Andrew Kwan, Founder and Chief Executive of Outwhiz and Strategic Adviser of CoCoon, has outlined 5 technology trends that will shape our buying habits in the future, as reported by the South China Morning Post.

Trend one: Omnichannel. Online and offline retail will be more integrated and seamless. Amazon is now in position to potentially offer O2O services such as buying online and picking up in store, or buying in store with delivery to home. Both Alibaba and Amazon recognize that an offline retail network can be highly synergistic with their already massive online marketplaces. “The proliferation of partnerships and acquisitions by online players of offline players (and vice versa) signals an evolving mindset from product centricity to consumer centricity,” said Robert Hah, Managing Director of Accenture Strategy Greater China.

Trend two: Live streaming. Since early 2016, Alibaba has incorporated live streaming features into both its Taobao and Tmall platforms, to empower influencers to tell stories about lifestyles, brands and products to potential shoppers via live video. In the U.S., more and more businesses are using Facebook Live, Instagram and YouTube Live to drum up e-commerce demand as well.

Trend three: Virtual reality. Around last year’s Singles Day – Alibaba’s annual shopping bonanza in November – Alibaba showed how virtual reality (VR) can be used in shopping, allowing customers to place their smartphones into VR cardboard headsets for immersion in a virtual Macy’s store, where they could interact with products and make instant purchases. Alibaba calls this “Buy+”, and more than 8 million Chinese users have already gotten a taste of this VR e-commerce experience since the debut of Buy+.

Trend four: From “pretail” to retail and back. As consumers catch on to new technology platforms that brands and retailers must adapt, it is immensely important to choose the right retail channel that matches a brand’s target customers, goals and growth stage. A good example of doing this right is Nanoleaf, a smart lighting company that scaled up with different retail channels as the company grew.

Trend five: The sky’s the limit when it comes to creativity. If the e-commerce potentials of omnichannel, live streaming, VR and “pretail” don’t surprise you, consider the recent tie-up between e-commerce and China’s latest phenomenon – the sharing of mobile phone chargers. Since April 2017, three of the Chinese market leaders in charger sharing – Laidian, Jiedian, and Xiaodian – have received a total of USD128 million in investments, according to Crunchbase.