During my twenty years of involvement in the world of digital payments, I've personally witnessed profound changes to the retail landscape, as an ever greater percentage of consumers move away from the high street to make all of their purchases online.

The internet has grown and developed to such an extent that eCommerce transactions take place with just a few taps of a smartphone screen. IT advances continue to strengthen the links between the myriad individual components working behind the scenes, creating the seamless online shopping experiences we've come to expect. 

In this column, I'd like to explore eCommerce's future from an IT perspective. How will advances in information technology and even AI impact the online retail sector, and how will that look to end-users? Let's explore what the next decade might bring.

IT advances will continue to strengthen the links between payment processors and eCommerce companies 

Without a crystal ball, it's impossible to predict the future. Back in early 2007, none of us could have predicted the seismic impact the first iPhone would make on society, or how in 2010, Bitcoin would emerge from its status as a toy for tech geeks to one of the most hyped technologies in the world.

From my own experience, I can absolutely see the lines between traditional banking, payment processing and eCommerce platforms continuing to blur. It's easy to take advances like Apple Pay and Google Pay for granted, but they really have revolutionised the retail industry. Ultimately, I see IT continuing to innovate along these lines — a prime example being our recent partnership with Vivid.

In the same manner, I expect increasingly complex fintech and banking products to emerge that provide seamless mobile shopping experiences. Mobile devices now account for 70% of eCommerce traffic, and with the likes of Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube all implementing tightly integrated "buy" buttons, product tags and more, we can expect deep customisation, improved conversion, and even faster processing times.

As IT solutions develop, AI will play an even more prominent role in eCommerce

From a payments perspective, IT already plays a significant role in eCommerce for fraud detection and prevention. Adaptive AI technology allows payment providers to monitor transactions for fraudulent activity and minimise the losses associated with criminals using stolen card data to make purchases.

The process of verifying the identity of customers in order to prevent fraud is called Know Your Customer (KYC). The procedure helps banks and payment providers to understand customers and better manage risk. KYC services are already beginning to employ facial and image recognition for more accurate checks, and there's optimism that AI advances will allow these types of checks to evolve even further, saving huge amounts of processing time and cutting costs exponentially.

Another field where IT advances are yielding great benefits is data science. Based on historical data about consumers and their digital behaviours, fintech companies can leverage AI to offer the most relevant solutions to each end-user. For example, geo activity could provide relevant discounts to a customer's favourite cafe when they make a card payment, which is obviously a win-win scenario for all parties involved. Payment providers increase transactions as customers are more likely to pay with the card providing discounts, cafes increase turnover because consumers frequent them more regularly, and the end-user enjoys regular discounts.

How will IT help to evolve mobile eCommerce over the next 10 years?

70% of consumers predict that by 2030, digital payments will overtake both cash and debit/credit cards. With each passing year, more and more people rely on their smartphones to make contactless payments, using NFC and digital wallets such as Apple or Google pay.

Given the progress in mobile technology, advances in IT over the next 10 years will probably focus on improving user experiences when paying for goods and services, perhaps employing AI to collect "digital footprints" from a consumer's behavioural profile to enable secure and frictionless payments.

As more and more people adopt a mobile-only lifestyle, we'll see greater concessions to these types of devices in the eCommerce space. Whilst you'd imagine that the vast bulk of businesses have been "mobile ready" for years, the reality is that many retailers don't provide optimal shopping experiences for devices with smaller screen sizes, and are still firmly entrenched in a laptop/PC first mentality. To survive in eCommerce over the coming years, companies will have to provide exceptional experiences to smartphone-equipped shoppers, including technologies such as one-click ordering and a focus on excellent UX to avoid high shopping cart abandonment.

In conclusion

Ten years in the world of eCommerce and payments is an extremely long time. No one can accurately predict where the current technology is heading, or how consumer trends will shape the market. However, one thing is for certain: IT will continue to play a prominent role in the development of eCommerce and payment solutions, creating richer, customised shopping experiences and fast, seamless transactions.