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By Kleber Bacili, CEO of Sensedia
APIs change the way you shop online and take e-commerce to the next level in collaboration and interactivity
Interactivity, practicality, comfort, collaboration: these are some of the factors that influence Internet shopping.
After all, what is the difference between buying a book at your neighborhood bookstore or at Amazon's online store? The fact is that when buying online, the consumer does not just research and finalize the purchase, he has an experience.
This new concept, customer experience (CX), is very important. The better your browsing experience, the better the results, both for the consumer and for the company.
A more integrated and interactive shopping experience is provided by “building blocks”, APIs (Application Programming Interfaces), which work as a kind of digital glue, allowing the integration between software not previously listed. In other words, essential parts of a virtual store, such as payment methods, social sharing buttons, recommendation pages, e-mail communication with customers: all are implemented via APIs. In addition, APIs add more security and speed to online shopping, increasing the reliability of your brand with customers.
APIs are also at the heart of the development of another trend, marketplaces. These virtual malls bring together several tenants in the same environment and the availability of information about the products is made via APIs (price updates, stocks, product characteristics, for example, travel between one company and another from the API of the marketplace operator ).
Thus, the marketplace appears to take advantage of the flow of visitors in a single portal, enhancing the exposure of the most varied and attractive products to a larger audience. Just like the real malls.
Ahead of the APIs exhibition, the marketplaces have already reached the market with a high investment in technology. And for those who want to invest and create a marketplace now, the path already starts focused on APIs.
Think of API First: a business model that starts with a transformative and open digital strategy for integrations with other channels and partners.
Creating an API platform is the starting point for this. The platform concentrates integrations with tenants and reduces the time to connect to the marketplace, from months to days.
Omnichannel and mobile in the consumer journey
Ensuring the same experience for the customer, regardless of the channel or interface they are using, is what characterizes the omnichannel. Your customer has to feel well served in your online store, chat, phone service, app and your Facebook profile. The customer needs to be enchanted by the experience offered by your company, and for him, there is no difference if he was answered by phone, and then completes the purchase on the website. Everything must be fluid and contain information that is coherent with each other.
The website alone is not enough, even if it is responsive. However, today it is impossible to give up being present on mobile, an integration also made possible by APIs.
A PayPal survey shows that over the past three years, the average growth in sales via mobile is 46%. These trends only increase every day, and if you don't want to lose your share in this market, investing in an app and a mobile friendly sales portal is mandatory.
You can see that APIs are revolutionizing e-commerce, right? So, invest in an API strategy and undertake a digital transformation in your company. This is the key to staying competitive and attracting an increasingly connected consumer!
Interactivity, practicality, comfort, collaboration: these are some of the factors that influence Internet shopping.
After all, what is the difference between buying a book at your neighborhood bookstore or at Amazon's online store? The fact is that when buying online, the consumer does not just research and finalize the purchase, he has an experience.
This new concept, customer experience (CX), is very important. The better your browsing experience, the better the results, both for the consumer and for the company.
A more integrated and interactive shopping experience is provided by “building blocks”, APIs (Application Programming Interfaces), which work as a kind of digital glue, allowing the integration between software not previously listed. In other words, essential parts of a virtual store, such as payment methods, social sharing buttons, recommendation pages, e-mail communication with customers: all are implemented via APIs. In addition, APIs add more security and speed to online shopping, increasing the reliability of your brand with customers.
APIs are also at the heart of the development of another trend, marketplaces. These virtual malls bring together several tenants in the same environment and the availability of information about the products is made via APIs (price updates, stocks, product characteristics, for example, travel between one company and another from the API of the marketplace operator ).
Thus, the marketplace appears to take advantage of the flow of visitors in a single portal, enhancing the exposure of the most varied and attractive products to a larger audience. Just like the real malls.
Ahead of the APIs exhibition, the marketplaces have already reached the market with a high investment in technology. And for those who want to invest and create a marketplace now, the path already starts focused on APIs.
Think of API First: a business model that starts with a transformative and open digital strategy for integrations with other channels and partners.
Creating an API platform is the starting point for this. The platform concentrates integrations with tenants and reduces the time to connect to the marketplace, from months to days.
Omnichannel and mobile in the consumer journey
Ensuring the same experience for the customer, regardless of the channel or interface they are using, is what characterizes the omnichannel. Your customer has to feel well served in your online store, chat, phone service, app and your Facebook profile. The customer needs to be enchanted by the experience offered by your company, and for him, there is no difference if he was answered by phone, and then completes the purchase on the website. Everything must be fluid and contain information that is coherent with each other.
The website alone is not enough, even if it is responsive. However, today it is impossible to give up being present on mobile, an integration also made possible by APIs.
A PayPal survey shows that over the past three years, the average growth in sales via mobile is 46%. These trends only increase every day, and if you don't want to lose your share in this market, investing in an app and a mobile friendly sales portal is mandatory.
You can see that APIs are revolutionizing e-commerce, right? So, invest in an API strategy and undertake a digital transformation in your company. This is the key to staying competitive and attracting an increasingly connected consumer!
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