The year 2020 was a strange year that changed lives. More so, the ongoing pandemic changed how we engage with digital platforms and online channels. The pandemic changed lives but also changed the way companies did business.

Not only did digital exposure reach new heights, but new purchasing trends evolved quickly, propelling industries to adopt the digital revolution at the earliest. As a result of the pandemic, consumers have shifted to online shopping in more significant numbers than ever, introducing a new wave of customers to online shopping convenience.  

Shopping isn’t the same as it was years ago. The internet is a crucial part of our lives; e-Commerce has grown exponentially as a means of buying and selling a variety of goods and services.

However, the rise of e-commerce changed the way people shop and how companies marketed their products altogether.

Let’s take a brief peek into business transformation.

Business Transformation:

Conventional businesses are enhancing their position in their industries by offering compelling products and experiences online. As such, they’re aiming to provide a seamless online buying experience.

But this wasn’t a one-night transformation story; it was only sped up because of Covid-19 restrictions that barred users from shopping in public. This change, however, needed rethinking of the entire supply chain, logistics, and greater use of massive data analytics to understand customers and their needs better.

As business evolves, there is a lot to learn. There are various aspects of business that are still reliant on seasoned techniques and tried and tested principles. With the world turning towards online shopping, this is an excellent time to earn a degree in marketing to equip yourself with the latest trends in business and how it evolves with customer data at its disposal. 

With the ongoing pandemic showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon, the educational industry was also affected. Due to Covid-related restrictions, attending physical universities is a no-go to maintain social distancing. This is where online education comes in to save the day.

You see, to fully understand the e-commerce landscape and its evolution, you’ll need experience and education. Fortunately, educational institutions are now offering online degrees for candidates interested in business studies. Aspiring students can now enroll in online MBA programs no GMAT degrees without the risk of attending a physical university during a pandemic.  

Moving on, the following are ten ways how e-commerce transformed businesses from 2020 onwards.

1. Easier to start a setup:

The most substantial transformation that e-Commerce has made is the ease of starting a business. Anyone may create an online business and sell products all over the world. With an e-Commerce website, you can sell anything, anywhere, and any time.

Michael Aldrich has made business conduction seamless and easy by inventing online modes of doing business. 

• Monopoly in the market:

It’s easy to start an e-commerce business, but it’s much more challenging to keep it rolling. If you want your company to grow and survive, you’ll need to learn digital marketing skills. Potent companies are working online to sell nearly anything to customers and offer the fastest delivery options, which not every business can do.

Brands that have captured the market with innovative digital marketings have made the market monopolistic. And it’s hard to invade a monopoly market but not impossible.

• Businesses now operate 24/7:

When businesses operate in physical markets, they are confined by many rules, and business timings are many. For example, when you run a business, you only have a few hours and specific opening and closing timings, but this is not the case with e-commerce stores.

There are no holidays in the e-Commerce platform; it operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and hence sales can occur at any time of day or night. It is unquestionably a significant benefit because there is no time constraint, resulting in increased sales and profits.

Furthermore, shoppers can come in at any time and spend as much time as they like looking at things, which gives them more freedom to choose and more time to make intelligent buying decisions.

• Choosing the best business practices:

Looking at other successful organizations in the e-Commerce platform makes it easy to figure out what works and what doesn’t. In addition, it offers startup business owners a clear picture of which road to take and thus reducing expenses compared to going through the trial-and-error method.

• Collaborations:

With the advent of e-Commerce, startup business owners specializing in a specific area and earning lower profits can now work with a broader range of internet corporations and earn more significant returns.

It is because of gaining access to the platform at the expense of a giant corporation while also making substantial profits in the process. It has undoubtedly put a smile on the faces of small business owners.  

• Personalized shopping in comfort:

Online businesses provide personalized shopping experiences to people anywhere and anytime. People can buy anything for themselves when they have a personalized experience. In e-Commerce mobile apps, many websites have implemented Augmented Reality.

As users, we can utilize this function to see what works and what doesn’t more clearly, making more intelligent buying decisions for ourselves.

• Unlimited Outreach:

While traditional marketing strategies of running a business made it nearly impossible to reach an extensive customer base, e-Commerce makes it a stroll in the park. You may sell your items not just to local clients but also to customers worldwide, thanks to online retailing.

Startups and small business owners’ lives have been significantly impacted by seeing more profits coming their way.

• Running a Business can be a One-Man show:

Customers can not tell whether your firm is handled by just One Person or by a staff member representing numerous individuals on an online platform. E-Commerce allows small and medium-sized business owners to compete with large enterprise owners by providing them with the same visibility and conversions. 

It will undoubtedly continue for a more extended period, as e-commerce and mobile commerce are predicted to grow exponentially in the future years.

• Vast Target Audience:

With a conventional business, your outreach to the audience was limited, maybe within a town, within the city, or if you have a firm business name, you may have conquered the entire country. But with an e-Commerce store, you have an audience across borders. And this is how businesses have transformed completely.

