By Sadiya Lawal Danyaro

In the digital age, the internet has become an indispensable part of our lives, transforming how we communicate, access information, and engage with the world. While it offers numerous benefits, it also presents a significant challenge: the proliferation of misinformation and disinformation. These twin adversaries, often used interchangeably, seriously threaten our society, affecting everything from public health to democracy.

Misinformation and disinformation about health issues, such as pandemics of Ebola and COVID-19, have raised serious concerns in my community due to misinformation and disinformation. Some were saying to mitigate Ebola, you have to wash your body with salt, while others see COVID-19 as a pandemic created to reduce our population and make us poorer.

Disinformation campaigns have the power to influence political outcomes by swaying public opinion. The spread of false narratives can undermine the democratic process and trust in institutions. In my community, you heard them saying false information about a politician created by the opposition, and people in my community will take it like that without verifying, which has also led to serious fights among the community members.

Misinformation can also affect the economy. False rumors or fake news about companies can lead to stock price fluctuations, causing financial harm. There was a time when my community boycotted certain products due to misinformation created by someone.

We can combat Misinformation and Disinformation in the following ways:

Promoting media literacy is important to help individuals critically evaluate information sources.

Education and awareness programs can teach people how to identify credible sources and fact-check information.

During public health emergencies (COVID-19, EBOLA), authorities should communicate clearly and consistently to counteract misinformation.

Combating misinformation and disinformation requires cooperation between governments, tech companies, civil society, and individuals. A united effort can more effectively curb the spread of false information.

During my engagement with the community, the community leaders, youth leaders were in attendance, where I discussed on how we can identify credible sources and fact checking information.

Sadiya Lawal Danyaro is a Digital Grassroot Ambassador cohort 6

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TECHDIGEST – The Micro Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) is estimated to be at over 40 million MSMEs in Nigeria and contributes over 50% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with respect to job creation and national development.

Despite the scale at which the Micro Small and Medium enterprises is contributing to the growth and development of the economy especially as the population of Nigeria continues to increase exponentially. Some of the gaps in the Micro Small and Medium sectors are as follows

Lack of structure

Most MSMEs fail in their first few years of starting out because they lack structures such as employment and human resources policies, budget for advertising, and maintaining unique brand. The lack of these essentials makes the organization to only serve their immediate environment which comes with a lot of risk factors as expansion would become difficult, most especially to locations where the products or services are needed, but without the needed standard, reaching other markets would not be achievable as there are expectations from these prospects which the organization might not be able to meet up with.

Low Online Visibility

Most MSMEs across Nigeria are not visible online, and with the emergence of new markets, the internet has become a tool to aid e-commerce from any part of the world. One of the key tools to increase online visibility are a website and social media platforms, these tools aid communication when prospects search online for a need. The key to maximizing sales is to increase online visibility through the techniques in digital market to gain entry into new markets.

Lack of proper financial records

The MSME sector still operates with minimal information with respect to financial records, so as to monitor the income and expenditure which determines the range of profitability. Inability to utilize tools for keeping proper financial records as a result of focus on production and operations by MSME owners could lead to bankruptcy as measuring the healthiness of the business per time becomes unknown.

READ ALSO: Pantami Unveils Books on Datafication and Cybersecurity at Emerging Technologies Forum

Other gaps are high cost of rent, access to finance, double taxation, unstable electricity, difficulty in getting skilled workforce etc.

The opportunities in the MSME sector are enormous and fosters huge contribution, some of these opportunities are

Job creation and wealth generation

Job creation has been the major challenge of most administrations in Nigeria, as they strive to make the citizens prosperous by gainful employment. The support MSMEs provides reaches every strata of the economy as a breadwinner now has economic ability to support their family or dependents and this done multiple times and consistently by different entrepreneurs is a building block for economic prosperity.

Creating a potentially stable economy

The covid-19 pandemic and aftermath of the recession due to drop in the prices of oil has led to hardship for many, however with the MSME sector empowered with financing, it aids to cushion the effect of economic hardship and serves as a buffer for economic recovery.

