The rise of e-commerce has been spectacular, with online sales progressively increasing. It has transformed how people purchase, and with technological advancements, e-commerce has become even more conveniently accessible to consumers. While many factors have contributed to its expansion, four essential characteristics have recently emerged as critical to success: voice, video, visual, and vernacular. These "4 Vs" are slowly changing how businesses interact with their customers, allowing them to provide more personalised and engaging experiences that encourage loyalty and repeat business. In addition, smartphone usage and the rise of the internet have resulted in a substantial shift in how organisations function. 

An Introduction to The Four Vs 

Voice 

Any content expressly created to be used and consumed through audio means - such as spoken words or sound recordings - is regarded as audio content. Podcasts, audiobooks, voice-assisted technology, and voice-optimised website or app content are all examples of voice content. In addition, businesses can use speech content to provide personalised product suggestions, product descriptions, and customer service via voice-enabled chatbots to build brand loyalty and trust. 

Video 

Video content offers a dynamic and immersive experience by blending pictures, sound, and occasionally, text to deliver information, elicit emotions, tell tales, and engage people. Video content has grown increasingly popular and essential in catching attention, delivering messages, and building meaningful connections with viewers. 

Visual 

Any material that uses visual components to deliver a message or gain attention is considered visual content. Since humans are visually oriented, visual content (such as high-quality images) captivates audiences. Visual content is critical in the digital age for catching attention, driving engagement, and presenting information in a simple and appealing manner. 

Vernacular 

Over the last few years, many brands have realised the importance of penetrating local markets with the help of vernacular language. If your product or service needs to reach a larger audience, including vernacular language content is the quickest and most effective way. This way, you can penetrate localised markets and accordingly cater to regional wants and needs. 

Digital Penetration in Tier 1-2-3-4 

Over the last few years, content consumption has moved from offline to online. Slowly and steadily, it has crept into the different strata of society and made sure that almost everyone has some access to digital content. Digital penetration refers to the level of access and use of digital technology among people in different cities. Here is an overview of digital penetration in Tier 1-4 cities in India: 

Tier 1 cities include India's main metropolitan centres, such as Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, and Bangalore. These cities have a high level of digital penetration, with many people having internet access, cell phones, and other digital gadgets. In these cities, e-commerce and digital payments are widely used. 

Tier 2 cities include smaller cities like Jaipur, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, and Chandigarh. These cities are also seeing considerable increases in digital penetration, with more people accessing the internet and smartphones for e-commerce and digital payments to grow. 

Tier 3 cities include smaller towns like Bhopal, Nashik, and Aurangabad. These cities have lower levels of digital penetration than Tier 1 and 2 cities, but there has been a steady increase in digital technology use in recent years.  

Tier 4 cities include rural and small towns like Bhilai, Kakinada, and Vellore. These locations have the least digital penetration, with limited access to the internet and other digital devices. Initiatives such as the BharatNet project, which aims to bring high-speed broadband connectivity to rural areas, are, nonetheless, assisting in closing the digital gap. 

Rise of Quick Commerce 

If we are talking about digital penetration, we need to mention quick commerce, a business model that exploded in the market with its almost immediate turnaround time. Given the fast-paced lives that most of us lead, we have become used to quick actions and immediate solutions. All activities are treated with a certain amount of urgency. But remember the days when you or someone from your family would grab a cotton, plastic, or polyester tote bag of sorts from its designated spot and head out to buy groceries, household essentials or stationeries for immediate use? Then came the rise of online grocery stores that offered the convenience of browsing through the (virtual) aisles, adding to your cart what you need, and having those items delivered to your doorstep at a date and time of your convenience. Then came the COVID-19 pandemic that changed the way we shop. During a time when stepping out of the house and mingling with crowds was a big no-no, local kiranas became the superheroes that saved the day with instant deliveries. Suddenly, this fast-tracked concept of conducting business made it possible for individuals to fulfil their requirements within 10-30 minutes. This led to the establishment of quick commerce businesses. 

