How Digital Technology Has Helped Retailers Through The Pandemic
TECH DIGEST – The impact of the global pandemic has been devastating for many industries, and in particular for retail. During the height of the pandemic, many non-essential retailers were forced to close their doors for lengthy period, suffering huge losses and losing huge numbers of employees. This affected not only the businesses themselves but also those working there, which has had a huge impact on the unemployment rate.
The one silver lining for retail businesses has been the availability of online retail and e-commerce capabilities.Statistics show that online shopping has become extremely popular over recent years, and this is something that retail businesses were able to tap into over the past year and the regular closures of brick-and-mortar establishments.
Online Shopping Kept Retail Businesses Afloat
Some businesses – both large and small were unable to survive the challenges of the pandemic. However, there are others that managed to stay afloat as a result of online shopping and digital technology. From supermarkets and clothing retailers to entertainment and electrical ones, all sorts of companies within the retail industry have been reliant on online technology during the past year.
Some of the retail sectors that have been able to use online technology to weather the storm of the pandemic are:
Supermarkets
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Many supermarkets used the internet to offer promotions and deals to shoppers with events such asMorrison’s sales and promotions. By offering promotions online, these businesses have been able to benefit from both the popularity of online shopping and the ability to entice shoppers away from rivals by offering better deals. With so many people eager to save money during the pandemic, special offers and promotions from supermarkets have proven extremely popular.
Tech Retailers
Many other businesses have also benefitted from offering online sales and promotions during the pandemic such as tech retailers. For instance, retailers such as Konga have used online technology to provide access to great deals for consumers. With more people than ever going online to shop for these types of products since the outbreak of the pandemic, tech retail businesses quickly realised that this was the ideal way to bring new customers on board with exciting offers and deals. In addition, it enables them to continue conducting business even while their physical locations were forced to close due to the lockdown and social distancing.
Fashion Retailers
Another sector to suffer due to the closure of physical locations during the pandemic was the retail sector. However, many have been able to stay afloat by focusing on online sales and promotions to attract new customers and hold on to existing ones. Retailers like Next have been able to continue making sales over the past year despite their physical stores closing. They have boosted sales by offering great deals and promotions as well as convenient delivery and free exchanges to customers.
These are some of the industries that have been impacted by the global pandemic but have been able to turn to digital technology to help them to stay afloat.
