Impact of Covid-19 and exponential growth of
online business 2021
Covid-19 has spread worldwide and people have reduced purchasing of goods from supermarkets, shops, and malls. This was done to maintain social distancing which is required to curb the spread of covid. Lockdown has also prevented the people from going to shops and purchase the goods whether the necessary or the branded ones.
Many people in the developing countries are still hesitating to purchase products online as they fear about the quality that they will receive. They are also doubtful about making payment online as they think whether paying money online is safe or not.
E-Commerce Impact
Covid-19 is such a pandemic that no other pandemics have spread in this way. The pandemic covered the whole world and this led to complete lockdown of all the offline markets. That is the reason that retailers contacted ecommerce website developers to develop a website for them. E-Commerce has helped the people as they just have to order the products online and it reached their doorstep.
It has been expected that e-commerce will touch the figures of $20 billion to $30 billion in the coming years. Studies have shown that China is the biggest e-commerce market and it has reached to more than $650 billion.
Australian web development companies also helped their by developing a website for them and then providing SEO services.
Downside of the pandemic
Pandemic has increased the ecommerce business but it has also caused many losses. Many people have lost their jobs which has led to increase in unemployment all around the world. Shopkeepers who do not have online business were not able to sell their goods and these goods deteriorated with time which was a great loss.
The pandemic has also affected tourism, restaurant and food businesses as people were and are not travelling anywhere for the purpose of tourism. People are also not going to restaurants. But governments of some countries have now allowed restaurants for home service.
People just have to order the food and staff of the restaurants will provide the food at home. Family based businesses and shops were also closed and such people faced financial problems during the covid period.
Strategies to be employed while designing an e-commerce website at this time
Many shopkeepers and other businesses have not yet brought their business online. They are now planning to launch an e-commerce website. There are many things that they have to consider to go ahead of their competitors while launching their website.
Choice of niche
Pandemic has forced people to bring their business online and this process will give them a great advantage in comparison to their competitors in offline market. The first thing that they have to think about the niche which very few competitors have included on their website.
This choice of niche will help the businesses to go ahead in comparison to their competitors. Filtering different niches will also help the businesses to check out those niches that none of the competitors have focused on.
Established inventory
The inventory of a business should be well-established so that if the demand for a certain product increases all of a sudden, the business should not face any problem in delivering that product. A blueprint of the inventory should always be available which will show which products are available in surplus and which products have to be included to meet the demand.
The process of maintaining the inventory will also help the business in tracking all the orders and reduce the number of cancellation of orders. Inventory management can be done easily with the help of various software applications which come with many features to ease the process.
Return of Orders
People in many countries fear that the goods that they will get from the online market may be of low quality or people may fear making payment online. That is the reason many people opt for cash on delivery because they can check the product and make payment only if they receive the same product they order. If orders will be cancelled regularly, this can become a problem for the business. There are many reasons for the cancellation of orders like damaged product, receiving a wrong product, etc.
All payment methods should be adopted
If a businessman has planned to launch his business online, he also has to think about different types of payment methods that he can adopt. People can use any method like credit card, debit card, internet banking, and other payment methods.
There are no geographical constraints so payment can be made easily. Proper payment methods in a secure environment will create trust in the customers and they will come repeatedly to purchase the products. Making online payment will eliminate the problem of carrying a large sum of cash.
Analysis of the market
E-commerce has become a platform where many businesses are available in competition. Before launching a website, a business has to research and get a thorough knowledge of the market. The business has to check about the different tricks and techniques that other businesses are adopting to grow their business and sell the products.
This thorough analysis will give him an idea about the products which many of the competitors have not launched but their demand is great in the market. The business will also be able to make better plans and strategies to overcome the competition.
Post Covid Effects
There are many post covid effects on the e-commerce business which businesses have to face and some of them are described here.
Increase in convenience
Surveys have confirmed that many consumers are happy with the convenience that they are getting through online shopping. Customers have told that they are happy because many brands have provided different types of payment options and have made the payment easy.
Growth in contactless payment
Contactless payment has grown in this pandemic. This type of payment has been promoted so that buyers and sellers do not touch the cash and this will help in reducing the spread of the pandemic. Many apps are available which people can use to make payment like Google Pay, PayTM, Phone Pe, and many more. It has been estimated that contactless payment will grow even after reduction in the pandemic effects and people will use different apps on their mobile to make instant payment at different shops.
Communication with customers
Pandemic has also increased the communication between brands and their customers. Communication is important because both of them have struggled in this pandemic and this happened because marketplace has to be changed. Brands also have to change their internet marketing strategies due to the pandemic.
Many of the brands have expressed that they need proper communication with the customers and so they have to change their channel strategy. Email is considered as one of the best ways for marketing but now many businesses have also included voice search and ads to communicate with the customers. Studies have told that many businesses will include the feature of voice search on their website.
Growth in mobile e-commerce
Mobile retail e-commerce has seen a great growth in the pandemic period. Studies have shown that mobile e-commerce will keep growing in future also. People have started shopping through mobiles and this resulted in the growth of mobile e-commerce. Pandemic gave rise to contactless payment and different types of apps available in the mobile has made contactless payment easy.
Open-mindedness in customers has increased
Customers have shown their openness by making purchases through online shopping. This openness has increased due to the covid pandemic. Customers have started digital research about different products Businesses have also told that many customers are attracted towards their brand which increased their sales. Customers are getting new digital experience and they are able to make the decisions easily for purchasing a product. Customers are also interested in seeing the reviews related to a brand and they are selecting those brands for which more positive reviews are available.
Purchasers stay online for a long time
Covid has forced many customers to be online for a long time and search the product at a reasonable price. After the commencement of online market, this is the first time that a lot of customers have started online shopping. Social media is also providing best service in attracting the customers towards online products. Besides social media websites, people have also started using social media apps to make purchases.
Wrapping Up
Covid pandemic has given rise to online shopping and contactless payment. Many customers have started using different websites for purchasing goods. Many retailers have started launching their websites so that their customers can purchase products online. Customers purchase goods only from those brands whose reviews are positive. Customers also like those sites which provides different types of payment options. People are finding online shopping easy in comparison to offline shopping and the trend will keep rising in the near future.
Are you also thinking to upgrade your brick-and-mortar business into an online store? Take free consultation from our professional team members. Call us on 02 87901888