The pandemic has seen lockdowns become the new normal. Consumers have increasingly gone digital for their basic needs, which has accelerated the urgency for businesses, especially small businesses, to go digital. It has also led to massive growth in online sales, with global e-commerce breaking past 4 trillion GMV. India alone has been on an upward trajectory with growth of over 30 percent and that momentum will only continue. This need for MSMEs to unlock digital capabilities and build online stores is a huge opportunity for web professionals in India.
This opportunity was the cornerstone and theme of this year’s flagship event for web professionals, Cloudbazaar. Cloudbazaar is a 10-year conference and trade show with a global mission to help web professionals grow, develop and win !. It is supported by some of the major web presence brands like Bluehost, ResellerClub, etc. which serve the professional web community.
The theme of this year’s conference focused on issues related to the future of e-commerce for all web professionals and businesses. It brought together many veterans and some of the biggest names in the web and digital ecosystem. Held on December 3, the event featured speakers such as Manish dalal, chief strategy officer and senior vice president of global channels, Newfold Digital; Paul Maiorana, CEO, WooCommerce; Bhaskar Ramesh, Director of Omnichannel Solutions, Google India, and more.
In its tenth season, but taking place virtually for the second year in a row, Cloudbazaar offers web pros a variety of exhibitions, workshops, branding sessions and conferences. The event also gives web professionals and budding e-commerce enthusiasts a chance to network with some of the biggest names in the industry.
Read the patterns
The event began with an opening speech by Manish Dalal, who spoke on the topic ‘One year in retrospect: digital transformation through e-commerce‘. One of the key insights provided by the opening speech was how retail e-commerce exceeded $ 4 trillion in 2021 globally, meaning e-commerce sales nearly doubled in the world. over the past 4 years. Every region of the world has seen more than 25% growth in e-commerce retail sales.
As for India, the country had the third highest number of online shoppers in the world behind China and the United States. Going forward, the vertical’s future growth should be driven by small towns, which today represent four out of five new buyers.
Women and older shoppers have gained prominence in the buyer base over the past year, and DTC’s e-commerce revenue has grown by 94% in the last quarter of 2020.
Another opening speech on ‘Using domain names to establish an online presence‘by Andy Simpson spoke about the global domain name industry and its growth at 1.9% CAGR over 5 years. He mentioned that drag-and-drop website builders are used by over 40 percent of domain names with a website, especially e-commerce focused builders.
Retail e-commerce accounts for 19.6% of total global retail sales in 2021, and it will continue to grow over the next 5 years. Although China and the United States currently lead the rankings in terms of contribution to e-commerce spending, countries like India, Brazil and Russia are catching up quickly.
Back to the future
The Fireside Chat between WooCommerce CEO Paul Maiorana and Newfold Digital Group Product Manager Drew Wilde was another great session that offered powerful insight into the topic. ‘From the perspective of top ecommerce enablers‘.
The relevance of e-commerce has changed for small and medium-sized businesses, and e-commerce sales in India will triple in the next few years, according to a report, now that the pandemic has changed people’s outlook on online shopping. A survey carried out by Bluehost India in 2021 showed that nearly 20% of businesses surveyed launched a website during the pandemic and 14% of them were with payment options.
WooCommerce is one of the biggest platforms available for online stores today. The team is working on localized solutions, including Woo payments and shipping.
Attendees heard from prominent speakers explain how, although businesses and investments have shrunk due to the pandemic, the growth of e-commerce has become a beacon of hope. Digital adoption and engagement has grown from 2% in 2016 to 34% in 2020 and with around 900 million internet users in India by 2025, this will only continue to grow.
59% of digitally engaged companies are one and a half times more able to survive and thrive during a pandemic, showing just how great an opportunity web professionals have to promote the growth of e-commerce.
Because marketing has become so effective lately, web professionals have learned how it helps create brand differentiation. Brands that worked for a cause were successful in getting 79% of consumers to adopt their brand and saw an 85% increase in their profits through brand loyalty.
Apart from that, 71% of millennials pay more if the money goes to a good cause, which makes it a great time to embrace cause marketing.
D2C brands are very popular in the market and more and more brands are turning to D2C due to the expansive growth potential and reduced distribution costs. Customers are also turning to D2C because of superior customer service, frictionless purchasing, value for money, and novelty of products and services.
The entire Cloudbazaar theme focused on what the future of ecommerce would look like, and attendees learned how to improve the segment in the times to come. It has been suggested that brands digitize as many products as possible, and that if the product cannot be digitized, brands should focus on digitizing the services around it.
The idea of ​​gamifying shopping experiences is slowly gaining in popularity, and brands must try to partner with businesses to try and create a virtual experience for consumers.
Building on the theme of Cloudbazaar 2021, a panel of big names in the digital world presented Chaitanya Ramalingegowda, co-founder and director, Wakefit.co; , Bhaskar Ramesh, Director of Omnichannel Solutions, Google India; Swagat Sarangi, CEO, Smytten; and Vedanarayanan Vedantham, SME & Startup Business Head, Razorpay, who came together to discuss how the next million Indian brands could be integrated into the digital ecosystem.
The discussion, moderated by Zinnov’s partner and Global Head-Digital Praveen Bhadada, covered topics like e-commerce transformation, availability and importance of technology stacks in business evolution, and more. main market mode.
Connect enthusiasts to brands
The second consecutive virtual edition of Cloudbazaar also consisted of a showroom with booths set up by big brands like Google, .Org, Bluehost, sedo.com, .Store Domains, .Me, Jetpack and ResellerClub, as well as other partners like Verisign and Acronis. These booths provided visitors with all the information they needed to get to know the respective brands, and also gave them the opportunity to chat directly with them.
The event also featured workshops that provided advice and information on e-commerce and the use of tools to be successful in the industry. These workshops were facilitated by industry speakers such as Meherzad Karanjia, responsible for learning, IIDE; Arjun Pande, brand manager, .Store domains; Jayesh Bali, Product Manager, ResellerClub; Jesse friedman, Director of Innovation, Jetpack Business; and more.
Cloudbazaar also offered a networking room which allowed enthusiasts to network with various brands and like-minded visitors via chat and video calls. The ranking grand prize offered visitors a chance to win a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G by listening to all workshops and conferences, visiting all booths and participating in the plethora of activities offered by Cloudbazaar.
The treasure hunt involved 10 clues that were scattered throughout the event, which participants had to uncover. The winner of the event was selected on the basis of a draw.
Overall, Cloudbazaar has paved the way for all e-commerce industry stakeholders to think more about the future and help the industry unlock its full potential in India.
