Ecommerce an evolving winner of the COVID-19 pandemic

There is light at the end of the tunnel. The Pandemic Will Change American Retail Forever.

Pandemic has made its effect not only on customers but on businesses too. In short to the whole of humanity.

The time to adapt a quote “Mankind was my business.”

If you own a business but don’t have a website or an app, this article is for you. 

If you own an online store but don’t know how to get the maximum benefit out of it by integrating important software and willing to gain that benefit, believe me, this is for you. 

If you have a website and looking to reach every mobile screen to expand your business, this article is for you. 

This article is for all of you who are reading out now. Yes, for you and believe me this will equally benefit and boost your business if focused and taken its suggestions seriously as right now vitamin-C is important to boost your immune system. 

Vitamin-C will help in fighting with the virus and this article will help in boosting your business profit margin. 

Let us know how?  

COVID-19 impacts being felt across e-commerce industries- statistics and insights

• 50% of Chinese respondents say they’re using e-commerce more frequently 30% of Italians have increased online shopping 

• Grocery apps see more than 200% increase in downloads

• Instacart sees a 218% spike in app downloads

• Walmart grocery app sees a 160% growth 

• US retailer target sees a 124% growth in mobile app downloads 

• 47% of retailers are expecting a revenue drop

• 30% of e-commerce companies expect business to be up

• 8% of eCommerce businesses expecting a significant lift 

• Emarketer lowers ad spend forecast to 691.1 billion 

The article is completely depended on two factors: 

1. Need

2. Want

Need: High Demand, Low Supply

Need is what a human needs to survive, get relief from stress, and live life till life gets into a stable and comfortable zone. Here retailers, SMEs, entrepreneurs who are linked with the life living needful products and services like groceries, health, Medicare, food, etc. are considered. 

Now is a great time to get ahead. There might not be much you can do about your current situation, but that doesn’t mean you should not prepare for the future. 

Many businesses have plenty of demand and less supply. But wait, this all depends on your business niche, what you are selling. There is always a solution to a problem. You just got to dig. 

Remember you are not the only one with product shortage, so it is likely possible that customers might be jumping and searching site to site to get what they need. 

Hope, the four alphabet words on which the whole of humanity is depended on and so your customers are. Become their helping hand by giving them backorder or delayed shipping option on your site. Ensure them that they will get what they need by staying in a queue. 

Want: Low Demand, High Supply

Want is what human desires when life is going smooth. Here entrepreneurs and SMEs who sell luxury products or non-essential items like a smartwatch, expensive handbags, mobile phones, internet, and more without which a life can be survived are included.

To move towards the non-essential items, customers first need to feel, safe, powerful, and stable. 

With the right marketing and understanding the customers need, you can still match those needs, just be sure what you are selling is what people need. 

You can offer discounts, have a sale, and many re-targeting tricks can be used to regain customers.  

Ecommerce will play a vital role if focused properly by entrepreneurs. The world is not going to end, but many businesses might. This is a crisis but also an opportunity to reach maximum customers. This is an opportunity not only to earn but to serve humanity, make loyal customers, and become their helping hand. 

The year may bring death to the department store but this pandemic is also likely to accelerate eCommerce industry like Amazon, Walmart, dollar general Costco and home depot.

• Walmart grocery app sees a 160% growth 

• 30% of eCommerce companies expect business to be up

• 8% of eCommerce businesses expecting a significant lift 

 “Are you desperate to fix situations that haven’t even happened but about to?”

Steps you can follow to retain customers in the world of COVID-19 

· Use all digital channels to offer customer support to stay connected during these tough times. You can use social media channels to connect, provide responsive and quick support. Stay connected and show them that you are around. 

· Build a community and stay close following the social distancing. Covid-19 has brought people and different communities together, talk to your customers with empathy, and convert your buyers by responsive interaction. 

· Let your customers know your available 24/7. Make the navigation process easy by removing pop-ups on your website, explain clearly about menu structure, and provide a hassle-free online shopping as many will be the first time online shoppers. 

E-Commerce: The lifesaver weapon to boost the economy 

• One-third of the Americans bought groceries online in the past month and tens of millions of the customers were first time online buyers. 

