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| Report: Corona has accelerated the shift to e-commerce by about 5 years |
The latest data from IBM's US Retail Index shows that the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) COVID-19 outbreak has accelerated the transition from physical stores to digital shopping for nearly five years.
As a result, supermarkets are experiencing a significant decline. In the first quarter of 2020, sales of supermarkets and "non-essential" retailers were down 25%, and in the second quarter, sales were down an additional 75%.
The report shows that the number of supermarkets is expected to decrease by more than 60% over the course of the year. Meanwhile, e-commerce is expected to grow by about 20% in 2020.
The report found that the pandemic also helped improve the categories of goods that consumers consider essential. For example, as more consumers work from home and get an education, and government shutdowns lead to social isolation, the importance of clothing has diminished. However, revenue from other categories like groceries, alcohol and home décor increased by 12%, 16% and 14%, respectively.
The report indicated that supermarket retailers will need to focus faster on implementing features across multiple channels in order to remain competitive in the new environment. In particular, they need to route traffic to the store via services such as online shopping and pick-up from the store, and providing extensive in-store shipping services.
The growth in e-commerce due to the pandemic set high standards for what is now considered base growth. According to the second quarter of 2020 report released by the US Census Bureau, electronic retail sales in the United States reached $ 211.5 billion, up 31.8% from the first quarter and year-on-year increase of 44 5%. E-commerce also accounted for 16.1% of total retail sales in the second quarter, up from 11.8% in the first quarter of 2020.
As the IBM report aims to answer the Corona-driven question, how much is this online spending a temporary shift and how does it affect the long-term outlook? According to the report, the epidemic propelled the industry for nearly five years.