All changes touch more or less every niche in one way or another. The effects of Coronavirus on e-commerce are not an exception. There is a bright side for some people though. Online retailers will most likely see a growth in sales. The only question is how big will the growth be and how can you deal with it. In this article, we will show you the best way to adapt to this higher demand quickly.
Retail business
Let’s start with stores where we can physically touch items before buying – retail businesses. In this part of the sales ecosystem, sales skyrocketed. Since Coronavirus started spreading worldwide, suddenly most people decided to stock their homes with necessary items. Honestly, not all of those items look so necessary, since toilet paper became one of the most popular things.
The problem is that large outlets felt the demand only at the very beginning of this crisis because along with the virus spreading people started to avoid leaving their homes. With this in mind, it is evident that the virus affects sales and sellers, despite the kind of store they own – online or physical.
E-commerce, on the contrary, allows you to get everything you need without going out of your home. This raises our main question – how does Coronavirus impact e-commerce?
E-commerce and Coronavirus
- How does Coronavirus affect e-commerce?
- Which businesses will feel the biggest change?
- How to deal with increased sales?
How does coronavirus affect e-commerce?
As you should already know, because of the rapidly spreading Coronavirus, it is highly recommended to stay at home, which means that people start searching for new activities. Not to mention the need for keeping stocked up on food and other basic supplies.
As a result, your audience is now spending most of their time at home, near the computer. What does this mean to you as an online seller? If you do everything right, it can be a win-win situation for both you and your customer. You, as a seller, have a demand for your products and can sell them, and your customer will be more than happy to get everything they need straight to their home.
Your audience is now spending most of their time at home, near the computer.
All this might sound fine, but we haven’t covered one major point yet – most companies won’t be able to keep up with the growing demand. For instance, one of your products usually gets about 100 orders per month, but now there could be thousands of new customers that need it. Imagine that you have four online stores and two employees that manage them – one takes care of sales, and another one is in charge of shipping and stocking. Then, if your sales suddenly grow ten or hundred times (which is absolutely possible), you won’t be able to keep up with the same resources that were previously enough. You will need to find a new way to handle it faster and more efficiently.
If your sales suddenly grow ten or hundred times (which is absolutely possible), you won’t be able to keep up with the same resources that were previously enough.
We can say that Coronavirus affects e-commerce, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the effect will be positive. If your business can keep up with the high demand, then you will probably succeed during this time. On the other hand, if you won’t take any precaution to handle all the new customers your business won’t survive. During this stage, you need to reinforce your business management strategy and come up with a plan that will help you keep up with the increased workload.
Which businesses feel the biggest change?
It is already evident that Coronavirus touches the whole e-commerce market, but it is still interesting which niches are trending now? Or should I say, which products have sellers struggling the most due to skyrocketing sales?
- Food supply
The need for food is a primary need during the isolation period, so, logically, online food supply companies are facing the most significant demand. These companies have to figure out efficient ways to manage their stock and deliveries.
- Disinfectants and Sanitizers
The demand for this type of products is now tremendous, and it is essential to mention that customers are expecting to get their order as fast as possible. That is why it is crucial to keep your wares stocked up and find the best shipping management option.
- Face masks
Another trending commodity is face masks. Even though not everybody thinks that it could stop you from getting this virus, it is confirmed that it keeps you from spreading it. Either way, the face mask deficit is a real thing, and customers are craving for these items. Sellers who sell this product have to make sure that they have enough inventory and won’t oversell it.
How to deal with increased sales?
When the demand for the product that you sell starts to grow, the most important thing is to keep up with that growing demand. Which, in other words, means that you need to be attentive with your stock.
The most important thing is to keep up with that growing demand.
Rapidly changing stock levels increase the risk of overselling. Accidentally running out of stock can cost you a fortune, during this precious time. People need certain products as soon as possible, so you need to use the best delivery options.
Also, you need to pay attention to your orders, avoid any possible errors, because you won’t have time to correct them or resend your order. To sum up, you quickly need a solution to improve your inventory, shipping and order management.
You quickly need a solution to improve your inventory, shipping and order management.
The easiest way to do it is to find cost-efficient software that could be easy to set up and start using it as soon as possible. Our suggestion is Multiorders – software that can automate order fulfilment for the best price. A portion of our new clients began to use the software just now, because they were unable to control their sales growth. Let’s see how the software helps.
- Inventory management
- Restocking
- Stock updates
- Shipping solution
- Inventory management
Connect all your online stores in a single place and automate inventory management! Multiorders has integrations with all of the most popular sales channels, which allows you to add all your current and future stores. Sync your inventories and modify your stock by changing price and quantities.
- Restocking
Automate most of your restocking process – assign suppliers and reorder points to each product and create purchase orders in just one click. Email it to your supplier and once your products arrive, update stock levels for all of them in a single click. It is extremely important to streamline the restocking process when facing increased demand and Multiorders does most of the work for you.
- Stock updates
Multiorders automatically reduces your stock after each sale. It means, when you sell an item, the inventory is automatically updated in all connected sales channels. Eliminate manual stock updating and avoid any potential confusion.
- Shipping solution
Multiorders integrates with all of the most popular shipping carriers and allows you to fulfil your orders with any of them. It saves you a lot of time by syncing all order details into the system and even has a bulk shipment option. Save your time by selecting all the required orders and shipping them with a few clicks!
