Shift to e-commerce: How COVID-19 led to a widespread adoption of online business?

As the pandemic is rapidly changing customer behaviour towards online channels, online businesses are likely to emerge as market leaders. Check out our article where we have discussed the impact of COVID-19 on e-commerce.

by Jessica Richards - Business Development Manager
Shift to e-commerce: How COVID-19 led to a widespread adoption of online business?

Shift to e-commerce: How COVID-19 led to a widespread adoption of online business?

To survive the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is critical for business leaders to act and successfully transition their business to online and the new e-commerce reality. Formerly, there has been a notable change in the customer’s buying behaviour, leading them to shift towards online channels in the first three quarters of the year.
Such growth and widespread adoption of e-commerce has pushed a number of businesses to go digital and set up a high-performing e-commerce stores to maintain their customer base. If you’ve been muddled about it, we can help you make your mind. With the help of a leading web development agency in Melbourne, let’s take an in-depth look at the impact of COVID-19 on the e-commerce sector. The article contains some vital reports and information that will help you understand the present and future scenario of the e-commerce sector better.

The impact of the pandemic on e-commerce so far

Due to social distancing and lockdowns, more and more consumers have begun shopping online in bigger numbers and frequency. While physical stores are seeing significant declines in their sales,consumers are shifting away from brick-and-mortar stores to online shopping.

Check out the following stats.

• Amazon recently reported record quarterly profit with 40% sales growth backed by strong pandemic-related demand.
• In Australia, e-commerce grew more than 80% year on year in the 8 weeks after the declaration of COVID-19 pandemic by the World Health Organisation.
• The data also reveals that the influx of households shopping online in April 2020 witnessed an increase of 31% compared to 2019 in Australia.
In a nutshell, the pandemic has shifted the world of e-commerce this year. It has thrown the entire e-commerce landscape for a loop where consumer’s behaviour has seemingly changed overnight.

Long-term impacts

The recent growth in e-commerce due to COVID-19 has set a high bar for what’s now called baseline growth. Though some trends are accelerating, others are declining unexpectedly.
Have a look at the following reports that depict the future of e-commerce:

• It is expected that retail stores would decline by over 60% for the full year. Meanwhile, e-commerce is expected to grow by nearly 20% by the end of 2020.
• According to a report, the number of smartphone food delivery app users is forecasted to increase 25.2 to 45.6 million this year, with adoption anticipated to be continued throughout the forecast period ending in 2023, to 53.9 million users.
• According to a recent survey, there are nearly one-quarter of buyers looking for contactless payments or delivery options, with 36% of buyers saying they won’t return to brick-and-mortar stores until a vaccine is discovered.
Paradoxically, quarantine and lockdowns have helped so many families and friends alleviate the severe time shortages. As a result, consumers are more motivated than ever to stay home and shop online.Now, because the amount of consumers who are shopping online has been steadily rising, one thing the pandemic has made predictable is that the future will be even more challenging.

Final words

In the end, the most important questionsabout the recent e-commerce growth are– how long is this pandemic-fuelled online shiftgoing to stay? And to what extent is it going to impact longer-term forecasts? The answer, at least according to the above reports, is that the pandemic has pushed the e-commerce industry ahead by around five years. The shift away from physical stores has now jumped ahead in time. So, it is safe to say that e-commerce is not going to slow down any time soon.
Do you need assistance with building an e-commerce website in Melbourne? Get in touch with our tech-savvy website developer in Melbourne today.

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