Export Potential

The export potential of any nation demands that its economy is first involved in production for self-sufficiency, the leverage from being a producing economy now creates the opportunity to export physical, human and material resources. Nigeria’s potential to maximizing proceeds from export entails capacity building in order to meet-up with the expected standards and procedures of other nations. The effect of our activities around export can be seen in the remittances made from diaspora, which creates a sustainable economy.

Emmanuel Otori has over 9 years of experience working with 100 start-ups and SMEs across Nigeria. He has worked on the Growth and Employment (GEM) Project of the World Bank, GiZ, Consulted for businesses at the Abuja Enterprise Agency, Novustack, Splitspot and NITDA. He is the Chief Executive Officer at Abuja Data School.

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TECHDIGEST – The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Pantami, recently said that, COVID-19 pandemic has increased the need for digitalisation as a means to respond to the challenges posed by the pandemic.

He disclosed this recently during the virtual African Internet Governance Forum 2021, themed ‘Advancing digital transformation in Africa in the face of crisis’.

Speaking through a Director at the Nigerian Communications Commission, who also serves as his adviser on Technical Matters, Sahalu Junaidu, Pantami said the challenges the pandemic had brought to the fore had ensured there was an increase in the demand for Internet services.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the increased need to embrace digital culture. So, as Africans, one of the ways by which we can respond to the challenge thrown by the pandemic is to accelerate our digital transformation,” he said.

According to him, the digital transformation strategy for Africa should be established on key foundational pillars, which must include an enabling environment, policy regulation, digital infrastructure, digital skills and human capacity, as well as digital innovation and entrepreneurship.

Pantami added that critical sectors such as digital trade and financial services, digital government, digital education, digital health, and digital agriculture, are also underlining pillars of the transformation.

He said the drivers of digital transformation include digital content and applications, digital identification, emerging technology, cyber security, privacy and personal data protection, as well as research and development.

According to him, the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (2020-2030), and the Nigerian National Broadband Plan 2020-2025 are in place to address infrastructure challenges and enhance Nigeria’s migration to a more robust digital economy.

He said the recent successful auction of 3.5 gigahertz spectrum band for the deployment of the fifth generation network in the country would boost broadband penetration in the country.

The Executive Vice Chairman, NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, who also spoke at the event, said, “The future is digital, and we should be committed to supporting and collaborating with African countries to maximise opportunities inherent in digital technologies.

“We should also be ready to avoid the pitfalls by instituting appropriate regulations as we are doing in NCC.”

Danbatta spoke through the Director, New Media and Information Security, NCC, Dr. Al-Hassan Haru.

Source : punchng.com

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TECHDIGEST – Konga, Nigeria’s leading composite e-commerce giant, has been applauded by the Sunday Dare, minister of Youths and Sports Development, as a digital platform with immense capacity to help re-write Nigeria’s unemployment narrative.
He made this known during the signing of a landmark partnership between Konga and the Ministry aimed at generating creative employment for millions of Nigerian youths.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to seal the partnership was signed on Monday, September 13, 2021 in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The initiative was unveiled under Konga Jobs (KJ), a youth empowerment and job creation scheme of the Konga Group.

Specifically, the partnership will see Konga deploy its world-class assets, huge resources and cutting-edge technology backbone, while also placing its growing list of thriving subsidiaries across multiple verticals at the disposal of Nigerian youths who are desirous of an opportunity to earn a meaningful living and create wealth.

Konga says the scheme is targeted at the employed, unemployed and under-employed Nigerian youths across board.

Present during the signing ceremony was the Minister, Hon. Sunday Dare; the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Youths and Sports, Mr. Nebeolisa Anako; Chairman, Konga Group, Leo Stan Ekeh; Co-CEO, Konga Group, Nick Imudia; VP, KongaPay, Isa Aliyushata, as well as other Management staff of Konga and senior officials of the Ministry.

‘‘We at the Ministry of Youths and Sports are of the view that public-private partnerships remain the way forward when it comes to the onerous task of creating opportunities for our youths. This belief has come to the fore with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and has also been reinforced by a recent World Bank report.

