The retail industry felt the effects of COVID-19 more than most: physical stores closed as lockdowns forced shoppers to stay away, and millions of retail workers were unable to do their jobs from home. Concurrently, e-commerce boomed as locked-down consumers had more goods than ever delivered to their homes. How can retailers overcome the COVID-19 crisis and bounce back?
The retail industry has been really impacted by the 2020 sanitary crisis. Most of the countries had no chance but to close the retail stores aiming to minimize the impact of the virus spread and leaving hundreds of thousands without a Job.
The retailers with a mix of channels (physical stores and online) are noticing a high peak on the online shopping demands. The peak was for many not expected at all and didn’t have the sufficient resources to respond to this high demand. By asking majority of the retails that use to generate more than 90% of Sales by walking customers and 10% online. The switch is impressive as the stores remain closed, the online sales has increased more than 300% for many.
For many customers, online shopping is new as they are used to the traditional way of purchasing. The fact that some customers has tried the online shopping for the first time and felt the convenience of the service delivery, even after the lockdown has been lifted we have noticed that percentage of online shopping hasn’t dropped much even all the physical stores are back to business. The online is taking a big market share in people’s shopping mindeset
Author: Jalal JIHAZI (Global Retail TV Director)