Technology roadmapping for the e-commerce sector: A text-mining approach

Due to rapid technological advancements and shifting consumer dynamics, the e-commerce industry has undergone rapid transformation. Further, emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, blockchain, and augmented reality, have the ability to revolutionize the e-commerce landscape. However, limited studies have mapped the technological evolution in the e-commerce sector. Therefore, this study offers a multi-faceted forecast of e-commerce technologies by combining patent analysis, semantic network analysis, and topic modelling approaches. The study analyzes 4113 patents and categorizes them into two time periods: 2001–2012 and 2013–2023. This study constructs co-word maps, defines the relationships between the words, and examines how the co-word relationships have changed over the time period. In the period between 2001 and 2012, the patents are categorized into four clusters: information processing and communication technologies, product purchase and sale management, e-commerce systems, and digital transaction and security management. For the period spanning between 2013 and 2023, the patents are classified into seven clusters: user experience, integrating devices, product information management, e-commerce infrastructure, advanced e-commerce authentication, pricing and payment solution, platform development, and e-commerce optimization. It aims to bridge theory and practice by developing a roadmap of near-, mid-, and far-future e-commerce technologies. The study highlights implications for practice and theory.