Impact of lockdown on e-commerce Industry

I don’t believe it’s too early to say that the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic will likely be one of the defining events of 2020, and that it will have implications that last well into the decade.

The situation is quickly evolving. The measure of people deemed safe to gather in a single place has dwindled from thousands, to hundreds, to ten. Restaurants, bars, movie theaters, and exercise centers in many significant cities are closing down. Meanwhile numerous office workers are confronting new challenges of working remotely all day.

Essentially, people are dealing with the realities of our interconnected world and that it is so hard to temporarily separate those connections to others. To say that we are living in unprecedented times feels like an understatement.

One of the responses we’ve seen to how people are moving toward this period of isolation and uncertainty is in huge overnight changes to their shopping behaviors. From mass purchasing to online shopping, people are changing what they’re purchasing, when, and how.

As more cities are going under lockdowns, nonessential businesses are being ordered to close, and customers are generally dodging public places. Restricting looking for everything except necessary essentials is becoming a new typical. Brands are adjusting and be flexible to meet evolving needs.

This resource is intended to provide information with the goal that you can make the best decisions for your image during uncertain times. We’ve gathered some realities and numbers around how behaviors are changing, what items people are purchasing, and what industries are feeling the strain to help you determine what choices you can make for your business.

As news of COVID-19 spread and as it was formally declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization, people responded by loading up. They purchased out medical supplies like hand sanitizer and veils and household essentials like toilet paper and bread. Soon, both blocks and concrete and online stores were battling to keep up with demand, and price gouging for supplies became widespread.

People respond to crises in an unexpected way. When faced with an uncertain, dangerous situation over which we have no control, we tend to attempt whatever we can to feel like we have some control.

Paul Marsden, a consumer therapist at the University of the Arts London was quoted by CNBC as saying: “Frenzy purchasing can be understood as playing to our three fundamental brain research needs.” These needs are autonomy (or the need to feel in control of your actions), relatedness (the need to feel that we are planning something for benefit our families), and competence (the need to feel like shrewd shoppers settling on the correct choice).

These mental components are the same reasons “retail therapy” is a response to various types of personal crises; however, during a pandemic there are added layers.

One is that the worldwide spread of COVID-19 has been accompanied by a ton of uncertainty and on occasion contradictory information. When people are hearing differing advice from multiple sources, they have a greater sense to over-, rather than under-, prepare.Visit here to know How lockdown impacted the world of e-commerce.

Secondly, there is the group mentality. Seeing other people purchasing up the shelves and afterward seeing a shortage of necessary items validates the decision to load up. Nobody needs to be left behind with no resources.

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