Paypal CTO Sri Shivananda Outlines the Future of Interactive, Immersive Commerce….
Writing in Ventureburn, Shivananda sees the need to meet the ever-increasing demand for personalized experiences.
“The next phase of internet-connected devices will make commerce even more contextual. Anything you can interact with can be a platform for commerce. Imagine being able to point your phone at your best friend’s shoes, and they will almost instantly appear in your shopping cart, ready to be delivered to your home?”
Merchants will need to avoid “homogenous experiences to shoppers who demand personalized interactions across all contexts.” They will have to find a balance between personalizing their offerings and ensuring consumers don’t feel their privacy is being invaded. Shoppers want to feel like a brand understands them, but isn’t stalking them, particularly in the wake of several high-profile data breaches.”
The need to close “the consumer fulfillment gap to deliver seamless experiences.” He explains: “With new advancements in technology comes the ability to create seamless customer experiences that narrow the gap between customer desire and fulfilment.” Merchants need to “keep pace with innovations that enable them to close the gap between desire and purchase in a delightful way.”
Managing customer reactions to technology disruption. Merchants, he says, need to focus on being customer champions, recognizing “that customers need to adapt to new technologies in their own time. To do this, businesses must leverage technology to build the right features that aren’t intrusive, but geared towards helping people, and respect the customer’s choice to turn technology on or off.”
