The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a global economic crisis that affected almost all aspects of everyone’s life. But luckily, with approximately 2.14 billion people or 27.6 % of the world’s population expected to buy goods and services online, the digitalization of commerce has helped consumers during the pandemic.
Here are the five ways digitalization has ushered an era of convenience for consumers, especially during the pandemic.
Third-party Demand and Supply
As more and more people grow accustomed to living comfortably, the demand for convenient consuming increases exponentially. People do and get almost everything online nowadays. Within the decade, multiple third-party business providers have gone digital. From online food delivery services to home maintenance services, apps like Foodpanda and Taskrabbit have been developed to help connect both entrepreneurs and customers.
By going to wholesale platforms like bannersolutions.com, you can quickly get a hold of more than 100 hardware, automotive, and electronics manufacturing businesses, making it easier to find and choose the most suitable products for any of your needs.
Easy Access
Since buying products and hiring services is just one click away, anyone with an internet connection can order what they need wherever they are. May it be essential needs like food, clothing, and services for your home and health or more trivial desires like video games, cosmetics, and home décor. Whenever a need for something arises, one swipe from a phone, and the problem is solved. This has become the fastest and most convenient innovation for global consumerism.
Wider Reach
Speaking of global consumerism, most businesses that have gone digital are also adapting to omnichannel commerce. This method of sales focuses on the provision of consumer experience in multiple forms. Those who can’t go to the brick-and-mortar stores worldwide can easily order their products through a laptop at home. Even while commuting, browsing products on a mobile phone has become possible. And it doesn’t end there.
The combination of physical and digital channels is only the beginning. Through social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, business owners and customers are given a more convenient and engaging way of communicating and doing business. Through this technological advancement in commerce, one can easily find specific products all over the world within the comforts of one’s home.
Feedback Improvement
As stated above, social media platforms have become the next big thing in marketing. And with social media, both parties can enjoy advantages.
Business owners are using the reach of social media to sell their products, while the target market they’re selling to is also reaping some benefits. Before paying for services, one can quickly check the 5-star rating of the service provider, making it easier to choose and decide which one to book. Customers who already brought a product can quickly write their feedback and voice out their concerns and levels of satisfaction, ensuring that other buyers are fully informed before purchasing the product themselves.
This level of involvement given to the consumers cannot be easily attained through physical stores, thus making e-commerce more customer-friendly than other means of trading.
Safety
The convenience of market digitalization is felt most through the world’s multiple lockdowns because of the pandemic.
It has already been stated multiple times, but it can’t be helped since the most convenient feature of business digitalization is that business can be done remotely. By going digital, products and services can now be availed through mobile phones. Among all the benefits of this feature, the one that stands out the most is the safety and security it brings. From window shopping and canvassing to customer service and purchasing, everything can be done virtually.
This is especially vital to everyone’s lives during a health crisis. With an airborne infectious disease on the loose, the risk of being exposed is high even if one goes outside for 15 minutes just to buy groceries.
Another important thing that must always be remembered is the peace of mind it brings to the average Joe and Jane. The security of not carrying cash around works wonders for the consumers’ overall experience. The chance of getting robbed on your way to the mall is insurmountable compared to the possibility of your digital wallet being hacked.
With this crisis not having a visible end within the next year, the need for digital transformation constantly grows. But with the current progress of innovation occurring, there is no reason to panic. Just like how e-commerce enhanced the level of convenience for consumers over the decade, solutions to the current global problems and the ones ahead will undoubtedly be discovered.