E-Commerce websites can evaluate the data and determine their target audiences based on shopping and searching habits. They can even calculate their social media marketing impact. It saves resources by preventing them from wasting funds on platforms that don’t help encourage conversions or aren’t used by the target audience.

1. Low Product Price Transformation:

E-Commerce has transformed businesses globally by being more competitive, due to which the demand and supply of the products were also affected. In a company’s portfolio, the costs of products are the most affected due to the number of e-Commerce sites available, offering the same product at different discount rates.

As a result, high-quality products at low rates and fantastic deals are available and accessible for everyone.

Conclusion:

E-Commerce already had a substantial impact on businesses in a variety of ways before the pandemic. After the pandemic, it has grown exponentially, with companies spending most of their marketing budgets online.

Consumers took to online shopping due to lockdowns, and the world’s major retailers quickly followed their customers by presenting their products and services online, making themselves more accessible altogether.  

It is no doubt, as technology advances and customer behavior shifts, the future of e-Commerce will undoubtedly bring additional changes for marketers to adjust.

Whether your company employs hundreds of staff or a few loyal workers, security is always a top concern for protecting your information and belongings. Many businesses concentrate solely on cybersecurity these days, but there are other things that can compromise your privacy and security— and that of your clients or customers.

We’ve compiled a list of eight things that often get forgotten when considering security at work.

1. Wallets

This almost goes without saying, but is still worth the mention. Your wallet contains a lot more than cash. Items such as an ID, driver’s licence, access card, credit or debit cards, travel cards and business cards are just as important as banknotes.

While it’s always a pain to lose money, it’s far more difficult to go through the process of blocking bank cards or replacing your driver’s licence. You might think that your office is a safe place and that leaving your wallet out in the open doesn’t pose any risk. It’s important to remember that your workplace is not your home. You can’t be 100% sure that everyone who walks past your desk is trustworthy.

Losing membership cards or business cards doesn’t sound so terrible, but in the context of protecting your privacy, it’s not something you want to experience. Identity theft is a serious issue and more common than you might think. A fraudster doesn’t need a vast amount of information to commit identity theft. You can be compromised just by leaving your name and address out in the open.

2. Unlocked devices

The great thing about technology is that it bypasses the need for copious amounts of paperwork. You can now keep reams of information stored securely on a smartphone or laptop without having to organise stacks of paper.

The flip side to this is that once someone gets into your device, they have access to everything on it. This is why it’s vital to keep all devices locked. Phones, laptops and tablets should all require a PIN or password to gain access. If you don’t have a password then facial, fingerprint or voice recognition is a must.

3. Passwords

Just like you shouldn’t leave your wallet lying around, you should never write down your passwords or PIN codes. Unless you’re going to stow them away in a very secure hiding place. It doesn’t matter what the password is for—Instagram, Facebook, Amazon, or your online banking platform—you should never be careless with information that could grant access to very private information.

4. USB devices

People often use USB sticks to back up information on their PCs or laptops. Many USB devices aren’t encrypted, meaning that anyone who picks one up can access everything on it when they plug it into their PC or laptop. USBs are also handy when transferring information from one person to another, which can make it even easier for it to get into the wrong hands inadvertently.

5. Access cards

These days there are many buildings that open with access cards rather than a physical key. You wouldn’t leave your car keys on top of your car—so don’t leave your access cards lying around where anyone could pick them up.

Access cards could play an important part in keeping information confidential by only admitting certain personnel to different parts of the building. A stolen access card could mean that a complete stranger can enter private areas raising no alarm bells. If someone can open a door with no trouble, it’s unlikely anyone will confront them.

6. Documents (legal and otherwise)

Although business has largely migrated online, hard copies of some documents are necessary—contracts, legal documents or tax records, for example. In the digital age it’s easy to assume that physical paperwork isn’t that important. All too often, documents get tossed in the trash because they’re mistaken for scrap paper. Keeping information confidential is critically important for any business.

A properly bolted down safe is ideal for storing documents, as a small safe kept loose in a drawer or cupboard is just as easy to pick up and walk away with.

7. Diaries and day planners

This might seem trivial, but it’s risky to allow everyone access to your daily schedule. Day planners can contain details of your personal life and your professional one. It would be easy to deduce when your workspace or home is left unattended, which makes it far easier for people to access private information and private property.

8. Keys

While access cards are very widely used by companies, there are many things that are still secured under lock and key. Your own home, for example, or your car, or keys to filing cabinets, a safe, or a P.O. Box.

If you spend enough time at the office, it can start to feel like home, but it’s important to remember that it’s not. Apart from being “home” to full-time employees, every workplace is something of a thoroughfare for visiting clients, couriers and business associates. While you might trust those passing through, the effort it takes to put your keys in a pocket or bag is miniscule compared to the inconvenience of having them pinched.

