Has Covid19 Really Changed the Way People buy Online?

4 years ago

You may think that e-commerce is the most profitable business during covid19. Well, for some part of the world, you are right. When it comes to India, the e-commerce industry is adversely affected. Here are 7 Massive Impact of COVID19 on E-commerce.

The overall impact differs from country to country.

Being an e-commerce giant, Amazon has been growing extremely fast in the USA because due to lockdown, people were not allowed to go outside. And even after lockdown, most citizens prefer to shop online rather than going to store and buy goods.

The understanding of lower demand is simple. Millions of people lost their jobs during the lockdown. As there was no monthly cash-flow, people did not prefer to buy because there was no money to spend. The demand was only for

Let’s discuss the impact of COVID19 on E-commerce.

7 Massive Impact of COVID19 on E-commerce:

1. Job loss:

In order to slow down the spreading of corona-virus, all the major economies imposed lock-down in their nations.

Because of this, economic activities were drastically stopped. Most businesses did not have revenues and that’s why in order to protect their business by reducing cost, the majority of businesses fire their employees.

Millions of people lost their jobs. Consequently, these people who have lost their jobs reduced their spending habit. That means most of them stopped buying goods.

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2. Lockdown:

In India, the services of the major e-commerce giant Amazon India and Walmart owned Flipkart was completely shut down during lockdown. In addition, the supply chain was also disrupted.

However, according to the Economic Times, the e-commerce sales volumes are back at pre-COVID-19 levels. In other words, the e-commerce sector in India has been recovering extremely faster.

3. The Fear:

While ordering from e-commerce platforms, the goods are transported from various states. There are many people who believe that the chances of getting infected from coronavirus are higher if they order from e-commerce platforms.

This could be the reason for not leveraging e-commerce websites.

4. Grocery:

As we discussed, people were not allowed to go outside and also there is a significant chance of getting infected when we go outside.

Online grocery business saw tremendous penetration as consumers prefer to buy grocery online.

Online grocery ordering startup BigBasket saw 900% spike during lockdown according to Qz.com.

5. Luxury Goods:

When there is an economic downfall, people prefer to save more and spend less. As a result, luxury goods have hit very hard due to COVID-19 outbreak.

6. Digital Streaming:

Over-the-top or digital media streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar and many other players have seen outstanding growth during the lockdown period as people have so much time, many people preferred to buy subscription plans of all such platforms.

According to BBC, Netflix saw a massive 60% growth during the lockdown and added 15 million new subscriptions.

If we talk about the future of digital streaming, the future seems bright. As cinemas and theatres are shut down due to COVID-19 outbreak, consumers have shifted their attention towards digital streaming to find entertainment.

7. Pharmaceutical:

In the last four months, the pharmaceutical sector has seen exponential growth and the eCommerce companies of medicine companies like Netmads and 1Mg have also seen the same.

Besides, there is significant demand of masks, PPE kit and sensitizer as well.

Post COVID-19 Situation:

I personally believe that the people who are living in tier 2 and tier 3 cities will start adopting the change and will prefer to shift their business on the internet.

Business owners who live in tier 1 cities are very much aware of the importance of selling goods and services with the help of internet.

Industries like travel and tourism, cinema, automobile and manufacturing may take longer time to recover.

Conclusion:

There is no doubt the e-commerce sector has seen downfall due to lockdown. However, thanks to the COVID-19 outbreak, all e-commerce has experienced a surprising recovery.

The time is near when the local shop owner will have his own e-commerce website.