E-commerce has been supercharged by covid-19…

As global leadership teams face unprecedented uncertainty, many are seeking to evaluate how their business needs to adapt today to the world that will emerge following the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.  As consumers have been unable to leave their homes due to containment measures—certain shopping locations have closed, and shopping at some locations has become time consuming and challenging due to social distancing measures—consumers globally have turned to e-commerce as an alternative.

…But the picture is more complicated than it seems

Companies are evaluating how to most effectively invest in their e-commerce channel given its rapid acceleration. While many firms had already invested in building an omni-channel presence, COVID-19 is likely to accelerate the need to be present and effective online as well as consumers’—and in some cases, B2B customers’—shifts toward e-commerce adoption. Companies need to consider not only the current shifts, prompted by lockdowns, but what the new normal is going to look like, in which geographies and channels their resources are best invested, and how to ensure they are accurately balancing their offline and online channels for a world post-lockdowns.

A four-step process for evaluating e-commerce decisions in the context of COVID-19

While the nature of the COVID-19 disruption calls for rapid decisions, experimentation, and breaking with standard processes in favor of rapid execution, companies are investing significant resources in their e-commerce presence and are likely to continue to do so even in the coming months and as the lockdowns are lifted. Companies should follow a rigorous process for evaluating factors that affect how they should make e-commerce investments.

This research provides food for thought on e-commerce evolution as a result of COVID-19 and an examination of different e-commerce route-to-market options that companies can consider as part of their investments in the channel. For more information, or to purchase a single copy of the report, please contact us.

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