Bonus tip

One sure-fire way to avoid security issues in the office is to treat it as you would any other public place. In your own home it would be perfectly acceptable to leave your car keys on the kitchen table, but if you were in a coffee shop, there’s no way you would get up without taking your keys with you. If you sit on a bench outside during your lunch break, you’re not going to pop into a shop and leave your laptop where you were sitting. It might feel like your office is a safe place, and most times you may be right, but it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

Stolen possessions are replaceable, but when it comes to confidential information, rectifying the situation is not that simple. Maintaining a level of caution is the best way to navigate the office without compromising your security and that of your colleagues and clients.

Meta Title: 8 Security Risks In Your Office |ABC MONEY UK

Meta Description: There are so many things in your office that may pose a security risk. Take a look at eight of the most common that you should never leave lying around.

RetailNext, a leading technology provider of retail analytics, announced on May 7, 2021, that it received a $42 million investment from Colbeck Capital. The newfound capital will allow RetailNext to further optimize shopper experiences for its clients with a leading edge IoT approach. The investment comes on the heels of record growth in the first fiscal quarter of 2021. Colbeck’s backing will also help RetailNext accelerate its implementation of more robust retail data infrastructure for struggling brick-and-mortal companies.

Retailer need for data on shopping behavior greatly increased during 2020 in order to surmount challenges presented by changes in volume, preferences, and compliance with CDC guidelines. Obtaining this data proved particularly challenging for brick-and-mortar retailers who lacked the insights that are first nature to eCommerce operations. Alexei Agratchev, CEO and Cofounder of RetailNext, commented on the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on retailers, “There is no question that the pandemic accelerated the need for retailers to have more precise and reliable data on the real-time condition of their stores.”

As many of RetailNext’s customers look toward the future and lifting COVID-19 restrictions, demand for additional data analytics is soaring. With strong growth to kick off the year, RetailNext is poised to carry this rebound throughout 2021. Agratchev added that RetailNext is grateful for the opportunity to partner with Colbeck and thrilled with the potential for additional growth that the capital investment provides.

Jason Colodne, Co-founder of Colbeck Capital, expressed confidence that the investment in RetailNext will make a positive impact in retail analytics and retail store health. He said, “We saw a gap in the market during COVID, and RetailNext clearly established themselves as a leader in retail analytics.”

About RetailNext

RetailNext (formerly BVI Networks) was founded in 2007 by Cisco Systems engineers. They recognized that brick-and-mortar retailers needed business intelligence to perform analytics on their in-store data if they were to remain competitive with eCommerce retailers. RetailNext’s founding team created an analytics platform to address this exact need. The result is the world’s most advanced in-store analytics platform capable of addressing the unique needs of physical retailer locations.

RetailNext is based in San Jose, California, where it receives the support of proven technology providers including:

• Accenture
• Cisco
• Google
• IBM
• Intel
• Motorola
• Oracle
• Palm Computing
• Salesforce
• Symantec
• VeriSign

RetailNext partners with retail brands to help them measure store performance and identify growth opportunities. The company also assists partners in implementing strategies that drive bottom-line sales and capital savings. Some of these notable retailers include:

• Bloomingdales
• Colgate
• Saks Fifth Avenue
• Tiffany & Co.
• Lancôme
• L’Oreal
• Macy’s
• Polo Ralph Lauren
• Tommy Hilfiger
• Unilever

A Closer Look at the RetailNext Platform

RetailNext is a pioneer in optimizing shopper experiences, providing the first retail vertical Internet of Things (IoT) platform that brings shopper analytics from an eCommerce environment to brick-and-mortar stores. This centralized SaaS system automatically collects data on buyer behavior and analyzes it to provide retailers with the insight needed to improve shopper experiences in real time. This benefit allows retailers to increase in-store sales, reduce costs and mitigate liability risks.

The RetailNext platform uses a patented design that makes it robust and scalable. Its capabilities include best-in-class video analytics and the detection of mobile devices via Wi-Fi networks. It also integrates data from a variety of sources to determine how customers engage with stores including point-of-sale, staffing, promotional calendar and weather service systems.

The platform analyzes this data to show how each factor influences shopping behavior, providing retailers with the tools to measure success, identify opportunities for growth and implement changes to meet goals. Over 450 retailers throughout the world have adopted RetailNext’s platform as of May 2021, giving them a better understanding of their shoppers’ journey towards a purchase.

About Colbeck Capital Management

Colbeck Capital Management (www.colbeck.com) is a strategic lender that partners with companies during periods of transition, providing creative capital solutions to meet their evolving needs. Founded in 2009 by Jason Colodne and Jason Beckman, Colbeck’s principals have over 75 years of experience managing credit investing businesses and have underwritten over $22 billion in total loan volume. Colbeck has offices in New York City and Los Angeles.