4 Ways the On-demand Economy Will Evolve in 2016 (2)

Automatic shopping will be everywhere

Amazon’s Dash button may have seemed like a joke when it arrived earlier this year, but the truth is Amazon isn’t alone in trying to integrate a shopping interface into the home.

For those who need a refresh, Dash is a clickable button that can be placed around the home. Tapping the button automatically orders frequently used home products. MasterCard is also looking to build payment functionality into just about anything, from key fobs to jewelry.

In 2016, we could see actual appliances (stoves, microwaves, refrigerators) come equipped with order buttons and other shopping mechanisms.

Competition will heat up in the P2P payments space

While Venmo, the long reigning king of peer-to-peer payment apps, is expanding into a more traditional e-payment model (see above), Apple is hoping to take on Venmo’s dominance in P2P payments. Apple is reportedly in talks with banks to  craft a rival to Venmo, joining Google, Square, and Facebook as companies angling for a piece of this market.

Mobile wallets in general are aiming to become holistic payment tools, encompassing everything a user needs in a financial app. In 2016, anyone already working on mobile wallet will surely try to expand their services to be all inclusive.

Facebook will become the WeChat of the West

As Facebook continues to build out its Messenger platform, it will likely include more shopping opportunities. Recently, the social network teamed up with Uber to launch in-app ride hailing.

Already, Messenger helps consumers and select businesses connect as a sort of customer-service platform, where people can contact retailers about product availability, shipping, and returns. If the program proves successful, Facebook M, an AI-powered personal assistant inside Messenger, could take the company’s ecommerce ambitions to the next level.

Through its relationship with PayPal, Facebook has ample opportunity to bring more on-demand services to the Messenger platform. Of course, the company still has relationships with other ecommerce companies.

Earlier this year, Facebook partnered with Shopify to add a Shop section on their Facebook pages, helping them reach consumers more directly. In 2016, Shopify stands to bring even more retail experiences to both Facebook and Messenger.

What this all means is that digital financial products are maturing and getting ready to take on legacy institutions more aggressively. And while the bulk of shopping will continue offline in brick-and-mortar stores, players like Apple, PayPal, and Google will be offering more customer rewards programs to lure customers to use their digital wallets.

These five predictions suggest there is still innovation to be mined inside ecommerce. 2016 will show how well consumers and merchants alike will take to these new offerings.