How Ecommerce Apps Grow During Pandemic

The global pandemic has brought a lot of uncertainty in our lives, not just in the aspect of health but also economically. Lockdowns have been implemented and people are encouraged to stay at home to avoid being infected with the virus. The drastic steps taken by the authorities are to prevent the further spread of the virus that has affected the lives of everyone, especially businesses.

During the pandemic, a large number of businesses closed either temporarily or permanently due to the slow income as well as the incurring cost of opening a shop with fewer customers visiting, as well as the additional health protocols that need to be funded. Stores were forced to close as people are staying at home rather than going out. But necessary items such as medical supplies and food are still sought out by buyers all over the globe. Most have resorted to buying their necessities online and this has paved the way for the growth of the E-commerce industry in the past months.

Business owners around the world worried about how the pandemic will affect their physical stores and their income flow in the past months, but smart business owners made the shift at just the right time. Shifting to E-commerce has helped businesses lessen the harsh blow of the effects of the pandemic in the economy.

Brands and businesses are forced to pivot their 2020 strategies online to cope with customers’ needs for shopping safely through online platforms. During the pandemic, there is a big percentage of consumers buying their needs and even wants online. There has been a major shift in expenditure going digital and mobile. Thus, businesses adapted and shifted their advertisements and marketing strategies to target online shoppers. Since there is less foot traffic in physical stores, the energy and resources of businesses are now focused on their online customers, providing the best services they could offer online.

Shopping habits of consumers fluctuates according to the global happenings since the pandemic, there is a phase wherein people panic buy essential goods, the phase where people lost their jobs and shopped minimally, then when the pandemic has extended for several months, consumers are back to shopping online in an increasing trend. Since the rise of pandemic consumers is shopping online more frequently than ever. Reports even state that customers shop weekly regularly compared to pre-pandemic.

As the pandemic reshapes our world and the way we shop it accelerated our shift to contactless shopping and delivery services. The growth of This project in the E-commerce industry in the months to come.

E-commerce products

The pandemic helped consumers define which products are essential to their everyday living. Some products declined in sales because they are deemed inessential during the pandemic. Products such as clothes, luxury items, cosmetics, and the like have seen a decline in the past months, while groceries, medical supplies, food, home essentials, and cleaning materials increased in sales. Later on, once the panic subsided and with the economy recovering and income flowing again, consumers are slowly returning to their shopping habits, but now through online shopping.

Adapting

Physical stores of businesses needed to quickly shift to online stores to be competitive in the new market situation. Driving traffic to online stores is made through home deliveries and pick-up schemes. Large retail outlets even offer a personal-shopper feature that allows customers to give a list of their shopping needs to an in-house shopper, and have their goods delivered at home. There is also a rise in online advertisements to drive traffic from social media to websites. Mobile applications are now more utilized and most businesses have created their apps that will make up for the lost traffic in their physical stores.

Consumer Habits

As many office workers shifted to working remotely, and people are inclined to stay indoors rather than face the threat of the virus or the inconvenience of a handful of safety protocols just to enjoy the malls, businesses opt to shut down their physical stores to cut down the cost of operation, and instead shift their resources to the digital platforms.

The difficulty faced by all people from all walks of life has also affected the way customers consume products and services. The uncertainty, fear, and loneliness from long periods of isolation have brought changes to consumers’ behaviors and shopping habits.

One immediate response of consumers to the global pandemic is bulk-buying amid the panic. Once the pandemic was officially declared, medical supplies and other home essentials quickly flew off the stores, and even online sellers have a hard time keeping up with the demand for deliveries. This in turn has increased the price of essential goods because production cannot keep up with the demand of consumers. But as the pandemic panic subsided, retail therapy kicked in.

Isolation and uncertainty brought fear and loneliness to almost everyone and there are several ways people try to cope with it safely. Online shopping has been one of the avenues for people to destress in these troubling times and businesses are making the most out of it.

E-commerce apps are now more rampantly advertised because online businesses have seen the rise of consumers on the internet.

Providing E-commerce apps for customers will increase the likelihood of their recurring purchases in your store and will increase brand loyalty and visibility in the huge online market.

What happens after the pandemic

After the pandemic people are more likely to shop online even if they are still excited to go back to shopping in physical stores. This pandemic has changed not just the way we live now, but also our perspective in contact shopping and everything physical. The convenience and safety brought by shopping online will become the new normal and people will have a hard time shifting back again to shopping in physical stores, not fully at least. With the pandemic not ending very soon, chances are consumers already built a habit that will be hard to erase once all is over.