‘‘We are delighted to have a technology-driven partner such as Konga partnering with us on this programme. Also, we are confident that through this MoU which we have signed today, we will be re-writing the narrative for millions of Nigerian youths who are the beneficiaries of this project.’’

While lauding the Ministry for its proactive zeal in closing the partnership, Mr. Ekeh noted that since its acquisition nearly three years ago, Konga, which pioneered the martketplace structure in Africa in addition to a long list of innovative strategies, has grown immensely beyond expectations of all e-commerce watchers, with the company becoming arguably Africa’s biggest Composite e-commerce platform and the first to hit profitability on the continent.

‘‘Konga is driven by youths. This shows our youths have the capacity to deliver world-class corporates, even with all structural challenges confronting us in the country.’’

Ekeh added that the time is right for Nigerian youths to use their intellectual capital and digital skills to defend the nation and become global citizens.

He encouraged Nigerian youths to alter their destinies, while also stressing that their passion in this century must pay their bills.

Also speaking at the event, Nick Imudia, Co-CEO, Konga Group, affirmed that the partnership will afford Konga a chance to create millionaires across Nigeria within a short space of time.

‘‘Konga today provides employment directly and indirectly through partnerships for over 250,000 Nigerians. Through this partnership, we are looking to not only offer more hardworking and ambitious Nigerian youths a chance to earn good money and create wealth; we are also keen to create millionaires who will become their own bosses and employ others. In addition to opportunities which abound in joining our fast growing database of Konga affiliates and merchants, many more deserving and outstanding youths will also get job opportunities across the multiple entities within the Konga Group.

‘‘We are currently conducting a pilot with the Ministry of Youths and Sports and have taken on board about 350 youths already, many of whom are doing very well. The plan is to have at least one Konga agent in every kindred in Nigeria. But it is pertinent to state that we are also extending our reach across Africa in line with our expansion plans as our target by 2025 is to create jobs for over 500,000 Nigerian youths and over 500,000 for other African youths.

‘‘This is the only way we can rate our success on the African Continent,’’ he disclosed.

The event, which was held within the Ministry’s conference room at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, also witnessed a tour of the massive facilities within the premises.

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TECHDIGEST – The need to safeguard data and privacy while using the internet has contributed to an increase in the number of Virtual Private Networks downloads. VPN usage is projected to accelerate to previously unheard-of heights.

Based on data acquired by Finbold, it is projected that the number of VPN downloads globally might surpass one billion in 2021 driven by various factors such as the ongoing work-from-home trend, an increase in cyber-attacks, and the service’s overall rising popularity.

The projection represents a growth of 70.45% from the 616 million downloads recorded in the first half of 2021. Interestingly, the downloads in the first six months of 2021 are more than double the 2020 figure of 277 million.

Elsewhere, during the first half of 2021, Middle East Countries dominated the percentage of the population using VPN. Qatar ranks in the pole position, with 44.47% of the population deploying VPN. The United Arab Emirates is second at 39.91%, followed by Singapore at 29.59%. In India, 25.27% of the population used VPNs in the first half of 2021, followed by Oman with a share of 24.79%.

Madagascar ranks lowest, with just 0.42% of the population using VPN while Japan accounts for a share of 0.85%, while South Africa has a share of 1.43%. Poland ranks as the fourth-lowest country in VPN usage at 1.7%, while Kenya has a share of 2.01%.

The reports highlight the foundation for the projected VPN downloads. According to the research report:

“Amid the pandemic, the demand for VPNs surged following work-from-home trends that various companies initiated. There was an increasing demand for a secure remote working environment as employees rely on the internet from remote workplaces. The work-from-home culture meant that employees were exposed to data breaches and VPN served as the perfect solution for protection. Notably, the work from home trend has gained popularity even as normal operations resume with the rollout of the vaccine.”

The projected spike in VPN use is also expected to be driven by the recent increase in cases of malware and cyber-attacks.

Read the full story with statistics here: https://finbold.com/global-vpn-downloads-set-to-hit-1-billion-in-2021/

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TECHDIGEST – Morocco, Kenya, and Ghana are Africa’s fastest-growing economies as the continent’s giants, Nigeria and South Africa struggle to contain worsening economic conditions, according to reports by GlobalData.