• Walmart is experiencing a great increase in online orders and deliveries. 

• Amazon is focusing on essential products and intentionally delaying deliveries of non-essential products to deal with unprecedented demands. 

• UBS analysis predicted that eCommerce will have an immediate increase from 15% to 25% due to COVID-19. This change and growth were supposed to be achieved by e-commerce in decades which now has gained in just several months. 

• Instacart is seeking to add 300,000 contractors in the next three months, which is more than the total anticipated hires by Amazon, CVS, Walmart, and Walgreens combined. 

• Door to door delivery industry will now have to give paid leave to its workers, health care facility as social distancing is not going to end soon and in the long run, these workers will be the ones serving us (Americans to remain safe) till we get to normal. 

E-commerce shopping: Easy, Safe, and more frequent because of COVID-19

• Increase and shifting from offline shopping to online shopping is frequently seen in COVID-19. 

• In Vietnam 57% of consumers shifting to online purchasing 

• China by 50%

• Italy by 31% 

• Americans are ahead always as they use to be and stores like Walmart, CVS, and Amazon are seeing frequent increases in the apps download and online purchasing. 

Worst Affected Industry due to COVID-19

1. Restaurants 

2. Leisure

3. Travel 

These industries are incompatible with e-commerce and may not gain as e-commerce will. 

On-demand applications can be one of the best methods to reach your customers, expand your customer base, and become their life-saving partner. 

Every single minute, every single delivery to home ensuring safety to your customers will not just make you earn but will earn the reward, prayers, and blessings of god too in recompense. 

They can be back on track too for which they will have to work on and find new ideas and breaking down organizational silos. 

One idea that can be used is to partner or take the help of the delivery industry and deliver food door to door on order. 

Ecommerce is changing:

36% of retailers believe that COVID-19 will have a negative effect on their sales. 

This has brought an opportunity for the eCommerce industry and online shopping. 

Online grocery stores were around but were not adopted at large, and people were more comfortable in visiting the store in person, checking, feeling the product, and then were deciding whether to purchase or not? 

But, visiting a grocery store is a risky choice now. Are you sure if you visit the store, you won’t come back home with the virus? 

There are lots of uncertainty, insecurity, and even myth. In between this, eCommerce online grocery shopping is the best option to complete your grocery shopping. People have begun moving their grocery shopping online. 

• Sharp and fast online order volume has increased from 12^th March: Rakuten Intelligence

• 215% increase recorded by the retailers in online grocery sales

Looking to the worldwide lockdown and contagious disease, it is clear that the COVID-19 pandemic will have lasting impacts in the retail industry.

Early reports suggest that Ecommerce fueled at the time of SARS outbreak and there are going to be rapid movements towards digitization and Omni-channel shopping in COVID-19 too.

Like Leonard Cohen’s iconic lines “There are cracks in everything and that is how the light gets in”

Groceries: digital solution solves worlds need digitally

• First-time shoppers are adopting online grocery shopping due to the COVID-19 crisis

• Mass native shoppers are using the digital form for online grocery shopping

• Frictionless eCommerce experience is key to succeed

What can grocers do to combat COVID 19?

• Design a consumer-oriented digital experience

• Reduce complexity
• Offer alternates (especially when supply is less)
• Build easy to use and easy to navigate eCommerce experience
• Maintain transparency
• Reduce clicks and scrolls
• Create a better end to end experience

Final words

It is projected that eCommerce will reap $1.9 trillion in new sales by an upcoming couple of years.

Evolving market place, shifting expectations, and keeping customer at the core is paramount for success.

i-Verve holds the expertise of 12+ years in eCommerce website design, eCommerce web development, and assistance in starting online shopping websites. 1500+ successful eCommerce website development projects have been delivered tomorrow along with the experience of working closely with startups and professionals.

i-verve is an eCommerce store development company that offers setting up your eCommerce store. You can start selling on marketplaces like eBay and Amazon to grow your business ten times.

If you are an offline grocery store and want to get your business online feel free to reach us.

If you are an owner of the online store and are unable to get maximum profit, we have a team of experts that audits the website and assist with the better idea which could like to integrate ERP, POS, CRM and any other software that can ease and make your business pick speed.