2016 E-Commerce Predictions: Innovate or Die – Instart Logic

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2016 ECOMMERCE PREDICTIONS INNOVATE OR DIE
BY HARIHARAN KOLAM
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As consumers become accustomed to a new, engaging
online experience, websites are constantly being
challenged to deliver the fastest, most secure
overall experience. These demands mean a shift in
the infrastructure and how we traditionally think
about application delivery. With 2015 coming to a
close, I offer some of my predictions of what the
new year will bring and how companies must
innovate.
COMPANIES WILL THINK HOLISTICALLY ABOUT THE
ONLINE AND OFFLINE SHOPPING EXPERIENCE
For consumers, the online shopping experience
isnt linear, but fragmented between in-store and
online shopping habits. Indeed, the start of the
holiday shopping season this year saw these
effects. It's estimated retailers saw 11 billion
in online sales from Thanksgiving Day to Cyber
Monday, up 15 percent from last year. Retailers
currently have disparate buying experiences
between shopping online and in stores, with the
most prevalent integration being making purchases
online and picking up within the store, or click
and collect. For the most part, they are thought
of as two separate experiences. In 2016, well
see the shoppers experience between online and
in stores be seamless, especially as online
shopping starts to outpace in-store shopping.
Several retailers are already making strides in
this direction. Macys shoppers can download the
retailers mobile app to help navigate them to
exact products in the store, while JCPenney
shoppers can use their mobile app to scan a
barcode and comparison shop. 
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MACHINE LEARNING WILL BE AN INDUSTRY STANDARD IN
APPLICATION DELIVERY
New application delivery models that utilize
machine learning and intelligently learn the
application behavior will be the way forward. As
technology demands outpace the rate at which
humans can respond, machine learning will become
a standard, accelerating application delivery in
unprecedented ways. Today, almost every company
is considered a technology company, regardless of
what industry its in. More and more functions,
from marketing to sales to IT, will depend on
machine learning to meet their customer demands
and allow their businesses to scale. We are
already seeing this shift occur with our
customers, who want a more autonomous, continuous
system that works with the needs
of their business.
BROWSERS WILL BECOME THE NEW ATTACK VECTOR
In recent years, weve seen cyber attacks
permeate. As these attacks have been occurring
mainly in the back end, the focus has been placed
on building a set of technology capabilities that
combat and prevent these attacks. Cyber criminals
are now using the browser as an increasingly
lucrative vehicle to launch sophisticated attacks
on web-based applications, since the browser sits
on the client side of these applications. As one
big black box with little enforcement, browser
and client side applications are the most
vulnerable and least protected. Not only will
popular browsers such as Chrome, Firefox and the
like make advancements with better enforcement
policies built in, but also new technology
advancements will be made to web-based
applications to prevent attacks
from occurring through the browser.
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While we reflect on the past year, its important
that we be well prepared for whats to come. In
2016, companies and their websites will be
increasingly challenged to be one step ahead of
emerging trends, thwart new cyber attacks, and
demonstrate proven goals. Delivering the fastest,
most secure application experience possible with
cutting edge advancements will be crucial.
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