In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic.

Now more than two years have passed and it is good to look back at what changes were noticeable in e-commerce and management and what the lasting effects of the pandemic are on both areas.

The years of COVID changed the buying and selling behavior of both consumers and businesses. For many consumers, online shopping became the new normal. The changed way of life also made companies look for new business outlets. Merchants accelerated the transformation of their sales channels and improved their digital and logistics capabilities.

The impact of the pandemic on the mindset of e-merchants

The blue dream of how it is possible to earn money easily on the internet is probably a thing of the past today. The threshold has been raised for both existing and new entrants, and serious entrepreneurs know that neither initial nor follow-up investments should be underestimated. Just as consumers’ trust in online shopping has grown, so have the demands on the quality of the technical side, particularly loading speed and ease of use. And technologies and software services are also developing rapidly. But all this is certainly not all thanks to COVID-19.

What to expect next?

Security measures must be increasingly considered from the point of view of both the customer and the business. A growing amount of money has flowed into e-commerce, and with it, the frequency and sophistication of cyber-attacks has skyrocketed in recent years. In this constant game of cat and mouse, where stores are constantly upgrading technologies to stay competitive, cybercriminals are honing their skills and looking for new vulnerabilities to exploit.

The world of e-commerce adapts according to consumer behavior. The growing trend of “buy now, pay later” is a good example because it makes shopping accessible to the consumer. Although the service fee is paid by the merchant, he also wins, because offering a payment option in the online store significantly increases conversions.

The channels of communication with the customer are increasingly being combined into one coherent system. Many customers already expect that communication with a company is tailored to their habits and needs. Personalization requires significant resources and expertise in data collection and analysis. But it is worth it, because it directly affects sales success and increases all performance indicators of the online store.

Is the client the king?

Yes. There is only one market in the world and it is in the palm of our hands every day: the smartphone. We have one-click access to hundreds of stores worldwide. Each of us can decide whether to buy from AliExpress, the world’s largest e-store, Estonian Hansapost, a retail chain or a small marketing company. These are players of completely different sizes who can look amazingly equal in digital transactions. The customer therefore has complete freedom of choice to decide where he buys from.

More e-shops than before

The traditional marketing model was that manufacturers made the product, marketing agencies created the brand, and then merchants sold. But now brands are increasingly also shops. They want to have a customer and sell products directly, without intermediaries, so a strong trend towards D2C (Direct to Consumers) can be noticed.

Thanks to the global digital dimension, it is also possible to quickly launch completely web-based brands. If you invest properly in marketing, then you can get feedback from the market in a very short time whether the product is successful or not. In the best case scenario, such companies grow rapidly, as the Swedes’ Happy Socks brand did, for example.

B2B e-commerce has also shown strong growth, because merchants have realized that the new generation of decision makers does not want to order goods using excel tables. A B2B customer expects at least the same shopping convenience as a B2C customer. I believe that in the future, ease of use and the speed of making a transaction will be even more important for a business client, because for them, saving time will become a competitive advantage.

Winning time for your customers becomes a strong competitive advantage. If the business customer’s regular purchase orders are automated, the purchasing manager simply has to correct the quantities of goods received by automated mail and confirm the order easily. If B2B companies realize this, there will be a big change in the industry.

Price and its optimization

There is a lot of discussion about price and delivery speed. While these are crucial factors, they are typically the main competitive advantages of the industry giants.

There is actually a market for both strategies. For example, 39% of Amazon’s core customers say they order everyday goods from Amazon, but when they want to buy something special with emotional value, they shop at small e-boutiques. They are also kinder with reviews there.

Physical and e-stores do not necessarily have to be contrasted. People have different needs and situations that entrepreneurs need to understand more thoroughly. There are many good examples where the owners themselves do their best to make the customer feel special, but as the business grows, there are often places where mistakes or bottlenecks occur. Here, e-commerce is no different from other sectors and you have to contribute to the team.

Thoughts for e-commerce business leaders

Focus must be on the customer and their changing needs. What do they want? How can you engage with them and maintain their loyalty? A company must adapt to its consumer.

It is also important to regularly contemplate the future. You don’t always have to act on every thought, but it’s worth mapping out different future scenarios. Think about how to navigate uncharted markets, leverage new technologies, and identify innovative approaches that can make you more successful than your competitors. Cultivating this habit of strategic thinking enables you to respond more quickly when opportunities arise.

Perhaps even most important is supporting your team and contributing to the culture. If your team is strong together, namely open, trusting and creative, then they are able to adapt and grow together. This is a huge advantage.

The development of e-channels should be seen as an investment, not as an expense. There are many reasons to devote time and resources to the development of a proper e-channel.

A cheap e-shop can bring a business loss rather than a benefit to the company. In commerce, the e-shop is the biggest image shaper. From this, customers subconsciously read how much you care about them. In addition to reputational damage, lost revenue and market share lost to a competitor should be considered.

I recommend giving development partners more opportunities to experiment and try new approaches, because development only happens outside the comfort zone.

Employees and talent in today’s e-commerce

A changing market requires a completely new kind of commercial culture, new management models and new skills. Today’s commerce needs growth hackers, service designers, UX developers, data analysts, understanding customer behavior, and marketing automatizers. But since many of these subjects cannot be studied at university, the best way to start is at the very grassroots level, either in a help desk or a junior level technical role.

The role of development partners in a fast-growing sector

When creating any technical solution, it is very important to have an understanding of the business and its need. The more expensive the development work, the less entrepreneurs can afford to spend money on something that does not create value for them. Therefore, the development partner of the future, especially in the field of e-commerce, is also a business developer and a business consultant.

Technology is a means, not an end. However, success is guaranteed by the business model and the smooth functioning of the entire process.

In the summer, a longer article was published in the magazine Director.