The onset of COVID-19 has felt like the wild, wild west in just about every aspect of business (and life, for that matter). There’s no telling what the future will hold, but for right now, the lockdown has caused consumers to shift their spending over to eCommerce considerably.
While many consumers were choosing to shop online before the coronavirus hit, the pandemic forced others to switch to online purchasing seemingly overnight. Customers who were used to buying in stores were suddenly plunged into the eCommerce world for the first time, and now, it’s possible that many of them won’t go back.
eCommerce Is Growing
Ever since lockdown, eCommerce sales have seen a spike. One study showed that 21% of people increased online shopping as compared to before the pandemic.
Unsurprisingly, businesses that sold essential goods saw the highest and most immediate increase. Online grocery sales, for example, skyrocketed during March and April. However, sales increased in other eCommerce categories as well.
Electronics sales were up for the first time in years as shoppers scrambled to set up their home offices. Computer prices surged as the demand put pressure on the supply chain. With fewer reasons to leave home, lifestyle items like leisure apparel and beer and wine accessories also grew.
What Will The Reopening Of Stores Mean For eCommerce?
Stores are slowly beginning to re-open, but fear and uncertainty are still keeping many people at home. It’s hard to know when, or if, this will shift, and the market will return to in-person shopping.
Will in-stores sales increase as customers venture back out? Maybe. But it’s also possible that many of those newly converted eCommerce customers won’t want to give up the convenience and safety of shopping from home, and the online marketplace will continue to grow.
What Does This Mean For Your eCommerce Business?
Retention will become really important in the coming months. Many of you are seeing an increase in new customers and sales, and converting visitors to customers may have been easier over the past few months than it ever was before.
Now, you have to keep it that way. Keep those customers alive and engaged in your business even when they are allowed back into stores. Make sure your user experience is better than your competitors and that your website is optimized.
Your sales might be booming through this eCommerce surge and you might not have the bandwidth to think through any of this right now. That’s why we offer our site design package, which provides an all-inclusive service to craft your site into an organized, efficient, and well-designed eCommerce site.
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