COVID-19 and its Impact on E-Commerce

​By Vera Maslennikova, Amazon Appeal Consultant

I hope, you will forgive me if I start with a very cliché statement: coronavirus has changed the lives of all people in the world. The epidemic has seriously altered the typical lifestyle of all of us and these economic changes will have a medium-and long-term impact on consumer habits not just in the States but also all over the world.

There is no reason to list the affected industries: restaurants, hotels, theaters, private stores – these are just the segments that lie on the surface, but there are so many other businesses that had to shut their doors to customers. 

​Fortunately, many of them found their way to save the business and sell online. And the customer has found his way too. Even those who never shopped online, or who practiced it rarely, had to turn to online shopping for many reasons. We simply didn’t have any other way: buying what was necessary was impossible anywhere else. A book, a kitchen aid, electronic gadget, sports equipment.

From the beginning of the lockdown, there were industries that struggled with awful decline, and despite the cruelty of this statement, online shopping was experiencing the highest wave of sales growth and will strive to increase its results as long as the favorable environment persists. E-commerce was the segment of the industry which received the most benefits from people who were locked away in their homes. And it was a mutual benefit.
The daily increase in sales in almost all areas shows, that more and more consumers are turning to e-Commerce as to a usual way to go to the store. And if at the very beginning of the pandemic, there was a jump in sales exclusively in the health sector (masks, gloves, sanitizers), as well as vitamins and nutraceuticals. Then, over time, people needed to buy things that they needed for their daily life. Being forced to stay at home, we began to buy more products for our hobbies, for home, for sports, in order to keep ourselves in good shape.

Before the pandemic, I personally never used to buy anything online, as I felt, that I needed to touch the product and see with my own eyes what before I buy it.   Then, for the first time I used online shopping to buy merchandise and for the first time experienced, that I saved my time that I would have wasted going to the store, and everything was delivered directly to my door. Easy? Yes!

Fears that people face about shopping online are disappearing: sharing your credit card information no longer seems frightening, constant work on catching scammers increases confidence among customers. The online customer is treated as a jewel nowadays throughout all online stores, especially Amazon, the largest e-commerce platform in the United States.

And, as the threat of the epidemic gradually decreases, the question arises whether consumers will return to their old habits, having experienced the relative ease and convenience of shopping on the Internet?

The situation with the lockdown seems to have caused an acceleration in the movement towards online sales. The outbreak may well have prompted someone who had previously visited a local vitamin, car, or  food store to turn to online resources. And, if the e-Commerce experience has been successful, there is nothing to stop that person from continuing to use Internet technology to purchase these products again in the future, especially when e-commerce platforms are investing heavily in creating a positive online shopping experience designed to retain users.

Online shopping is not necessary right now, as retail stores are once again open, but having realized the convenience of e-commerce and being using it for a specific period, myself and many more people understand, that it changes our lifestyle. There is no need to go to the market for groceries after work, as you can buy everything online while you are in a traffic jam and everything will be delivered to your door. Online shopping frees up your time for more interesting and important activities.  The worldwide  lockdown simply showed us its benefits.  At least there was one good thing that came out of it.