The pandemic caused by the global spread of COVID-19 contributed to multiple changes in all spheres of people’s lives. In particular, due to limitations connected with mobility and in-person activities, individuals could not visit traditional shops as usual. At the same time, affected by multiple pandemic-related restrictions, businesses were forced to turn to e-commerce sales channels for survival (International Trade Administration, n.d.). However, according to Michele Romanov, the co-founder and chief executive officer of Clearbanc, a company that provides financial support for online retail e-commerce startups, the pandemic substantially stimulated the development of the e-commerce industry. In particular, the percentage of e-commerce sales went from 14% to 30% in ten months since the beginning of the pandemic, and this growth is equal to the period of ten years (Yahoo Finance, 2020). In addition, according to Romanov, the November 2020 “Black Friday” was unusual due to a large number of small businesses that won for the first time due to their operation in the sphere of e-commerce during the lockdown.
It goes without saying that people’s necessity to adapt to pandemic-related restrictions led to the rapid development of the e-commerce market. However, in the years to come, Romanov did not expect to see the same level of growth as the situation had stabilized. Nevertheless, she stated that e-commerce would continue to expand, even if not as impetuously as before. The pandemic led to changes in customer habits – in other words, people got used to purchasing online, and their experience would contribute to the development of e-commerce in the future.
In addition, in the wake of the pandemic, advertising by smaller e-commerce companies has substantially changed as well, especially in relation to the platforms used. Thus, according to Romanov, Facebook has lost its popularity among small independent businesses due to its aggressive advertising policies, while Google Ads was up over 52% (Yahoo Finance, 2020). Moreover, small companies started to use TikTok in order to target young gen Z customers.
References
International Trade Administration. (n.d.). Impact of COVID pandemic on eCommerce. International Trade Administration. Web.
Yahoo Finance. (2020). Coronavirus pandemic sparks 10 years of eCommerce growth [Video]. YouTube. Web.