54% of trade revenue will come from digital markets by 2024

The role of cryptocurrencies in trade is expected to expand significantly in the coming years while 54% of trade revenue will come from digital markets by 2024.

These emerge, among other things, from the Salesforce “State of Commerce” report and it is emphasized that “alternative” payment options are becoming necessary.

According to today’s announcement, Salesforce – the global leader in CRM – recently released its latest trade report, the State of Commerce report, which was based on a survey of more than 4,000 trading companies. Salesforce used the Commerce Cloud platform to analyze online shopping behavior to understand how customers are changing and how professionals are responding.

The main points of this report include the following:

Digital channels are expanding to meet customer expectations

The transition of consumers and business buyers to digital channels began before the advent of COVID-19, but the pandemic accelerated the process. Another recent Salesforce study found that about 60% of transactions are now made online and that more than half of customers (53%) prefer to make their purchases through digital channels.

Although only 41% of respondents feel fully prepared to handle emerging channels, investment in expanding the latter is ongoing: sixty percent of traders surveyed have adopted new channels in the last two years and 81% is in the process of doing so. This may be due to the forecasts for a continuous increase in digital commerce: it is estimated that 30% of the revenue of commercial enterprises came from digital channels in 2020, while this percentage is expected to increase to 54% by 2024.

In addition, while typically associated with consumer behavior, the transition to digital channels extends to B2B and B2C – more than half (52%) of B2B sales revenue is expected to come from digital channels within the next two years. In addition, at the same time, 88% of B2B sellers expect their customers to place larger and more complex orders online.

“Alternative” payment options become necessary

In addition to credit cards and bank transfers, at least half of the companies accept PayPal and ApplePay payments or installments (“buy now, pay later”). If the predictions come true, the vast majority of companies (almost 9 out of 10) will accept these choices in the next two years.

One of the most talked about payment methods – cryptocurrency – seems to be gradually being accepted, with only 30% of companies accepting it as an option. Nevertheless, the role of cryptocurrencies in commerce is expected to expand significantly. An additional 46% of businesses say they plan to accept cryptocurrency payments within the next two years – a projected growth rate higher than any other payment method.

However, only 40% of the trade professionals surveyed feel fully prepared to respond to new payment methods, as they worry about possible scams as well as the cost and time required to implement them.

– The best marketing teams focus on getting the data done.

As the use of third-party cookies is underestimated, as a result of regulatory changes, marketers and marketing professionals face increasing challenges in meeting customer requirements for personalized offers and personalized communication. Indeed, 88% of marketers surveyed say they have been affected, to some extent, by the elimination of third-party cookies in their data strategies.

As a result, 36% of businesses plan to invest in first-party data strategies within the next two years, but their plans correlate with their overall business performance. 40% of digital leaders – those who can attribute their company ‘s overall success to digital commerce – plan such investments, compared to 25% of those who lag behind digitally, and who can not attribute their company’ s overall success to digital commerce nor do they have a high degree of success in implementing such initiatives.

As inflationary pressures increase across all sectors, focusing on profitability and optimization becomes a priority for successful businesses. Almost half (45%) of commercial companies are accelerating the automation of their processes in the next two years. Digital leaders – of course – are ahead, having 4 times more chances than those who lag behind digitally to succeed in automation and 3.5 times more likely to effectively implement an artificial intelligence strategy.