3 Major SaaS innovations that e-commerce will witness in 2023

By Saket Kumar Jha – Chief Revenue officer – APAC & META at Netcore Cloud 

A recent report by PwC, has highlighted how 1 in 3 consumers would walk away from a brand following a single bad experience. This emphasizes the obvious importance of prioritizing consumer experience.

Backed by AI and a data-first approach, ecommerce brands are persistently innovating with strategies towards building meaningful, real-time interactions that eventually enhance engagement and experience.

2022 has been the ground for such innovations in SaaS in online retail, namely metaverse, robotics, and marketing automation. Here I’d like to touch upon 3 major SaaS-powered transformations that 2023 holds for them.

Brand increased inclination towards search recommendation 

Since the measure of intent is linearly linked to the time spent, having consumers engage on your website longer is critical. This can only happen if they are gaining value for their time invested. Search recommendation ensures this.

How often has it happened that while shopping online, you can find something you are looking for only after attempting multiple options of words in the search bar? Armed with AI, search recommendation offers consumers the opportunity to find search results that are intelligent and curated as per their unique needs.

For instance, if it’s a “Little Black Dress” that you are on the lookout for, it is a “Little Black Dress” that you will see, as against everything that is little, everything that is black, and everything that is a dress!

WhatsApp & Bots enriching consumer engagement 

Brands have constantly been looking to make their engagements with consumers more conversational by adding the essential human element yet saving time with technology.

WhatsApp delightfully combines this. Offering the ability to move across diverse formats i.e., photos, videos, documents, voice notes, and locations, consumers can receive communication from brands they wish to engage with in real-time in the format which appeals to them and the conversation.

WhatsApp for Business API has recently extended an offering for brands in certain regions to be searched for, within the chat, by their customers.

This means if a consumer is looking to buy a sofa on WakeFit.co, they need to open WhatsApp and search for WakeFit in the chats. The entire buying process can then be carried out within the chat without the need to step out.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) making digital transformation a reality

Technology that makes it possible to build, deploy, and manage robotic software drastically reducing human intervention, has been on the rise following massive demand.

And rightly so, given the amount of time & money-saving possibilities that this offer. Furthermore, RPAs offer better responsiveness, greater flexibility, and therefore visibility of impactful results.

In closing, the tech evolution has ventured into a generation of hyper-personalisation, which has been made available to consumers at a single touch of a screen.

With consumers being spoilt for options at their fingertips, the patience level of consumers has massively dropped.

Therefore, it is imperative for brands to make a massively distinctive and delightful first impression on the consumer. This also requires them to maintain this standard, if not elevate it, at every step going forward.

I see these trends evolving in a major way in the new year, clearly indicating exciting times ahead for SaaS.