Laying 5 e-Commerce Myths to Rest

Once seen as secondary to in-person sales, the e-commerce channel has rocketed to the forefront since 2020 and is now a key purchasing gateway for many corporate buyers.

Despite this, misconceptions abound, with a number of B2B companies telling us that “customers aren’t ready” and “e-commerce is an immature space for businesses like ours.”

McKinsey & Company’s latest B2B Pulse helps put these notions squarely to rest. Not only are corporate buyers open to e-commerce, two-thirds now rely on digital and remote channels throughout their purchasing journey. While some B2B companies see e-commerce as the purview of cutting-edge tech players, the reality is that suppliers across industries are ramping up their capabilities at astonishing speeds.

The conventional wisdom around B2B e-commerce is due for a reset. These charts expose five prevailing myths.

Read the McKinsey report HERE.

China Hits Top Influencer With $210 Million Fine Over Taxes

One of China's top e-commerce influencers has been ordered to pay an unprecedented $210 million fine for tax evasion. She's one of the country's most popular online retailers reportedly generating sales of $4.8 billion last year.

The Uber-ization of Banking

From The Financial Brand –

“The financial services industry must rise to the challenge of disruptive technology and the expectations of enhanced digital experience models to remain competitive as the primary consumer interface for banking services.”

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Obama’s security summit “snubbed” by tech leaders

From Payment Eye -
"Apple appears to be one of the few companies willing to play ball with the US government’s proposed surveillance and security rules, with CEOs of Facebook, Microsoft and Google conspicuously absent from an Obama-led industry event.

Revelations by ex-NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden that the US gathers intelligence from social networks, e-commerce systems and other websites not caused an international outcry over consumer privacy.

Rather than scale back surveillance, the Obama administration is insisting that companies and websites that routinely collect customer data or facilitate communications and transactions between individuals will have to make this information available to the NSA. Plans announced at the summit show that the government is reluctant to tell companies how this data will be stored or used, making it a hard sell to their customers."

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Mobile Holiday Shopping Report Card

From PYMNTS.com –

“2015 is here. The holidays are over, and resolutions have already been made (and a few probably broken by now, too). And, the kids are back in school after the holiday break. So, in the spirit of school being back in session, we thought it might be fun to create a report card all about about how mobile commerce performed over the 2014 holiday season.

Overall, it was certainly a good season for e-commerce – online shopping racked up ~$53.3 billion in sales which was 15 percent more than the 2013 season. While not all of those dollars came from mobile – indeed the majority of consumers still return to the desktop when it is time to buy – the 2014 holiday season sort of cinched the deal. Mobile is changing just about everything about the commerce experience – from where people shop, when they shop, what they expect and how they approach the entire buying process.

All that said, it isn’t perfect. Our review found that mobile performs well on some levels when it comes to payments and commerce and even overachieves on some. In others, though, there’s clearly need for improvement.”

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Mobile Transactions Around The World

From PYMNTS.com –

“Mobile transaction trends are tricky to track, particularly on a global scale. Generally, we know that the rate of mobile adoption is increasing all over the world, but mobile as a way to make payments instead of a card in a physical store is still in its infancy.

Mobile as a driver of e-commerce is growing as well, as tablets and phones make access to the Internet convenient for everyone and available for many for whom PCs were not either affordable or accessible. In fact, for the mobile device is not only a catalyst for economic growth across emerging countries with otherwise limited payment options, it is a financial lifeline for many whose access to financial services was simply non-existent.

So, as we prepare for the year ahead – one that many believe will only accelerate the adoption of mobile payments of all varieties, we thought we’d break down the mobile payments trends and figures by region, worldwide.”

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Is This What Twitter Commerce Will Look Like?

From Re/code

“Twitter is getting serious about commerce on its service. So much so that it looks as though soon you’ll be able to buy goods for sale directly from a tweet.

The microblogging service is close to finalizing a deal with payment services company Stripe, which would likely handle the back-end processing for making purchases on Twitter.

As for the front end: Twitter looks likely to partner with at least one online commerce site, Fancy.com, which will let users purchase products inside the Twitter app and website, according to documentation discovered by Re/code. It is part of a new program called Twitter Commerce, according to these documents.”

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