Can Data & Analytics Help E-commerce’s Slow Decline? | Harnham US Recruitment

Recently, we have started to see some worrying downward trends for e-commerce. Will they continue? It’s hard to say. We won’t see final numbers for holiday shopping until 2022. What we do know is Data Analytics can help with reversing the trend. Is E-Commerce Struggling?We saw something odd in 2021. While still down 28% from 2019 pre-pandemic levels, the number of in-store Black Friday shoppers increased 48% from 2020. When looking at the holiday season as a whole, in-store shopping will only be down 10-15% from the holiday season in 2019. Remember, 2019’s Black Friday was still pre-pandemic.Online spending is seeing a corresponding dip. Adobe Digital Economy Index tallied up online Black Friday spending for 2021 to be $8.9 billion. This is lower than Adobe’s expectations of $9.2 billion. This number is also down from last year’s spending of $9 billion. This is the first time online holiday spending has ever seen a reversal of continuous growth. Why is E-Commerce Slowing Down?What is causing the large increase in in-store shoppers and the dip in online spending? It’s still a little hard to pinpoint the exact cause. But it seems to be clear that the potential shipping delays are fueling the trend. After all, who wants to risk their gifts getting stuck somewhere in the mail for weeks?The supply chain problems have been very well-publicized. Concerns over how these issues will play out for the customer seems to have lowered their enthusiasm for online shopping. Shoppers want the certainty of the brick and mortar shop over the e-commerce world – even if that means fewer options.On top of all of this, collecting Data on customers is harder than ever. Customers want to opt-in on tracking. You cannot send emails that qualify as spam, or you risk legal action.The Data from customers is important for creating a good customer experience. This is what keeps customers coming back. With sufficient Data, you can cater to their wants or needs and create rewards for shopping behavior. Without it, businesses are a little lost.Digital Analytics Solutions for Supply Chain DisruptionsA while back we wrote an article about how Digital Analytics can help with the disruption in the supply chain. Surviving supply chain disruptions all comes down to resiliency and flexibility. Being able to make rapid decisions will help move things along. Digital Analytics helps businesses make those fast decisions. Here are six other solutions to supply chain disruptions with advanced analytics. More details about each point can be found in our previous article.Support your workforce and put people first  Leverage data to improve visibilityRapid generation of insightsBe flexibleBe able to identify critical needsCollaborate in the cloudThe Changing World of Data AnalyticsWhat about the changes in the way we collect consumer data? As Forbes put it, we need to prepare for a “cookie-less” world. This will mean doing more with less Data. We used to be able to track visitors’ behavior on websites using cookies. This is now controversial as more and more consumers are question the ethics of violating their online privacy. Clearly, the way we collect the Data will have to change. We will start to see more first-party Data through a value exchange. Customers will need incentives and value in exchange for providing their Data. For some customers, simply asking for consent is enough for them to trust companies with their Data. We might have to accept little or no Data from other customers.The answer isn’t to go back to the stone age. Advanced Analytics is popping up to predict behavior based on limited information. Predictive Modelling, Machine Learning, and AI all help predict what customers want. This is the key to doing more with less.It might also be time for businesses to start building their own Digital Footprint. This will allow them to target prospective customers using relevant content. We have seen the rise in the last year of self-service Data Analytics. With the power of their Data in their hands, businesses can make the decisions that make the most sense for their customers. After all, they know their customers best.If you’re interested in Consumer Insight, Decision Science, Machine Learning, or Robotics just to name a few, Harnham may have a role for you. Check out our latest Advanced Analytics jobs or contact one of our expert consultants to learn more.  For our West Coast Team, contact us at (415) 614 – 4999 or send an email to sanfraninfo@harnham.com.  For our Arizona Team, contact us at (602) 562 7011 or send an email to phoenixinfo@harnham.com. For our Mid-West and East Coast teams contact us at  (212) 796-6070 or send an email to newyorkinfo@harnham.com.