become one of the fastest growing jobs and business sectors across the globe. If you are in logistics, then the fastest growing segment will be the courier jobs related to this last leg of the journey.
Tech infrastructure and development
With more shopping being done online and, in the cloud, than ever before and the trend being seen as a long term one. In 2020, $791.7 billion was spent on e-commerce, which was a 32.4% increase year-on-year, and represents some of the fastest money made in the history of our economy. This means that there is a jobs spurt in the tech and cloud infrastructure sector as more businesses now look to go online as a major component of their overall strategy
The fact that logistics is now being integrated across the supply chain and in most cases is supported and run in the cloud, means that there is a huge demand for those that are able to set up and maintain logistics e-infrastructure.
Marketing and advertising
The internet can indeed be a web of information that can entangle and confuse, simply based on the sheer quantity of information and data out there. As such, being able to navigate this tech, build a brand and an online following will be key to the success of any business. Marketing online is a specialized field and as such it has seen huge growth as a sector and a spin-off of the increase in online shoppers. Influencer marketing has been the biggest disruptor in the sector and it is expected that social media marketing will also see vast changes based on the increase in influencer marketing.
Start-up businesspeople and entrepreneurs need to be increasingly forward-thinking to be able to take advantage of the expected changes in the market. The growth in e-commerce and internet shopping has led to a number of related opportunities. However, taking advantage of these requires a very good understanding of e-commerce.
