ECommerce in the Time of Corona: Our New Lives At Home

As corona warps our daily lives, some brands will adapt and achieve new success, while others might lose their customers.

In a short period of time, we’ve all grown accustomed to crazed corona stories of families waiting five hours in line to get rationed toilet paper or customers storming over each other at Costco to buy the last roll of paper towels. 

We’re so mesmerized by the horror that nobody seems to be asking...what happens after panic buying? Once consumers have stocked up toilet paper and oatmeal, what will be the new norm? 

The eCommerce founders I’ve spoken with are obsessed with the present: their employees’ well-being, declining sales, and overseas supply chains. These concerns are absolutely valid, but in our conversations, it seems we cover everything except the customers…

After this initial panic subsides and people settle into their homes, new emotions will arise and with those emotions, new purchasing behaviors.

HABIT FORMATION IN CRISIS

In early 2017, London train operators decided that the government’s plan to automate some of their colleagues’ jobs was unacceptable. They went on strike and, subsequently, shut down the entire city of London. Stranded commuters overwhelmed the city’s roads as they turned to bikes, buses, and Ubers. Residents were so frustrated with the gridlock that some simply walked over two hours just to get to work. The city was in a state of crisis. 

Fortunately, the strike ended two days later. While most commuters returned to the trains, sociologists found that a small group never went back to the subway. They stuck with their bikes and buses, forming a new habit. For over 5% of commuters, the new habit became the norm in just two days. This new travel habit would last for years and it inadvertently reveals patterns about the coronavirus. 

The coronavirus will last much longer than forty-eight hours and the impact on the consumer psyche will be much deeper than a train labor dispute. The question is, how will this affect online shopping habits? 

OUR NEW AT-HOME LIVES

This week gave a whole new meaning to the term “homebody.” Suddenly, we all became ones. Along with this phenomenon, the coronavirus has created a massive spike in streaming, social media consumption, gaming, and other at-home entertainment.

Obviously, an influencer marketing agency, reported a 76% boost in the number of likes on sponsored Instagram posts. Tiktok had its most downloads ever in February. 

People have settled into their homes and turned to social media content to weather the pandemic. But brands have yet to acclimate to the new normal. 

On Twitter, influencers run Netflix viewing parties to pass the time--a corona-inspired trend that didn’t exist in February. While you’d think the advertising world would have shifted toward digital these past few weeks, brands have been paralyzed by the situation and are missing out on contributing to the new life their customers are living. 

There’s certainly tension as brands seek to serve instead of capitalizing on their communities’ suffering. Nobody wants to be the hand sanitizer hoarder of their industry, but brands need to look at this as a chance to serve their customers. 

(Don’t be like this guy) 

Social media consumption can’t rise continuously forever. (To be fair, I said that in 2017, and then TikTok happened...) My point is, eventually, people will sour on the Netflix binges and TikTok dance crazes. 

Consumers will need long-term remedies and experiences that recreate life on the outside. Communal services like Zoom and Skype are doubling and tripling in usage, which will lead to consumers purchasing better indoor lighting and skincare regimens, just as Instagram created entire livelihoods for makeup artists and travel enthusiasts. 

At-home gym equipment companies have experienced an unprecedented amount of growth in the past few weeks. In an interview with TMZ, Fit 4 Sale said weekend sales were six times higher than usual and Johnson Fitness & Wellness Store reported that “Sales and traffic were getting ridiculous,” as they experienced five 5 times more business than most weekends. (If boutique businesses are generating five times their usual traffic, Amazon’s numbers must be unimaginable.) 

As the world seems to spin out of control, consumers will control what we can through our purchasing power. The areas of our life that we can control will be heightened through our purchases. 

At the forefront of this eCommerce gold rush will be wellness, health and at-home work.

Some brands have already proven adept at shifting to our new reality. Shopify has generously gifted their employees $1,000 each to create their own home offices with flourishes like standing tables, high-quality microphones, and athleisure. 

The smartest people in the room, i.e Amazon, are already shifting and growing, as I’m sure their internal data shows eCommerce’s transformative boom up close. This past week, as Amazon’s stock plummeted, they announced their intention to hire another 100,000 employees and temporarily raised wages for many employees. 

At a time when other companies are frozen with fear, Amazon knows its customers need their services more than ever.

Business owners need to learn the new rules: when their customers are working, binging Netflix or looking for a deep exhale. 

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