Online Business – Covid19

Online shopping is a form of e-commerce which allows consumers to directly buy products and services from a seller directly over the Internet using a web browser. People prefer online shopping as its easy and convenient, with few clicks to order a product and we have it delivered at our door step with variety of payment options.
Online shopping became popular during the Internet boom around the year 2000. Amazon.com was the first online shopping have created history, following the success, many organisations created an online presence on the Internet.

All business are anxiously awaiting the Covid19 lockdown to be relaxed, all of them know it will not be business as usual. Businesses would also need to reimagine and reinvent to shift their sales to online models.
There is an increased demand from customers who are ordering groceries supplies online due to the restrictions imposed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and it is predicted that the demand will persist even after the lockdown ends. India’s biggest grocery sellers, Walmart’s Best Price, Metro Cash and Carry India and Spenser’s have launched their online operations.
Considering the non-availability of the drug of corona virus and it relevance to social distancing, there will be increase in online sales for vegetable and meat sellers especially from middle class segments. Apart from these, healthcare (medicines) and health insurance products will be bought more online than offline.
World now has suddenly changed and adaptation is the key to success along with an approach of survival of the quickest. There will be a rise in forced entrepreneurship due to loss in jobs, It’s therefore predicted that gig economy based delivery system (for online purchases among mass market consumers) will evolve to support micro, small and medium enterprises.

a) Top three drivers of an online trust (1) lock icon (2) https:// (3) trust seal
b) Look for the below questions to determine whether a site is trustworthy
- 1) Terms and conditions?
- 2) Return policy listed?
- 3) Secure site seal?
- 4) Grammar and spelling mistakes?
- 5) Having positive reviews?
- 6) Social media following?
- 7) Customer support contact information?
c) Strong Passwords
d) Update your original software and don’t use pirated software
e) Look for the headers of the promotional emails
f) Always communicate with the inbuilt tools of the application and never communicate outside of the application.
g) Never share OTP / PIN numbers in any form, to the buyer or seller.
h) Never do the payment transaction while you are on the call.
i) Do not click and fill up any short links provided by the buyer or seller.
j) Do not fill google forms links provided by the buyer or seller.
k) Do not the scan the QR Code, if you are scanning means money is getting debited from your account.
l) The seller is based overseas, or the seller does not allow payment through a secure payment service such as PayPal or a credit / debit card transaction.
m) A product or the service is advertised at an unbelievably low price and have benefits or features that sound too good to be true.

Due to Covid19 pandemic, we are able to visualise many uncertainties. There is a loss in different sectors (fashion, apparels & Luxury) of e-commerce sites like Amazon, Myntra and Flipkart due to this pandemic.
Post pandemic we can expect an increase in the sales of e-commerce as most of the people are now aware of social distancing. In order to safeguard ourselves from falling prey to this pandemic attack, many people are approaching online shopping.
On the other side, we can find that OTT, online gaming, and digital media are rising as consumers seek for quality content while at home.
All traditional sales strategies and stocking strategies known to be originating from the east and west will fail, we will have to wait and see how seriously people take the social distancing going forward.