Africa is expected to record a healthy growth rate of 3.8% in 2021 driven by rising global demand as restrictions are eased, untapped market opportunities, a rebound in commodity prices and a rise in oil prices, states the UK based data and analytics company.

But GlobalData also cautions that policy somersaults and depleting foreign income could hurt the optimisms. FDI inflows declined by 20% in the African region in 2020 due to subdued commodity prices and pessimistic investor sentiment amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Continent’s heavies: Nigeria, South Africa trail behind
Like most countries on the continent, South Africa is witnessing its worst recession. It is Africa’s largest economy after Egypt. The pandemic not only halted mining and manufacturing activities but also hit the tourism industry terribly even as bloody protests in some major cities further put the country on the edge.

Africa’s largest economy by GDP, Nigeria, occupies the 7th position in terms of recovery and growth. Nigeria’s slow growth rate is within a 2.3% forecast as it contends with shrinking FDI, falling currency value as Naira loses against major world currencies; rising food inflation, rising debt service payments, stalled reforms and heightened insecurity.

Nigeria leads the rest of the continent with a nominal GDP of USD 466.88 followed by Egypt with USD 374.89 and South Africa with USD 317.19. Morocco’s nominal GDP USD is 112.220 while that of Kenya is USD 101.048 and Ghana USD 73.594.

Morocco leads the continent in growth
“Morocco has been moving ahead in leaps and bounds in recent years, has provided the world with produce following promising agricultural seasons.

“The country’s expected growth of 5.19% was also influenced by its effective vaccination drive, accommodative monetary policies and fiscal stimuli.”

Rao continues: “Strong banking fundamentals and a rise in external demand for commodities is expected to help recovery in South Africa, which is predicted to see 4.09% growth.

“However, this has been hampered by recent protests in the country. Private consumption growth is to remain the major driver of economic growth in Egypt.” Economic Research Analyst at GlobalData, Gargi Rao, says.

Nigeria pitching recovery on ICT
“To achieve a faster economic recovery in H2 2021, Africa’s policymakers need to accelerate structural transformation through digitalization, industrialization and diversification,” the Economic Research Analyst adds.

Rao’s observation is already slowly gaining grounds in Nigeria. Faced with the challenge of dwindling oil revenue, Nigeria is desperately seeking to wriggle out of near absolute dependency on crude oil export.

According to the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in terms of contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the oil sector accounted for 9.25 per cent of aggregate real GDP in Q1 2021, while the non-oil sector accounted for 90.75 per cent of aggregate GDP in the first quarter of 2021.

The country’s GDP grew by 0.51 per cent (year-on-year) in real terms in the first quarter of 2021, marking two consecutive quarters of growth in sharp contrast to negative growth rates recorded in Q2 and Q3 of 2020.

The ICT sector is now the industry with the highest growth rate in relation to the GDP and clearly outperforming the oil sector. The NBS reported a second quarter of 2020 (Q2 2020) 17.83% contribution of the ICT sector to the country’s GDP. The ICT sector is expected to further record pulsating growth even in the face of positive recovery in the global oil industry.

Nigeria is committing more efforts at building its digital economy as it seeks a future outside of crude oil. According to Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, the digital economy will contribute more than 45% to Nigeria’s GDP while noting the increasing impact of policy investments including the National Broadband Plan 2020-2025 which focuses on broadband penetration, and as at July 2020 has achieved a broadband penetration level of 42.0%. This is expected to reach at least 50% by the end of the 2021.

“We are making use of the covid-19 era to achieve digital economy development”, said Pantami.

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TECH DIGEST – Leading global marketing measurement, AppsFlyer, has launched a report with Google that reveals a booming African mobile app market, propelled by a growing fintech space, a rise in ‘super apps’, and the COVID-19 pandemic amongst other factors.

Having analysed over 6,000 apps and 2 billion installs across South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya, between Q1 2020 and Q1 2021, the report found that the African mobile app market showed strong growth, with overall installs increasing by 41%. Nigeria showed the highest growth, with a 43% uplift, followed by 37% in South Africa, and 29% in Kenya.

