The Impact of Coronavirus on Digital Marketing Strategy
Mar 6, 2020
The beginning of 2020 saw the development of the Coronavirus, now known as COVID-19, which has impacted more than 80 countries worldwide. There is more traction towards online and mobile shopping for everyday necessities, as this epidemic has “forced” consumers to experience the convenience and make purchases through online channels, allowing for faster adoption of this medium.
The surge of e-commerce
South Korea’s supermarket chain, Lotte, is taking full advantage and seeing an increase in their online sales and transactions by consumers. Despite reporting an 11% slump in offline sales during the first week of January, their online sales reported a 51.4% increase between 27th January and 3rd February 20201. Such an increase in online sales gives a clear indication into how the buying behaviour of consumers is shifting away from physical stores to e-commerce platforms.
Given the sudden rise of online usage by consumers, e-commerce companies are making the most of the new trend by enhancing their UX/UI, for an easier and convenient experience to consumers, especially the ones who are new to this. There are several ways of improving customer experience with one of them being through constant testing and monitoring users, and how they respond to the interface. Observing analytics gathered from the platforms will allow companies to see which aspects work well and which need to be revamped. Companies should also focus on easing the customer journey from start to finish, without the need for massive data entry points2. Collecting the necessary information and streamlining the journey process, will allow for higher customer retention and improve the overall experience3.
New age of data cultivation
With the surge of online shopping, e-commerce companies should make full use of this opportunity of gathering large numbers of consumer data, and analyse behaviour and preferences, to provide a more personalised experience for online shoppers. Companies should leverage upon gathering big data to make better strategic decisions, along with improving the control of operational process4. This in return would allow e-commerce businesses to provide more personalised customer experience and push out promotional content to consumers with better targeting.
Keep an eye-out for trends
With the rise in opportunities, come challenges, where in companies need to be highly adaptive and develop plans to stay ahead of the game. With the paradigm shifting to e-commerce platforms, the level of competition increases as many companies scramble to push out adverts to consumers through the use of content marketing strategies. Understanding and analysing the current trends of consumer behaviour allows for companies to focus on targeted content, increasing the reach to the consumers, which in return increases their online sales. With most of the world using Google as the desired search results platform, companies should pay close attention to the specific key words that are currently “trending” and push content that utilises the keywords. For first timers, outsourcing such practises to digital marketing agencies will help them gain further insights and help leverage on expert knowledge.
Set-up e-shop platforms in a matter of days
With the current boom of digital usage, companies that have not invested nor have any online store presence are facing major challenges and setbacks. With physical stores being temporarily shut down due to lack of available staff and customers making purchases in-store, sales are on the decline5. This results in laying-off staff and incurring high costs. To avoid this, companies must start investing in and set-up their e-commerce platform as soon as possible.
There are agencies that cater to helping companies’ set-up their online shops within a matter of days. Ready-made templates are available for companies to leverage upon, build a presence and constantly update the e-shop to meet customer preferences. By doing this, it gives rise to healthy competition and allows for companies to cement their digital presence, which in return would pay dividends in the future.
Ready to go digital?
This current epidemic should serve as a wake-up call for many companies that have not yet invested in digital technologies nor have online platforms for consumers to access. It is imperative for companies to start their journey from offline to online to be better prepared to deal with any scenarios.
Contact our specialist from Regen8 on any digital marketing needs you have on Regen8@pccw.com.
1 https://insideretail.asia/2020/02/14/coronavirus-may-fundamentally-change-retail-across-asia/
2 https://blog.hubspot.com/agency/12-ways-to-improve-user-experience
3 https://rubygarage.org/blog/6-reasons-why-invest-in-ux/
4 https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/ecommerce-big-data/#the-benefits-of-using-big-data-in-ecommerce
5 https://insideretail.asia/2020/02/14/coronavirus-may-fundamentally-change-retail-across-asia/
