The Future of Commerce

Jackie Manzano

#Ask8now – The Future of #Commerce
Two big forces are having a massive impact on commerce
and are likely to collide in the not-too- distant future, learn more..

The Future of Commerce

Two big forces are having a massive impact on commerce and are likely to collide in the not-too- distant future with gigantic repercussions. What are these forces?

Social commerce – the integration of eCommerce with social media to create a more interactive and community-drive type of selling.

Digital manufacturing – 3D printing and POD publishing that allows items to be created in factories as they are bought.

When these two meet, it will completely change the face of business. Care to see how?

The Impact of Digital Manufacturing

Digital manufacturing has in fact already changed a lot of business and this has been felt nowhere more so than the publishing industry.

Back in the day, if you were a writer wanting to publish your book, you would have two options. One would be to find a publisher willing to invest in you. The other would be to pay to have your book published and to order thousands of copies of your book yourself to try and sell to shops (a process known as ‘vanity publishing’). The problem was, that back then, you had to order your prints in advance meaning that any publishing project was a big investment and a big risk.

Then came POD – Print On Demand. This basically meant that you could have books printed professionally in minutes as needed. Sites like LuLu and Amazon now allow you to self-publish and sell your own books with no need to order in bulk. Pretty smart!

3D printing is doing the same thing for physical objects. If you know how to make a 3D model, you can now sell your own ornaments with no need to invest in a manufacturing plant.

Etsy Meets 3D Printing

One day we will all have 3D printers in our home and they will be advanced enough to print out computers.

On that day, we will no longer need to go through manufacturers at all to buy pretty much anything. Instead, we will rely on a form of social commerce called ‘peer to peer selling’. A good example of this is Etsy.

What this basically means is that if you have the ability to make a 3D model, a blueprint or a passage of text, you will be able to sell the idea directly to others.

This of course will mean that many traditional businesses lose their place, so the only way to avoid that is to adapt and to stay one step ahead. The businesses that are able to facilitate this type of P2P ‘intellectual property’ selling, will be the ones to truly win out.

Are you struggling to attract new website visitors, get your phone to ring, or get more foot traffic through your doors?

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