Business Owners & Merchants Take Heed… Coronavirus Gives E-Commerce A Major Leg Up

Coronavirus & E-Commerce

Online shopping was first conceived of in the United Kingdom by Michael Aldrich back in 1979 and has since become a huge global trend that has grown exponentially over the last several years.

Up until recently, it was estimated that close to 2 billion people shop online. However, since the Coronavirus has hit the scene, that figure is expected to increase to a whopping 4 trillion online shoppers, this year alone.  

In fact, in 2018, the E-Commerce shopping public spent an estimated $2.8 trillion on various goods, products and services. It is now believed that E-commerce sales will actually grow to an unprecedented $5 trillion by the year 2021.

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Safety Leads The Way

When the Coronavirus health crisis first invaded the planet, much of the worldwide population was advised to quarantine at home until further notice.

Many still do and plan to stay that way for quite some time. Although brick and mortar shopping for groceries, pharmaceuticals and various supplies is still available to consumers, it is obviously much safer for the general public to stay within the confines of their homes as much as possible and order all that is needed by use of their electronic devices.

Already popular online shopping has become the much safer way to live in our current world.

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E-Commerce Availability Trumps Brick & Mortar

Life as we know it continues to change in major ways, leading to many people feeling confused, worried, threatened and out of control.

The result being that everybody is in need of some happiness and peace of mind, which seems to be more and more unattainable these days.

However, there’s still retail therapy to help ease our pain, only now most of it takes place online. It’s truly not a far cry from where we already were, as online retail therapy has long been a way to temporarily escape one’s problems. However, the pandemic has served to create a huge increase in the number of people that participate in this form of escapism and in the amount of goods and merchandise being purchased.

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There’s Always Retail Therapy

Sending an email reminder as soon as possible to a client who is late in paying their invoice can be really helpful.  It’s possible they could have just forgotten while they were busy dealing with their to-dos.

Remember to keep the tone light and friendly and include payment details. Be prompt with sending these reminders by setting calendar alerts for a client’s due date and when you should send those follow-up emails.

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Shipping Safety Plays Its Part

Professionals in the know have informed us that the Covid 19 virus is highly infectious and can live on various surfaces for up to 3 to 4 days. At first, this had consumers questioning the safety of receiving items shipped to them. It also begged the question of whether or not it was safe to purchase from sources throughout the world.

However, experts such as the Center For Disease Control (CDC), have assured us that by the time items have been packed and shipped, to the time we actually receive the packages, Covid 19 if ever present, would not have likely survived the trip.

In addition, the World Health Organization (WHO), tells us it isn’t likely that packages would be contaminated by an infected person and given these packages have travelled, been moved around and have been exposed to various conditions and temperatures, they more than likely do not pose a threat to those receiving them. Thus, the pros have assured us that it is safe to purchase online.

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Business Owners & Merchants Take Heed

If you own a business that continues to operate without taking advantage of the online shopping tool and its huge audience, you may want to rethink things. As far as the Coronavirus goes and other possible virus’ as well, the future is certainly unclear and unknown.

What’s not unknown is that, due to Covid 19, you’ve probably had to close your business down for quite some time, it may still be closed and whether it is or not, this could happen again in the not so far off future. Not many businesses could survive another close down. The fact is, many different kinds of “offline” businesses could easily convert some or all of its operations to e-commerce.

Operating online can provide companies with some very real insurance that your business is safe and can keep going no matter what the “virus” future brings. For the sake of the financial future and survival of most businesses, it’s probably a good idea for business owners and merchants to start planning in the e-commerce direction.