How COVID-19 Is Transforming E-Commerce Globally

We are past the stage when COVID-19 forced people to stay back home for extended durations of the lockdown (at least to a large extent). However, even as we struggle to overcome the virus, there are certain changes in habits that are bound to stick. One such change pertains to shopping habits. With physical stores being seen as risky to visit, people relied majorly on e-commerce platforms for their shopping. In the month of April 2020, e-commerce orders in the US and Canadian markets saw a 129% y-o-y growth in volumes. 

Source: UNCTAD and NetComm Suisse eCommerce Association

As seen in the above graph, most of the product categories saw between 6-10% rise in online purchases.

So, what changes do we expect in e-commerce?

1. Safety To Be A Decisive Criterion

Until the time COVID-19 is completely overcome, and perhaps even beyond that, the safety of order delivery is going to be extremely crucial. While this might call for training of the delivery agents, even order management would play a key role. Through smart analytics, e-commerce companies could attempt to arrive at the most efficient delivery schedules for each delivery agent, thus making it easy for them to deliver faster while adhering to safety protocol.

2. Greater Focus On Essentials

Prior to COVID-19, most people would prefer to buy items such as medicines, furniture, DIY products etc from physical stores, while the online marketplace was reserved for non-perishable goods. But the lockdown has changed that completely. A lot of people took to experimenting with ordering medicines and furniture online (to a large extent due to very limited options). And there is a good chance that after discovering the convenience of e-commerce when it comes to buying these products, they would stick to it even after the pandemic phases out.

3. Digital Presence – A Must For Businesses

Recognizing the fact that a lot more people are going to prefer online purchases, it is logical that every business, big or small, needs to have a digital presence. This includes a website, smartphone application, even an e-store, apart from showcasing products on e-tailing sites such as Amazon.

Knowing how important the e-commerce plunge is for most businesses, we at PennyWise Solutions eagerly look forward to helping such businesses with their digital strategy. Our services pertaining to Magento Commerce Cloud, Shopify, BigCommerce and Sitecore Experience Commerce have been proven to be helpful for several brands in generating delightful online customer experiences. Feel free to reach out to us, we would love to help your business go global with a structured e-commerce presence strategy.