How E-Commerce Fits into Retail’s Post-Pandemic Future
“ With COVID-19, we‘ve made it to the Carling float . Dryland is way away.” – Marc Lipsitch
The start of the COVID-19 was an absolute shock for many of the planet , and it changed things in a moment . We all were and even till now are riding on its waves, trying to survive with everything in us. Undoubtedly, the pandemic has caused various changes – especially to people’s lifestyle and their buying habits. Thus, the companies are being affected too, especially retail. Now that the Pandemic is nearing its end, we’ll attempt to take a glance a the Post-Pandemic way forward for retail and the way eCommerce fits into it.
How eCommerce fits into Retail’s post-pandemic future?
Retail and Ecommerce are both are about the sale of a product – from a business to a private . What separates both of them is that eCommerce solely relies on the web for selling. Before the pandemic, consumers were wont to physically shop from retail shops. Of course, there have been internet buyers too. In 2018, around 1.8 billion people were purchasing products online.
It is important to notice that internet buyers are gradually increasing over the years, and this figure was achieved. However, with the arrival of the pandemic, there was instantaneous growth within the number of internet buyers . the amount of internet buyers increased to quite 2 billion by 2020 with the pandemic. The pandemic had caused lockdowns, making consumers unable to physically attend the retail stores Instead, buyers were dependent upon eCommerce to form purchases online.
With the sudden change within the circumstances and consumer preferences, numerous retailers had to accordingly make changes in their strategies. for several retail, eCommerce was a technique to use still faraway within the future. For some, it had been not even an idea . However, the pandemic on a worldwide level, made eCommerce a top priority for each retailer. those that reacted fast enough immediately integrated eCommerce into their business. Businesses thus are investing in eCommerce to enhance their product portfolio, digital capabilities, and logistics capabilities too.
Now that we are reaching the post-pandemic world, many consumers are still changing how they shop. To be precise, those that wont to physically shop from retail stores are now doing it less. While those that wont to shop online now shop some more. Thus, the longer term of retail is about integrating eCommerce.
Retailers will integrate eCommerce with their other store operations including merchandising, marketing, supply chain, etc. this is often a requirement as consumers today have a journey that fluctuates from digital to physical, blurring the lines between retail and e-Commerce. there’s an increasing demand for BOPIS i.e. Buy online and devour in-store, which can continue with the longer term . Not only that, within the post-pandemic world, consumers are going to be unforgivable for late deliveries. These needs will need to be met. Also, every consumer journey is different and retailers got to adapt agile technology platforms to cater to their needs. A seamless integration of eCommerce that permits a smooth transition from online to offline services are going to be a requirement
Another factor the retailers got to prep up for the longer term is being price-competitive. With the planet economy being suffering from the pandemic, consumers became price-conscious, resulting in them counting on comparison sites like ShopZilla, GoBazar, etc. to seek out the simplest product at lowest prices. the longer term too are going to be seeing such price comparison sites becoming a neighborhood of the affiliate network within the eCommerce industry. Retailers with integrated eCommerce will thus be partnering with such sites be competitive and increase their exposure. And this is often how eCommerce will fit into Retail’s Post Pandemic Future.