2017 is coming to an end, a year that was speculated to already have flying cars and actual hover boards. None of those specific technological advances have become a reality quite yet, however, the technological advances in how we access information has completely quadrupled in the past 17 years. Think about it, Y2K was speculated to cause the most disastrous computer record wipeouts, comparing it to the apocalypse because of two digits. Now, almost 77% of the American population carry a smartphone, having access to pretty much any information they could want or need at their fingertips (source: statista.com).
Not only have technological advancements in how we access this information quadrupled, the amount of people connected to social media has quadrupled in almost 10 years. In 2008, roughly 24% of the US population were connected with social media. Now everyone and their grandmother (literally) have either a Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and hopefully no longer a MySpace account. So, we’re able to retrieve information, as well as share more information than we ever have before.
Unfortunately for some businesses, this boom in social media and technology in the last 10 years has impacted their sales, causing them to close doors. The days of thumbing through a catalogue to shop are numbered, as well as even walking into a physical store. Sears is rumored to be shutting down over 200 stores across the US and Canada this year. It’s not that people aren’t shopping anymore. We haven’t become more fiscally responsible over the past 10 years, heck if anything, we’re becoming more and more irresponsible with our spending because of the ecommerce uprising. My fellow millennials take a lot of blame for things (we killed the diamond and napkin industry, you’re welcome) however we are definitely to blame when it comes to shopping online. According to BiggerCommerce.com, a whopping 67% of millennials prefer to do their shopping online than stepping a dainty toe in store. It’s no wonder Amazon is the #1 ecommerce giant in the world with almost $100 billion in sales.
How is this impacting business? With this social media and tech up rise, businesses are getting craftier and smarter in order to survive. Ecommerce companies have to be strategic and completely targeted in their campaigns, messaging, and advertising. With online shopping, consumers can compare endless products, source reviews, look for cheaper and better deals at competing websites. Okay, maybe not better deals, but the smartest. To stay smart, sites rely on analytics to measure data captured through the various consumer channels. These analytics help them figure out the appropriate content to pinpoint buying processes, avoid cart abandonment, and all in all, understand their consumers. This is where we come in. Explorics was created out of this necessity to stay in tune with marketing efforts, and to help our customers understand their customers. Call us, email us, poke us on Facebook for more information.