Also known as "q-commerce", "on-demand delivery", or "e-grocery", it combines the traditional aspects of e-commerce with the new-age wonders of technology, making it possible to have services and products delivered to your doorstep within minutes. It would help if you typed in the keywords that will take you through the related search results. Don't want to type it out? Then, voice search for those household essentials, fresh groceries, or stationery items! 

This business model is not looking to replace the giants such as Big Basket, JioMart and Nature's Basket; it simply offers local general stores to increase their customer base. What's more, quick commerce businesses like Instamart, Zepto and Dunzo were quick to pick up on the pulse of their clientele and start offering regional languages so that even Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities could efficiently utilise the services. Moreover, with the help of video and visual content, there is a proper understanding of what is being purchased and how to use the product or service. 

The Challenges of Implementing the 4 Vs in E-commerce 

While highly beneficial in many ways, the 4 Vs (Voice, Video, Visual, and Vernacular) also provide unique issues in e-commerce.  

Incorporating voice interactions necessitates strong Natural Language Processing (NLP) skills to understand what is being asked effectively. Moreover, if you have a robust database running your e-commerce business, it can be challenging to integrate voice-based technologies into the existing system.  

Video integration entails creation costs, meeting bandwidth needs for smooth streaming, and creating high-quality video content. Even if AI is being utilised to an extent to create videos, a few human touches need to be added to make the content more relatable. 

Implementing visual features necessitates the employment of advanced image recognition algorithms as well as the optimisation of the user experience across devices.  

Also, while vernacular content is a great way to scale your business, it will require an additional interface and database that supports numerous regional and local languages to understand cultural situations and requirements.  

Overcoming these issues necessitates employing technology solutions, investments in user experience design, and implementing localisation initiatives. 

Role of AI in Voice, Video, Visual and Vernacular Content 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been on the rise for the last few years, but the recent boom is making people question its role and involvement in different forms of content. It is shaping the way content is created and consumed. Here's how it has impacted: 

Voice Content: Remember people's fascination when Siri was initially introduced in the market? Today, AI-powered voice assistants such as Amazon's Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple's Siri are becoming increasingly ubiquitous in homes and workplaces. These assistants can interpret voice requests using natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning methods and responding. It can be employed for speech recognition, text-to-speech conversion, and speech synthesis. From controlling the sound system and lights at home to going online and sourcing the best places to have a quick work lunch in the office, voice search and content are slowly taking over our daily activities.  

Video Content: AI has also started making its contribution to video content. It can now be used in video production, from processing raw footage to improving the end-product quality. Various tools primarily use artificial intelligence for multiple activities, whether video content ideas or editing. With the correct input, AI can help you create a professional-looking video that fulfils most (if not all) criteria to make it search engine-friendly.  

Visual Content:: A fascinating use of AI is its ability to create visual content in images that bring to life all kinds of (hypothetical and real) scenarios. It can also be utilised for image identification and object detection. Search engines have also been incorporating AI to assist users in finding specific images based on their content. Regarding video surveillance systems, AI detects and tracks objects and people in real-time. 

Vernacular Content: As AI evolves, it learns to recognise and respond to vernacular languages. AI tools can translate, transcribe, and write content in regional languages. Similarly, AI-powered chatbots may communicate with consumers in their native language, making customer support and other services more accessible. 

The Future of E-commerce with the 4 Vs 

Voice, Video, Visual, and Vernacular have a bright future ahead. With virtual assistants and voice-activated gadgets, voice-based commerce is on the rise. This will make it easier for customers to search for products or services. Combined that with live video shopping experiences, product demonstrations, and AR/VR technology, video is becoming a vital tool in e-commerce. Even the quality of visual content is steadily on the rise. Customers can explore products in greater detail using visual features such as high-quality product photos and visual search technology. Lastly, vernacular communication will always succeed you and will only grow in importance, given that it can help you reach out to varied linguistic communities. By smartly and successfully combining the 4 Vs, e-commerce businesses can significantly benefit and grow.