33% of 2020’s in-app purchasing revenue was generated in Q3, as consumer spending grows

Showing perhaps the biggest trend, in-app purchasing revenue numbers soared between July and September, with a 136% increase compared to the previous three months. This accounted for a third of the year’s total revenue, highlighting just how much African consumers were spending within apps, from retail purchases to gaming upgrades.

South Africa’s in-app purchasing revenue surged by a massive 213%, with Nigeria and Kenya also showing significant increases of 141% and 74% in the same time frame.

With people spending more time at home, the report found overall app installs increased by 20% in Q2 2020 compared to the previous quarter. On a country level, South Africans were quick to take to their mobiles as the first lockdown hit, with installs of mobile apps increasing by 17%. The situation was more muted in Nigeria and Kenya, with increases of 2% and 9% respectively. These differences are likely due to the varying levels of restrictions experienced by the three countries, with South Africa facing the strictest.

South Africa and Nigeria saw year-on-year growth in finance app installs by 116% and 60% respectively, as the need to reduce social contact has led to even more users adopting digital solutions for their financial needs.

Android’s larger market share within Sub-Saharan Africa has seen advertisers spend more budget on the platform. Non-organic installs increased by 54%, compared to 19% for iOS.
The cost per install (CPI) on iOS also increased by 21% between Q2 and Q3 2020, which meant iOS app developers were getting fewer installs for the same budget. Towards the end of the year and into 2021, there was no uplift in non-organic installs on iOS compared to 40% on Android.

The report found similar levels of overall growth across verticals during the year, with gaming installs increasing by 44% and non-gaming increasing by 40%.

Commenting on the trends highlighted in the report, Daniel Junowicz, RVP EMEA & Strategic Projects, AppsFlyer said:

“We’re proud to combine forces with Google to provide businesses with the insights and technology needed to succeed on mobile in Africa. The mobile app space in Africa is thriving, despite the turmoil of the last year. Installs are growing, and consumers are spending more money than ever before, highlighting just how important mobile can be for businesses when it comes to driving revenue.

As a result, mobile marketing is becoming increasingly important for businesses across the continent. Being able to make data-driven informed decisions, and understand the ROI on marketing campaigns will be key to any app marketers success.”

Rama Afullo, Apps Lead for Africa at Google, added: “While it’s clear that mobile adoption is increasing, there’s still room for growth when it comes to app marketing, with many marketers in the nascent stage of their app maturity journey.

Taking advantage of app promotion and engagement tools like Google’s App Campaigns, using analytics and measurement tools, and working with mobile measurement partners like AppsFlyer, will be key for companies looking to grow their user base, drive customer value and continue improving the user experience.”

The full report can be accessed here.

www.appsflyer.com

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TECH DIGEST – The Director General of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi CCIE revealed that COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated digital transformation journey faster, more dramatic and disruptive, giving opportunities for more convenient online presence with less disturbance, Digital innovation and Internet Economy for drive to Digital Economy”.

Abdullahi said this while making his presentation at the 8th Annual Instalment of the International Data Corporation (IDC) West Africa CIO Summit 2021 with the Theme: “Innovation Strategies Evolving on the demand of New Realities is Exciting”.

He stated that Economy Africa reports 2020 revealed that by 2025, the value of Internet Economy in Africa will reach $180b, accounting for about 5.2% of the Continent’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and by 2050 its projection is estimated to be $712b, about 8.5% of the Continent’s GDP.

“Innovation drives growth in the internet economy, process of taking ideas from inception to impact inspired three digital capabilities; firstly, Ubiquitous Data which is used to make decision and have Information at your disposal anytime. Secondly, Unlimited Connectivity particularly Internet of Things (IoT) which ease connectivity and learning things easily. Lastly, Massive Computing Processing Power which has no limit to what can be processed. These Capabilities are the source of inspiration that ignites innovation and create demand in the digital era.”

