Augmented reality, advanced card authorization, and the development of technology to predict customer orders all point to a shift in the online shopping experience. Staying up to date with this new technology can be beneficial for your business and help you to grow in the digital sphere.

Below are some of the newest and most futuristic advancements in online shopping:

Augmented reality

For many e-commerce businesses, it can be difficult to encourage a customer to complete a purchase when some guesswork is involved on the customer’s end. As opposed to a brick and mortar store, a customer is unable to see, touch or view a product up close and personal. This alone could cause a customer to decide against purchasing your product.

With augmented reality technology for online shopping, the customer can view your products in real-time with their mobile device. This allows the customer to view the product as it fits in their home and change the colour or style on demand, for example. Augmented reality will help a customer to feel a similar experience in your online shop than they do in a brick-and-mortar store.

Authentication

New advances in authentication, specifically with regards to online banking, mitigate the risk of unauthorized access to bank accounts. The most popular new technology includes biometric authentication. Biometric authorization uses fingerprint, voice or face recognition to confirm the identity of the cardholder. Some other common forms of authentication include geo-location, in which the physical location of the cardholder is considered. These new advances combine convenience and security, and offer an opportunity for simplification of online transactions.

Prediction

In January 2014, it was announced that Amazon filed a patent for technology that could predict and ship a customer order before the customer even purchased the product. The technology, used by many businesses, filters orders based on location. If a town or city has a higher rate of purchasing a particular product, a higher quantity of that product will be moved to that location. However, this advancement in technology could have transit route’s changed while at the drop of a hat to accommodate for new orders.

All of these trends point to a future in which less cash is used by customers, meaning merchants need to adapt to a changing payment environment. Ensuring you have a merchant account provider who can offer you with up-to-date technology to better serve your customer will help you to keep up with these latest advancements.