Industry watchers also suggest that if a brand hadn’t devoted major resources to ecommerce in the past, now is the time to do it. While many analysts have said ecommerce cannot replace all lost foot traffic (especially if consumers hit by curtailed or lost incomes have less money for shopping), it’s also true that in the wake of the coronavirus, over 46% of consumers are more likely to buy clothing online, and nearly 65% are more likely to head to the internet to buy personal care products, according to recent data from Red Points.
And if consumers are going to be cooped up at home for weeks or even months, those figures are unlikely to decrease. Amazon announced on Monday it is hiring 100,000 temporary workers to keep up with what svp of worldwide operations Dave Clark called “a significant increase in demand.”
“Shopping schematics are something to consider,” Wakeshima said. “There’s going to be a [continued] surge in online shopping. And many brands may have only had 20% of their business [online], and suddenly that’s going to increase. If that increases, you need to think about your online marketing strategy. And beyond that, can your organizational infrastructure handle the online sales?”
Mark Lewis, founder and CTO of Netalico, said at least one of his clients, whose business is wholly online already, has seen a sales volume increase of 2,000% in the past few days. And while traffic figures like that are well and good for the existing electronic retailers of the world, Lewis believes that now is the time for brands of all stripes to take a hard look at their infrastructure with an eye toward moving more business online.
“Even businesses with a retail presence … are shifting online, and these are pretty big CPG brands offered at Whole Foods and grocery stores,” Lewis said. “They are seeing their products sold out in stores. They’re seeing people buy online instead. It’s basically the path of least resistance.”
It’s also a good idea because, if history is any indicator, consumers might well emerge from this health crisis not only more accustomed to shopping online, but more likely to stay there.
Amie Song is an advisory specialist at Gartner who pays close attention to consumer trends in China, a country that got plenty of experience dealing with a highly disruptive epidemic in 2002 and 2003 with the SARS outbreak. Owing to a period of forced isolation on college campuses, apartment blocks and even rural villages, Chinese consumers got wise to ecommerce—and the habit stuck.
“Chinese ecommerce really took off after the last SARS crisis,” Song said, adding that ecommerce behemoths like JD.com and Tmall gained major traction with consumers in the wake of SARS. In the United States, then, “this is an interesting opportunity for a lot brands to think about their digital innovation.”
Source:
What Can Brands Do If the Coronavirus Crisis Drags On for Months?