November - 2022retailtechinsights.com 19a bottle of champagne, then quick commerce is very applicable. The next and the fourth pillar is user experience and it is that area of E-commerce which is majorly being influenced by the OTT platforms and other digital services. So the thresholds of great user experiences is not being set by E-commerce, but perhaps by other industries that deliver a great user experience, that eventually influences us in E-commerce. The last and fifth pillar is environmental footprints, transparency, workforce, labor conditions, et cetera. You could call it the CSR track or the environmental track, or the union track, We call it transparency. This entails the need to have good working conditions for our employees, need to have a low CO2 footprint in delivering your home groceries or whatever you're buying online. This pillar is more outspoken in Europe than it is in the US. Another thing in terms of groceries is the self checkout. It's particularly not e-commerce but it ties together with omni-channel. So, that's one of the main strengths as well in E-commerce, omni-channel. One of the leading Ecommerce have announced that they are building hundreds of physical grocery stores, because a pure E-commerce player within groceries is not the way forward. This is because servicing a whole nation from far away dock stores that does not make the cut in terms of online groceries. It works for non-food deliveries, as it has so far. In groceries, it needs to have the picking station close to the consumer. This is where the brick and mortar stores play an important role combining with an E-commerce effort. The belief amongst all of us is that the winning model going forward is some sort of omni-channel, whether it be in non-food or especially in groceries. Also in terms of technology development, especially robotics and AI are two main focuses, as they making the stores more efficient, but even more importantly, help in personalization. Can you describe any particular predictions that you may have about where e-commerce is headed in the next 12 to 18 months?After the Covid-19 hit, there is a new normal now, and the new normal is that many more people have opened their eyes to online groceries. So the groceries within E-commerce, it has been even predictions from all the eminent consultancies, that we've just reached the start of years ahead. So, it's here to stay and it's growing, and E-commerce is taking all the growth out of retail.Any advice that you'd like to impart or any insights that you'd like to provide to other professionals who are in same field as yours? I would suggest to my fellow E-commerce, make the user experience personal and, make it special and a delight. The two main pillars of all retailing has always been make it special and make it all about the consumer. As for our CIOs that are now in charge of the E-commerce, it's all about agility and trial and error. As this is not a waterfall world, this is an agile world. The pandemic has brought in a new normal for people, and they have opened their eyes to online groceries and E-commerce
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