During the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing lockdowns across the globe, one business sector grew astronomically whilst the rest of the global economy began to depress and stagnate – E-Commerce! When the highstreets were shut down and people were told to stay indoors, E-Commerce had the perfect conditions to grow massively.
And it did, in the UK alone, online retail sales grew by 37% (Over 6x the growth in 2019 for comparison), as in person shopping was either impossible at worst, or dangerous at best it makes sense why E-Commerce sales grew so much in the height of the pandemic.
While the E-Commerce industry giants like Amazon saw their fair share of growth, it was small businesses that actually saw the biggest increase in E-Commerce sales. Likely because the pandemic forced businesses that only sold in store to have an online sales presence.
But as more people get vaccinated and restrictions are being loosened up, E-Commerce businesses are at somewhat of a crossroads. As in person shopping in brick and mortar stores becomes possible again, online retailers are starting to see a drop in their sales as customers return to the high street!
While this is undoubtedly a good thing for high street businesses and brick and mortar retailers, E-Commerce businesses need to work out how to adjust to compete with the Highstreet post-pandemic.
To get a better picture on what businesses are doing to adjust to post-pandemic life, we spoke to Buzz Carter from DotcomBlinds to see how they’re adjusting with the return of the high street.
“After the Pandemic, we always new that we’d lose some of our gains as customers return to the Highstreet to do their shopping” Carter said, “But, as an online business we need to re-affirm to customer’s that shopping online is often more convenient and simple than shopping in person”
“Shopping online does have it’s advantages over in-person retail, so as an industry if we want to hold onto the increased online sales we’ve seen, we need to let consumers know that shopping online has various benefits, such as cheaper prices, delivery and in some cases exclusive products, as Blinds retailers, we make some of the widest blinds in the UK and we only sell them online”
So, the main takeaways here seem to be that online businesses need to show consumers why they should keep their shopping online, rather than just expecting them to stay online once other options become available to them.
Price is usually a great way to endear yourself to consumers and as online businesses more often than not have lower overheads than in-person retail stores, price is an area that E-Commerce businesses can be very competitive in order to retain customers.
General quality of life issues like delivery and ease of finding products is another great way to retain consumers in the E-Commerce space, but consumers need to know that their shopping experience can be easier for them online.
And of course, the amount of products you can buy online but not in-store is an angle that will help retain customers online, as retailers in niche markets have access to products that can be shipped from anywhere around the globe directly to the consumer, rather than consumers having to locate and visit different stores to find the products they’re looking for.
