It has been more than 3 weeks since the Movement Control Order was announced, and it is clear that the COVID-19 pandemic has shaken up businesses and consumer behaviour on an enormous scale. In line with the MCO, all physical and non-essential retail stores were asked to cease operation until further notice and this had resulted in many businesses feeling agitated for the loss of their revenues.
With the temporary closure of all physical retail stores, how can a business make adaptable profit, enough to keep the business afloat? For on-site businesses, this will be exceptionally difficult as their only means for sales are through their physical stores.
Shifting your business online.
As a business owner you would ask if it is worth having an online e-commerce platform. The answer is DEFINITELY! There is certainly a need to shift your sales channel mix to adapt to uncertain circumstances, and having an e-commerce for your products/services would be beneficial especially in times like these.
Let’s take a look at some facts, as consumers can no longer shop offline, their buying behaviour have now switched to online and are using e-commerce platforms more frequently. Based on a survey that we have carried out during the MCO, we found that 38.1% of consumers range from age 30-39, another 38.1% belong to the age range of 40-49 and 19% belong to the age range of 18-29.
Age range of consumers that were surveyed during MCO
The results of our survey also shows that 33% of consumers are browsing on Google in search for online essentials, 28% rely on Grab be it to pay bills or to purchase essentials, and 9.5% search for online groceries, food delivery and essential services on Facebook.
Groceries, Delivery Orders and Essential Services that are searched online
Our survey results show that 90% consumers shop online during this MCO period of which 57.1% shop once a week, 23.8% shop twice a week and 9.5% shop more than twice a week. It is clear that the number of online purchases are significantly increasing.
Frequency of shopping online for groceries during MCO
Setting up an e-commerce platform for your business does not only help you during this difficult time, but it also helps you and your business to further elevate sales as online shopping is expected to grow at a great pace in the coming years. Once this pandemic is over and we hope that it will be soon, it is highly likely that consumer behaviours of purchasing online still remain, that way having an e-commerce for your company serves you great purpose as your services and products appeal to the great online consumer market. Most importantly, your business will be ever ready for future emergency situations such as the COVID-19, you would still have a source of income from your e-commerce platform.
Do you need help in setting up the e-commerce segment for your business? Look no further, as we are able to help. Leave us an email at engage@purpose-built.com.my and we’ll be in touch soon. ☺
Related articles you might like
