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April 12, 2021

The Impact Of Corona On Ecommerce Businesses



For businesses like U.S. based, Amazon.com (News - Alert), Inc., and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., the situation is a double-edged sword. The U.S. ecommerce giant will have to deal with the logistical nightmare of having to quarantine and face the public relations backlash of slowing down shipping times, as well as the global business impact of not being able to deliver products to countries where outbreaks are more severe.



The Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba, which has a massive market share in China, has also been impacted by the virus, with internal sales down -25% since the initial outbreak. Although this is only one facet of their business, it still poses a problem to the company that relies on ecommerce for growth.

The rise in concerns over this pandemic is impacting ecommerce in three distinct ways:

1. Concerns over Health and Safety - There is no denying that shoppers are less inclined to shop from brands that might be spreading disease. This is particularly true if there is a concern that workers or family members of the company's CEO might be at risk or exposed to viruses like coronavirus.

As an online seller, you've got enough on your plate. You're thinking about your catalogue, your website, and how to reach more customers. You're probably not thinking about Coronavirus (COVID-19) as a threat to your business.

However, if you do, you need to act now because Covid 19 is a severe threat to ecommerce brands. It's one thing to have a customer who is unsatisfied with your product and leaves a bad review. It's another thing when they become the first patient in the United States to contract the Coronavirus via your ecommerce sales channel

2. Concerns over Shipment Delays - With quarantine stations experiencing a massive increase in activity, packages have been stuck in place for days and weeks at a time - raising concerns within the ecommerce community about shipment delays and delivery services.

Coronavirus, or COVID-19, is a deadly disease that has thousands of within a year. As a result of this disease, it has been recommended that everyone wear surgical masks to prevent further infection.

However, this practice of wearing masks is a concern for ecommerce retailers. A surgical mask is meant to protect the wearer from being infected by a virus, but it also blocks air from entering and exiting the mask's filter holes. This can pose a challenge for ecommerce brands that deliver packages to residential addresses. Consumers need to safely receive deliveries at their homes, potentially tricky if the package is left on the doorstep without anyone present.

 3. More Shoppers Staying home, Shopping Online

Our data has shown that when shoppers are online, they expect to be able to find anything they want, anytime, anywhere and quickly – whether they're shopping for a pair of jeans, a scrapbooking kit, or a handcrafted necklace. On the whole, consumers have been more willing to shop online than offline – and they're not letting go of their high expectations for digital experiences. Mayple’s wonderful ecommerce marketing guide has 11 actionable marketing tactics which you can use to drive shoppers in to your e-commerce store during these tough times.

In a time when consumers should be preparing for the worst, they're actually expecting more from digital commerce. According to new research from The Demand Institute, in the U.S. and U.K., the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic have not detoured shoppers from shopping online but rather have prompted them to shop more often and for longer periods compared to past crises.



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