E-commerce VOL II: To Infinity... and Beyond!
E-commerce VOL II: To Infinity and Beyond!
In a difficult year, both for society and economy, e-commerce strongly emerged to sustain multiple businesses in the hardest confinement months
It's been a few years since e-commerce became installed in society, with a good degree of acceptance right from the very beginning. However its growth, as many other fields, has experienced a great deal of a change in the last months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a context where society was staying at home, e-commerce became a lifeline for lots of different businesses, as many studies on the matter show.
Exponential growth due to the pandemic
As a consequence from the pandemic, e-commerce has experienced a remarkable growth, more than 30%, according to the "Global AD Trends: Covid-19 One Year On" report written by WARC. A figure with lots of meaning behind because, according to experts, e-commerce acceptance is such that even when the pandemic is over and we get back to our normal lives, e-commerce will stay and will stay as an important part of business. That's what they claim at Earnest Research, where thay say that 59% of the new clients Amzon got during the worst months of the pandemic will stay after everything is over.
In Spain, figures follow this line of though, reporting positive numbers and influencing the economy. In 2020, Spain has become the European country where e-commerce has grown the most and the third one in the world, with a growth of 68% according to statistical data by the European Office. Although the confinement had an important impact in the business sector, it also motivated business owners to take their chances on digital means, and in just six months e-commerce grew exponentially.
E-commerce was implemented a few years ago, but the crisis caused by the COVID has motivated multiple companies that until now had no worries about their digital situation, to take a step ahead taking advantage of e-commerce growth.
In addition, Spain has become the third country with more e-commerce growth in the world, with an outstanding increase of payment through smartphones, which has grown over 15%.
Regarding the type of consumption in e-commerce, most of the market is taken by physical products, bought by 91% of those who participated in the survey of the eCommerce Study 2020, carried out by Elogia and the IAB Spain, but the percentage of customers that purchase intangible products such as services increases in 51%. This same study classifies at the same time in the podium of most demanded products those related to entertainment and culture, technology and communications and groceries.
In case everything above was not enough and to prove that e-commerce will no doubt stay among us, the data of 2021 also prove to faithfully reflect the growth of this model. According to a study carried out by Astound Commerce, online sales in Sapin will grow a 24% in 2021, that means it is expected they will reach 45.000 millon euros.
A step ahead in digital transformation
In face of the difficulties the economy went through in 2020, the e-commerce model meant a lifeline for many businesses of all kinds of products and services.
In a country such as Spain, where there's a huge amount of small and medium-sized companies, this chance for digitalization right in the middle of one of the most serious crisis of the last decades has allowed multiple businesses not only to get by but also to work on a task they had left aside for years such as digitalization.
It's true that online sales had been implemented for years, but the crisis has made multiple businesses that until now had not particularly worried about their digital situation, to take a step ahead in joining the e-commerce trend.
Safe online payments
When e-commerce began to become extended, usually people did not trust payment methods, but it's been a while since that used to happen and online payments are very common now. However, and since it's better to be safe than sorry, from the Office of Security of the Internaut, the offer keypoins of advice to take all necessary precautions:
- Use a safe Internet connection, avoiding using public networks.
- Select online shops whose address starts by HTTPS and show a lock in the address bar, guaranteeing that the information is encrypted.
- Check the information the online shop provides about themselves.
- Keep your device ready for purchasing with the latest antivirus update.
- If you have doubts about the shop, it is advisable to avoid buying anything.
These might interest you...
