The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the hierarchy of the retail industry across the globe, and e-commerce came out on top. Lockdowns saw physical retail stores closing their doors and consumers flock online to buy products that could no longer be bought by leaving their homes.
Cohen Branden Chorabik, co-founder and CMO of Smart FBA, a company that helps e-commerce retailers sell big-name brands on Amazon, explores how e-commerce has played a pivotal role throughout the pandemic.
It became essential
Online shopping could have once been considered a pastime, where virtual window shopping was a way to imagine future purchases from the comfort of your own home. Flash forward to the height of the pandemic where e-commerce and our ability to buy needed items without leaving home became essential.
Chorabik expands on this seismic shift in the retail business, saying, “Almost overnight, e-commerce retailers experienced an upsurge in customers that greatly outperformed their brick-and-mortar retail competitors.”
It rescued the economy
The pandemic’s effect on the American economy has been compared to the fallout of The Great Depression when stocks and incomes plummeted. Thankfully, e-commerce was able to swoop in and elevate the economy from the depths of despair. E-commerce provided a way for many businesses to continue trading, and it also injected the American economy with an economic boost, as new companies popped up to meet new demands that the pandemic created.
“History proves that if this pandemic had hit us in a time before e-commerce was possible, then the effect on our economy would have been even more devastating,” Chorabik explains.
It has created a brighter future
The Covid-19 pandemic and its continuing effects have made it difficult to feel hopeful, but thankfully, e-commerce has offered a ray of hope for our economic future.
Existing businesses know that they can continue to adapt to the digital retail space, and aspiring business owners can see a future in an e-commerce-based business.
“It feels easier to look toward a brighter future knowing that e-commerce is a blossoming business that is set to grow and grow,” Chorabik says.
Chorabik believes in the power of e-commerce, and he believes it is a power that will prove to be one of the few saving graces amidst this pandemic.
