The effects of e-commerce on the economy, specifically within the retail market, have remained little more than speculation for the past few years. Most theories on the future of e-commerce sit somewhere between a trend which will eventually pass and a period of the “retail apocalypse” which signifies an end for legacy retailers.
However, new studies have suggested that reality sits somewhere in the middle. While synergy between e-commerce infrastructures and existing business models lies within view, especially for B2B businesses, the future of the retail worker remains somewhat uncertain. Certain indicators and trends point towards new opportunities for both businesses and workers alike.
Often the spearhead of the e-commerce and automation movement, recent trends within Amazon indicate a growing number of e-commerce-related jobs specifically within distribution networks. Amazon currently deploys 100,000 robots and 125,000 employees in their factories with promises of opening 50,000 more jobs when their second headquarters finishes construction, according to the New York Times. Since increasing their automation with robots Amazon added 80,000 jobs with hopes the hiring frenzy will continue into the foreseeable future.
“No people were laid off when the robots were installed, and Amazon found new roles for the displaced workers.”
– Dave Clark, Operations Executive at Amazon
Trends tend to exercise themselves on a larger scale at Amazon mostly due to their size and expansive resources, e-commerce-related job growth isn’t exclusive to larger corporations. E-commerce retail jobs have grown by 334 percent and gained a net 178,000 jobs since 2002. E-commerce sales remain less than 10 percent of total retail, 8.9 percent as of Q2 2017, yet all trends point towards sustainable growth in the near future with opportunities for both businesses and workers.
Whether utilizing an established infrastructure or just starting to implement e-commerce, Dirxion offers tools and services for businesses of all types. The Dirxion online catalog gives businesses an opportunity to differentiate their shopping experience and engage in the omni-channel experience. Dirxion online catalogs are versatile and optimized with HTML5 to ensure cross-platform and multi-browser performance standards are met. Dirxion online catalogs can be integrated into existing e-commerce platforms and live directly on a company’s website to ensure a seamless, optimized shopping experience for customers.
