Social Commerce: A growth opportunity for Shopping

Social commerce is a part of the broader e-commerce ecosystem resulting from the combination of a 16.4% growth in social media usage year-over-year and the need for companies to reach customers wherever they are. In short, social media platforms today help businesses turning customers’ dependence on images and video into shopping activity, providing them with an immediate purchase experience.

Instagram and Facebook are leading the social commerce trend worldwide. Recently, Shopify partnered with the two platforms to connect more than 1million merchants with a potential daily customer base of 500 million and 1.9 billion users, respectively. As reported by eMarketer, in the US, 58% of Millennials said social media are an important source of information when making shopping decisions. Shopify’s customers can discover products while navigating on their favorite social network and interact directly with brands via messaging and Livestream shopping. After that,, they can complete orders by paying on the social platform through Shop Pay.

Pinterest also offers a visual interface that is ideal for social commerce, but unlike other platforms, 97% of the top searches on Pinterest are for unbranded goods. This unique marketplace is a great advantage for small and medium-sized businesses because their content can gain visibility based on the quality of their product and not by brand awareness. In addition, Pinterest’s most distinguishing feature is the use of Augmented Reality on its platform: When users see something in the real world, they can take a picture using the Pinterest camera and run a visual search for similar products. Or again, through an AR feature called "Try On", users can try on different makeup, save for later shopping, or buy through the retailer’s site.

According to Statista, Social Commerce is currently worth $89.4B, but it is expected to skyrocket to $600B in the next seven-year, as more people grow accustomed to buying online. With evolving technologies and the increasing use of smartphones, social networks are a key distribution channel for companies to both find new customers and boosting sales.

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The information in this article should not be regarded as a description of services provided by Delian Partners SA. The opinions expressed in this article are for general informational purposes only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual or on any specific security or investment product. It is only intended to provide education about the financial industry. The views reflected in this article are subject to change at any time without notice.

Democratizing Education thanks to E-learning

In 2020, the global education sector was deeply disrupted by the closure of schools, universities, and offices, which pushed for the implementation of new learning models completely different from traditional classroom courses, including online learning. However, even if it sounds like something new, E-learning has been around since 1990 and over the years has never stopped growing, supported by the evolution of technology.

Today people spend on average 11 hours a day in front of their devices while reading news, working, and studying. With this new paradigm, E-learning is increasing in popularity because it makes education not only available to a broader audience globally but it also makes the education experience more interesting and personalized. It is not a surprise that E-learning is a growing segment of education enthusiastically adopted by Millennials globally, who represent the largest population cohort ever. This digital-native generation wants to learn and apply new skills, rather than just simply memorize content through a book.

At the base of E-learning, there is a more dynamic and time-saving approach. In fact, through E-learning, students can follow courses, activities and access resources tailored to their individual needs: By using artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to analyze and process data, E-learning software can personalize content on an individual basis and understand where students need specific support and what content is necessary.

A growing number of Companies have recognized the potential of E-learning and are developing increasingly innovative services to facilitate the student’s access to the professional world. For example, social network platform Facebook launched its own digital marketing course to help students achieve certified skills to use for their job applications. Chinese tech giant Tencent also boosted its online education offering through its dedicated brand Tencent Education, aiming to achieve an equal, personalized, and innovative education globally.

The common denominator for courses offered by these companies is to provide modern-days Majors which are not yet the focus of traditional courses, such as big data, IT, and cloud computing, with the objective to reduce the gap between the academic and professional world.

E-learning is also important for employed individuals because it allows them to enhance their professional skills from everywhere and anytime, achieving their goals while balancing between their jobs and studying. Big tech company IBM, a pioneer in innovation technology, offers employees multiple online courses and programs to upgrade their skills in innovative fields such as artificial intelligence, big data, cloud, cybersecurity, and more. Thanks to its online learning courses, IBM allows employees to increase their knowledge base by offering a level of flexibility that would not be possible within the traditional education and training system.

For the next decade, e-learning will also be an exciting sector to invest in. As reported by Global Market Insights, the global E-learning industry is expected to be worth $375B by 2026. Through the combination of a rise in spending on supplementary education and the increasing penetration of smartphone and mobile devices, e-learning has the potential to change the lives of billions of people and potentially reduce the gap among students in different parts of the world by making education a more democratic industry.

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The information in this article should not be regarded as a description of services provided by Delian Partners SA. The opinions expressed in this article are for general informational purposes only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual or on any specific security or investment product. It is only intended to provide education about the financial industry. The views reflected in this article are subject to change at any time without notice.

AI supported drones as a key-component of the next generation e-commerce

Commercial drones are growing in popularity across different industries thanks to a wide range of potential applications. With the expansion of the e-commerce market and the increase in online purchases, the demand for better delivery services is pushing companies to invest in technologically innovative solutions to upgrade existing services and capabilities.

One of them consists in autonomous aircraft delivery: without human involvement products can be delivered to customers by controlling the entire process through intelligent communications systems, in a shorter time than using normal road transportation, avoiding traffic and other logistical problems.

With the goal to optimize timing and cut additional costs, e-commerce giant Amazon launched its own Prime Air drones service to deliver products to its customers. In August, the company received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), anticipating that in the future between 75% and 90% of Amazon products will be delivered by drones flying up to 15 miles and arriving at destination in less than 30 minutes.

Another promising area for commercial drones’ applications is the health sector. For example, the medical product delivery company Zipline recently announced its pilot program in partnership with American retail giant Walmart. With this project, Zipline plans to deliver health and wellness products across the US area providing its customers with medical supplies in less than an hour.

The concept is the same: by using AI technology and machine learning systems, autonomous drones can elaborate a higher amount of data to deliver products in less time and in a more efficient way, in a total independent and decentralized way.

The growing adoption of 5G technologies, smart devices, and the rising demand for faster services is making the drones market increasingly appealing to a broad range of businesses, and rising competition among players from different industries anticipates significant growth in the market over the coming years.

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The information in this article should not be regarded as a description of services provided by Delian Partners SA. The opinions expressed in this article are for general informational purposes only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual or on any specific security or investment product.  It is only intended to provide education about the financial industry. The views reflected in this article are subject to change at any time without notice.