OTT-based conversational commerce spend to breach US$25 billion in 2023 - Juniper Research

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 14 (Bernama) -- The global spend for conversational commerce on over-the-top (OTT) channels, including WhatsApp and WeChat, will rise from US$13.3 billion in 2022 to US$25.1 billion in 2023, according to a new Juniper Research study. (US$1=RM4.612)

In a statement, Juniper Research said the growth of 89 per cent will be driven by “verticals” such as retail and e-commerce, which provide increased online presence and product availability as retailers refine their online customer experience.

The new research found that e-commerce and retail will account for over 35 per cent of spend via OTT conversational commerce channels in 2023; accounting for US$9 billion of spending globally.

However, it identified regional fragmentation in the OTT messaging space as a key hurdle to growth. To overcome this, it urges conversational commerce vendors to onboard each messaging app individually, while adhering strictly to varying financial regulations in each country.

Other issues for conversational commerce vendors include the varying types of payment methods in use across countries.

Vendors need to account for these differences and support various digital wallets. This flexibility will enable vendors to offer a complete omnichannel experience by providing payments across OTT apps, chatbots, voicebots, and ‘rich communication services (RCS)’ business messaging.

In addition, to increase market share, conversational commerce platforms must also invest in value-added services to provide differentiation from existing conversational services.

Juniper Research provides research and analytical services to the global hi-tech communications sector, providing consultancy, analyst reports and industry commentary.

-- BERNAMA