“The Global advancement and digital technologies are making the world a better place. We are inspired to deliver rapid business innovations and new customer value prepositions. African Start-ups coming up with unique business models, Digital Transformation platforms and services that creates incredible value with a significant impact on human lives and the economy which indicates that Africa will not miss the Fourth Industrial Revolution unlike the first, Second and Third industrial era where we lost out in creating and capturing values across the globe”, he noted.

He added that in Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR, has laid foundation for a Digital Nigeria by expanding the Mandate of Ministry Communications to cover Digital Economy, which the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami has a larger focus vision of digitalizing the country.

“In 2019, the Ministry formulated a National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) for a digital Nigeria, serves as laid down foundation to create and capture value from innovation in the digital Economy.”

“The Implementation of the strategies within 2years, has significantly impacted the economy with the digital sector being the fastest growing sector which bailout the country out of COVID-19 induces session. Nigerian National Digital Economy Policy and Strategies primary implementer crafted the Strategic Roadmap and Action plan SERAP  2021-2024 with the objectives: Articulating new strategies for the Nigerian Ecosystem in accordance with the current aspirations of the Government the new realities of today and the future demands, this was built on seven (7) strategic pillars namely: Developmental Regulation, Digital Literacy and Digital skills, Digital Transformation, Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Cybersecurity, and Emerging Technologies, he identified,” he explained.

He averred that part of the NDEPS is to develop and innovate solutions using emerging technologies like: Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Blockchain and IoT among others to provide quality life, education, poverty eradication, health and wellbeing. According to him, CB Insights 2021 reported that there are total of six unicorn companies in Africa which 3 are from Nigeria namely: Flutterwave, Interswitch and Jumia respectively.

Abdullahi encouraged Chief Information Officers from organizations and Corporate Nations to focus more on initiating digital innovation strategies considering global digital trends and new realities.

“Every organization or country is unique and has its peculiarities but the digital strategies will provide a map for your journey. Our dream in Africa is to be digitally self reliant and become a digital hub for digital services exportation, a critical driver for digital transformation and a frontier for vibrant and highly competitive digital Economy. Our youthful population, location and time zone are our competitive age, and we the CIO’s are the drivers of our dreams in our respective organizations and countries, being proactive and responding to opportunities offered by technological innovations,” he concluded.

By PRNigeria

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TECH DIGEST – The Federal Government says it has established an online portal to ensure efficient and effective monitoring of its interventions in the Agricultural Sector.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Muhammad Nanono, made the disclosure at the 44th Regular Meeting of the National Council of Agriculture and Rural Development on Thursday in Abuja.

Nanono said the initiative would capture the biodata of the farmers and link with geographical information of their farmed plots, crops and the volumes of production in the country.

“Unlike anything that has been done before, we set out to capture the biodata of the farmers and link this with the geographical information of their farmed plots, their crops and the volumes they produce.

“All these will feed into the monitoring and evaluation system of the project so that we can measure impact along the line.

“Although, we initially set out to capture the data of 2.4million farmers across the country, the results from the exercise have encouraged the Economic Sustainability Plan team to expand the data capture to 10 million farmers.

“This database is going to be the platform for government interventions going forward, putting an end to ghost schemes and other unscrupulous practices in the agricultural industry.

“A major hallmark of our agricultural interventions is inclusiveness. We have catered for the youths, women and many demographic considerations in our implementation strategies.

“As a stop-gap intervention, we launched the Agric for Food and Jobs Programme originally conceived as an input loan for smallholder farmers across several commodities including maize, rice, cotton, groundnut, sorghum, cowpea, soybean, sesame, cassava and oil – palm.

“The scheme was brought into a partnership with the Central Bank of Nigeria, Commodity Association and Agricultural Platform Companies for effective facilitation.

“This we believe will not only improve production significantly but also aid in the off-taking of produce while providing input at a reduced price due to economy of scale.

Nanono said that the challenges brought by the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, floods and insecurity had galvanized the government into setting up a necessary structure to address an infrastructural deficiency, technology gaps, security challenges and extension inadequacy.

“This approach is believed to be the right one for achieving our desired economic diversification and national development,” he said. (NAN)

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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

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.

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