Currently, COVID-19 is dominating the media and with good reason. Our generation hasn’t seen a crisis of this severity before. The illness has swept the globe and devastated everything it's touched; families, jobs, and even whole economies.
You’d think, however, that ecommerce would be the last thing to suffer at the hands of this sickness, but is that really the case though? How is the online market being affected by the current world situation? What are the business implications?
Let's take a look...
The most noticeable change is panic buying, with people flocking to the shops in large numbers leaving the shelves emptied by lunchtime.
This kind of mass purchasing has meant that a large percentage of people have been left with a shortage of food, toiletries, and other essential items.
The alternative is online shopping, so unsurprisingly, there's been a massive increase in digital sales since this situation began. In fact, it was predicted that ecommerce would increase by 50% throughout COVID-19’s run.
Online companies such as Amazon have been doing their part to make sure that people have the comforts and necessities that they are used to having to get them through this time.
Items like hand sanitizer, soap, vitamins, and cleaning products are the more popularly purchased products and are now being offered in higher quantities to the consumer.
Even streaming services like Netflix, YouTube, and Disney + have seen massive gains in their online usage with providers like YouTube and Amazon Prime offering all of their content as standard definition to accommodate for a higher volume of users.
BigCommerce has commented on how each generation of customers is changing their buying habits in response to the crisis. It seems that the younger generations have been concerned about the effects on the economy and cutting back.
In contrast, the older generations are buying more products in bulk to get them through without too much concern for the economy.
The biggest question being asked by customers at the moment is ‘will my package still be delivered?’ The global lockdown has got people concerned that deliveries will take a hit.
Thus far, the delivery of parcels has, thankfully, not been affected by the COVID-19 restrictions.
The border restrictions, for example, are currently prohibiting the movement of tourists and non-essential travel. But, the distribution and flow of products haven't stopped.
Governments are closing the brick and mortar locations that carry goods such as clothes and gardening supplies.
The powers that be are promoting the use of online shops and home delivery. This is fantastic news for the ecommerce community and has encouraged more small businesses and even high street shops to boost their online presence and eve begin offering a delivery service.
Delivery drivers, however, are being protected against this outbreak. Delivery companies, such as DHL, are stopping the use of cash transactions at the door and encouraging their drivers, not only to leave the package on the doorstep but to ask the customer’s permission for the driver to sign for the receipt of the package.
We hope having read this article; you now have a better idea of how coronavirus has affected online businesses and the ecommerce market. For more information on the business implications concerning COVID-19, contact us today.