It comes as no surprise that the current lockdown has fuelled a rise in ecommerce.
Retail sales were down 8.7% in March which was the steepest ever decline recorded. On the other hand, online sales grew by 49% which is absolutely huge.
To put it into perspective for you. According to internetretailing.net, online sales over the Black Friday and Cyber Monday period in 2019 grew by 16.4% year on year. That was the highest growth in online retailing since April 2018. This lockdown period has blown that previous highest period of growth completely out of the water.
Certain industries reported higher than 49% growth, they included the online grocery industry which saw a massive 110% growth.
Buy online and pick up in-store orders also grew in this period by over 200%.
PayPal accounted on May the 1st they had their largest-ever single day of transactions in their history. In April they had a record 7.4 million new customers and they are expecting this figure to continue to grow throughout May and into June.
As we head towards the end of May, and with some sources saying that there is looking to be an ease on the current lockdown rules, the question is, what will happen with ecommerce?
Will the use of ecommerce continue to grow as people continue to stay at home and shield? Or will shops reopening see people revert back to bricks and mortar stores? Has the lockdown built new habits for online shopping which people will continue with ongoing?
No one knows the outcome at the moment.
What is key from this whole lockdown is the importance of being able to operate online. If you have not been able to operate online in the recent weeks due to the nature of your business and the resources that you have to hand then creating a new strategy to enable your business to operate online ongoing will be key.
If you want to discuss your online offering in-depth and see what is on offer to help move your business online to help protect it in the future, then contact the team here at Digital Nachos today.
All comments regarding Coronavirus (Covid-19) and restrictions on business operating in the UK are correct at the time the blog was posted. Please refer to current restrictions in your area to guide you in your response to Coronavirus.
Published: 18th May 2020