Shop closures and a dramatic rise in online sales

When countries worldwide embraced social distancing measures, the brick and mortar shopping experienced a natural decline in sales. As little as under 20% of all retail sales were made online before the whole world went into the lockdown.

Since the beginning of March and the introduction of COVID-19-related restrictions, online sales have dramatically increased, making ecommerce more important than ever before. Online retail has seen an astonishing 74% increase in March in average transaction volumes versus last year, according to the data collected by ACI Worldwide.

Do more people continue to shop online?

Enforcing many COVID-19-related restrictions, including the closure of many non-essential shops meant one thing: buyers worldwide turned to online shopping to purchase products they would have otherwise bought in person. Hence the dramatic ecommerce increase.

Does the ecommerce increase continue? Now that the lockdown is being lifted?

Even though governments around the world are beginning to loosen restrictions and many physical shops are starting to reopen, the latest data suggest that the ecommerce boom will be a continued trend, stretching far longer than the strict lockdown period. It also suggests that high street retail might take longer to recover or go back to the pre-COVID-19 levels.

A study conducted by Kantar reveals that 60% of consumers from Europe’s three largest ecommerce markets (France, Germany, and the UK), will continue to purchase online as much as they do now even after the pandemic is over. Similar research, conducted by Nielsen across 11 Asian markets revealed that the rise in online shopping during the coronavirus outbreak is likely to carry on. As online buyers are planning to keep purchasing products such as cosmetics, clothing, or electronics on online marketplaces even after the pandemic has passed.

Source: Nielsen survey (March 2020) – Impact of COVID-19 on Consumer Behaviour

This means that the shift towards the ‘online first’ model is accelerating and highlights a great opportunity for marketplace sellers, as consumers are forming new shopping habits in the wake of the pandemic.

Cross-border ecommerce & East Asian markets

Compared to the same period the previous year, the YTD mid-April 2020 data revealed an average increase of 11% of cross-border commerce across all markets globally.

Source: Global-e, Asian markets: Cross-border ecommerce trend.

The East Asian markets, one of the first hit by the global pandemic, experienced a large decrease in sales in January and February, as they battled increasing numbers of COVID-19 infections and casualties. Meanwhile, their sales have rebounded to the level of shares seen in December 2019, just before the pandemic hit.

Great opportunity for eBay sellers

The coronavirus spread from a regional outbreak to virtually all the countries worldwide. While mid-May many countries and markets are still in the grips of the pandemic, others are seeing their way through to recovery.

It is visible that throughout the pandemic there is a general uplift in ecommerce sales. However, the consumer behavior seems to be different, depending on the pandemic stage the market is at. That’s why marketplace and online sellers who promote their products across various international markets were able to balance their sales level and in many cases even increase them.

By introducing two international markets; Hong Kong with 5.2m shoppers and €5.3bn ecommerce revenue, as well as Singapore with 4.4m online buyers and €3.2b ecommerce revenue Webinterpret is not only giving marketplace sellers an opportunity to tap into leading East Asian ecommerce markets. But also helps them diversify their market portfolio and better manage potential market volatility. Selling online to various markets worldwide enables sellers to spread their risk in a more sustainable way. Rather than only concentrating on their domestic market or a small number of key international markets.

Related Posts:

Selling luxury fashion on eBay: everything you need to know

What are Product Identifiers (GTIN, UPC, EAN, MPN) on eBay?

Increase sales with lower eBay Promoted Listings costs