It is safe to say that this year has been like no other from personal life to murder Hornet and wildfires in our beautiful state, is it almost over? 

The global COVID-19 pandemic has been one for the books from quarantine to a coin shortage and many industries and businesses struggling to keep up with the shut-downs and openings of cities and states. 

The most common reaction to the stress of COVID-19 has been a shift in consumer’s online purchasing and Internet habits. Many companies were caught off guard with sudden shutdowns and their supply chain systems completely changed due to international shutdowns. 

While restaurants were struggling to keep up with their online orders, brick and mortar storefronts without a strong online presence were scrambling to make up for the lack of foot traffic. 

Even after this pandemic is over, COVID 19 effect on ecommerce will continue to be felt with 26 percent of consumers still wanting to purchase online, utilize a contactless pick up and continue with their digital lives. 

This is how quarantine and stay-at-home orders have affected the e-commerce industry and what COVID 19 ecommerce continues to look like. 

How isolation affected e-commerce 

At the beginning of the pandemic, quarantine and stay-at-home orders were mandated throughout cities and states in the United States. The first thing to understand is panic purchasing. Since ancient times, panic buying and purchasing have been part of every culture and its people in some form or another. 

While it might appear different between countries, cultures and socioeconomic statuses, one thing is clear, pandemic and natural disasters bring out the panic shopper in all of us. This has to do with psychological factors that trigger the brain that tends to trigger panic buying or hoarding behaviors. This is in defense to control a situation that might feel as if we have no control over. 

On top of this, with supply chains in the midst of figuring out international chains and a lack of their own supplies, this has caused a shortage or lack of products that once lined the grocery shelves. 

This means consumers quickly turned to the Internet to find those missing products, and as their stockpile slowly dwindled, they continued to make sure they didn’t run out of products. It is still difficult to purchase disinfecting wipes and toilet paper most days and it has been almost eight months. 

With most of the United States in isolation while during quarantine, the need to control the situation with shopping only increased. The feeling when you get a package from Amazon was a feeling most look forward to. 

Online spending grew over 30 percent for the first six months of COVID-19 which means the online retail industry grossed over $347 billion from our isolation and COVID-19 shopping habits. 

With this in mind, COVID 19 ecommerce transformed the e-commerce industry overnight by catapulting it five years ahead of its predicted timeframe. This was supposed to take five years to escalate but happened in six months. 

Improving the digital experience 

This left companies no choice but to finally implement all of their digital strategies that have been on the table for years or even months. During a global pandemic, no one was really sure what to market or what would happen because nothing like this had ever happened during the Internet days. Sure, the Spanish Flu happened, but there was no TikTok, Amazon or even cell phones back then. (Can you imagine how horrible that was.)

With the competition already fierce before COVID-19, COVID 19 effect on ecommerce only proves that companies cannot assume that their company will forever thrive on their storefront. This means that websites need to be modern, provide positive customer experience and stay competitive for consumers all over the world. 

Read our blog on “Marketing in 2020: Where does a company begin?” to get started on how to improve the digital experience for consumers during COVID-19 and after because this will change the way we shop forever.