"The first half of 2020 has been eventful for ecommerce. Of course technical innovation has progressed: Shopify launched a marketplace, Google relaunched organic product listings, Facebook introduced ‘shops’, and thousands of other changes. But much of the first half of 2020 was shaped by a disease named after 2019.
The effects of ‘SARS2’ on ecommerce are tough to overstate. Tens of thousands of businesses sold online for the first time. Millions of transactions that would normally have taken place in stores shifted online. Ecommerce went from ‘high priority’ for most retail businesses to ‘the priority’.
Some categories of retail jumped from being 10-20% online, to 100% online.
Entire countries’ retail engines were kept ticking over, thanks to the ability to buy online.
Some areas of ecommerce have struggled – particularly in some areas of fashion, travel, events.
For many retailers, the ecommerce channel has allowed them to thrive. From DIY stores, to home exercise businesses, right through to companies like Tesco, who were up more than 90% for ecommerce sales in May 2020 vs the prior year.
As we move into the second half of the year, it’s likely more of us will be shopping in stores once again; more of us will go back to working at least part of the time in offices; some of us may be tightening our belts. But it is unlikely that ecommerce will go back to the level it was at prior to March 2020.
This post examines seven areas where retailers and ecommerce companies can add focus, in order to succeed in the second half of the year."
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