Coronavirus e-commerce: an opportunity for companies

Forced quarantine and forced smart working force people to lead a much more homely life and the effects are immediately registered on consumption.

A Nielsen survey on online sales shows an increase of over 80% since the end of February compared to last year, with an increase of 30% if referring to the immediately preceding period.

An unexpected acceleration which, in all likelihood, will continue for weeks to come.

The habit of online shopping, gained in these weeks, could also become part of the routine of people who previously used it only marginally.

For those who work in the sector these weeks have been very intense: it was like suddenly facing a mass of orders that until now had only rarely occurred.

So what are the activities that need to be carefully monitored to efficiently manage the surplus of orders? The aspects that must be kept under control are essentially 4: the speed of the site, the warehouse, customer support and the procurement of the goods.

The priority is certainly represented by the possibility of guaranteeing the speed of the site even with the exponential increase in traffic and providing the user with various purchase options to facilitate the collection of the goods.

The gaze inevitably turns to the next few months of 2020 and what will be the guidelines for the development and evolution of online shopping.

According to numerous sector research, the main trends for the ecommerce sector in 2020 will be the following:

Facilitate mobile shopping
Users do not use mobile devices only to shop, but also to search for products and examine them before purchasing them. It is estimated that sales from mobile devices will represent around 73% of all sales in the digital market at the end of 2021.

Voice shopping
It is taking its first steps in the United States and is expected to spread to the rest of the world in the coming months. This is the possibility of carrying out a search on e-commerce by asking the voice assistant to show the product based on preferences of colors, sizes and other details.

Social shopping
Social platforms offer users more and more tools for the direct purchase of products. The managers of e-commerce portals are therefore called upon to develop social marketing strategies with which to allow customers to click on specific products within a post of their social pages to be led directly to the site with the aim of facilitate purchases.

Using augmented
Augmented reality can be a very important tool in helping potential customers make purchasing decisions. Using the smartphone camera, the user can, for example, virtually place a piece of furniture in the home or try on a suit to understand how he dresses.

Responsibility towards the environment
The growing focus on environmental sustainability is a clear sign that online marketers must commit to undertake environmentally friendly practices. Companies can do this by offering products that offer a social or environmental benefit and by reducing shipping waste, using recycled or biodegradable materials.

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