How Should the E-Commerce Sector Fight COVID-19?

Because of the coronavirus, the e-commerce sector is both winning and losing, depending on the segment. Sales have fallen for travel agencies, hotels and event companies that take online payments and for e-commerce companies selling luxury goods, while sales in other segments have risen significantly.

People staying at home have naturally started choosing mobile apps with mobile payment, such as Getir, Banabi and İsteGelsin, instead of going to the corner store. This has been good news for the food sector. Families with children are ordering more toys, card games and the like.

Gamers continue shopping online by buying games. Sales of books and video games are also expected to rise.

Thousands of companies that have switched to working from home have started buying productivity software online, such as webinar tools and SaaS applications.

1. Manage Your Business Remotely

To get through this period with as little damage as possible, e-commerce companies should first work productively remotely and fully embrace digital. We published 10 tips on this in our previous article. You can click below to read it.

10 Ways to Boost Productivity During the Coronavirus Pandemic

2. Show How You’re Fighting and Build Trust

You can share with customers the important decisions you’ve made about your team and shipping during the coronavirus period. In this sensitive time, every e-commerce business that looks after its team is more valuable to its customers. A good example is the practical solution from Getir founder Nazım Salur showing how they adapted to the situation.

The “Leave Order at Door” feature is now available for iPhone users too. Please update your apps. @getir pic.twitter.com/8ixPLTqeQT

— Nazım Salur (@NazimSalur) March 17, 2020

Let customers know on your website and social media how you’re handling this difficult coronavirus period. Apart from logistics and the warehouse, e-commerce can be managed from home; even a call center can be run from home in some form. But the decisions you make about logistics and the warehouse will have a positive effect on customers and prospects. These might include disinfectants used by staff who handle and ship products, or disinfecting the warehouse.

3. Get Help From Your Company Doctor

E-commerce companies required to have a company doctor can share with customers, and put into practice, the decisions they make with the doctor’s help. If you don’t have a company doctor, you can work with a doctor or knowledgeable health professional as a consultant and show that you’re managing the situation.

This way, you can communicate the measures you’ve taken in delivery and within the company, and customers can order from you with peace of mind.

4. Stay in Touch With Customers Through New Content

You can keep customers informed by staying in touch through bulk email or your digital channels. In this difficult period, you can come up with ideas that help customers feel better and turn them into digital content such as videos, GIFs, blog posts and images.

Remember, your audience is going through the same stress and difficulties as you. As long as it’s not too far from your industry, you can create content that helps your audience feel better.

For example, an e-commerce company selling health products could explain how to use them more effectively, while one selling clothing could talk about how, and at what temperature, clothes should be washed during the coronavirus period.

5. Diversify Your Products

Since people will spend a lot of time at home during the coronavirus period and families will spend more time together, you can diversify the products you sell online.

If you sell toys, you could develop bundles such as math sets or coding sets. I believe every sector has a product group that can adapt to this period. The health sector could create a family health kit, while other sectors could run promotions with free disinfectant or free shipping.

Hoping you get through this period as soon as possible, take good care of yourselves.