Online retailers plan to invest more in technology in 2023

The pandemic thrust many retailers into ecommerce and shoppers became comfortable shopping online. Retailers are now taking a step back to reassess what technologies will help retain existing customers and entice new ones. Digital Commerce 360’s 2023 Leading Vendors Report includes survey data and case studies demonstrating how technology helps retailers.

According to Digital Technology survey, conducted by this source from September to October 2022, three-quarters of surveyed retailers (76%) plan to increase their investment in technology to attract new and retain loyal customers in 2023.

The next question for the retailers to be solved is whether to outsource technology or build it themselves. According to the survey, 70% plan to outsource the task rather than attempt to build a tech stack in house.

Online retailers want to automate where possible and learn how to decipher and use data to their advantage. That requires investment. Three in four retailers expect to increase spending by 15% or less. Meanwhile, 39% predict they will spend 10.1% to 15% more.

Narrowing down their top priorities,

46% pointed at investing in an ecommerce platform.

Other priorities included:

• customer relationship management technology – 34%,
• online marketing – 30%,
• content management – 27%,
• customer service software- 27%.

Fulfillment services were ticked by 24% of respondents,

• marketplace/channel management (selling on 3^rd party marketplaces) – 19%,
• email marketing – 19%,
• payment security systems and fraud prevention – 19%,
• customer reviews /ratings – 18%,
• search engine optimization – 17%,
• order management – 17%,
• affiliate marketing – 16%,
• international ecommerce services – 15%,
• supply chain management – 13%,
• warehouse and fulfillment management – 13%,
• web hosting/cloud services – 10%,
• social media – 10%,
• omnichannel – 8%,
• personalization – 8%,
• web analytics – 8%,
• website performance management – 7%,
• PIM and other product data management- 7%,
• sales tax management – 7%,
• site search – 4%.

It’s important to more than half (54%) of retailers that any new software is easy to implement as well as use.