E-commerce set to accelerate with Coronavirus

Vistula Retail Group expects online sales to represent 24 pct of revenue for the first quarter compared to 15.5 pct last year. CCC Group expects 45 pct of revenue to be online in March, while for 2019 the figure was only 25 pct. The consultancy also points out that many of the major Chinese internet firms gained their footing during the SARS health crisis of 2002/2003. In the USA Amazon is hiring 100,000 new employees and raising wages by USD 2 per hour. In Poland Cushman & Wakefield suggest that having an efficient warehouse system will come to be seen as an element of competitive advantage as more companies start providing same day delivery. The clear winners of the coronavirus crisis will be courier companies which by 2023 should be handling up to 850 mln parcels worth up to PLN 12 bln.

“Certainly, consumers who are currently staying at home and shopping online to avoid the risk of infection will also look more favourably on e-commerce once the pandemic is over. This will lead not only to growth in industries that are already popular (clothing, electronics), but also those that were marginal until the crisis, such as e-grocery, which has a 1 pct share of total e-commerce,” says Damian Kołata an associate at Cushman & Wakefield.