The Effects of Coronavirus on E-Commerce: A Research Proposal Analysis

This research proposal examines the multifaceted impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on the e-commerce sector. It delves into the effects on online businesses, analyzing both the positive and negative consequences, such as shifts in consumer behavior, supply chain disruptions, and changes in shopping habits. The literature review synthesizes various viewpoints from different authors, discussing the influence of the pandemic on online and offline shopping, the future of retail, and the challenges and opportunities presented to e-commerce businesses. The report highlights the increase in online shopping, the impact on major e-commerce players, and the evolving strategies of businesses adapting to the new landscape, including the importance of health safety in offline stores. The conclusion summarizes the key findings, emphasizing the transformative effects of the pandemic on the e-commerce industry.

Research Proposal
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CONTENTS
TITLE: “What are the impacts of coronavirus on E-Commerce?”.................................................3
ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................3
Effects of coronavirus on E-Commerce......................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8
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TITLE: “What are the impacts of coronavirus on E-Commerce?”
ABSTRACT
Corona virus outbreak impacts businesses and lives of people all over the world. It creates
various challenges in front of organisations due to which they are facing financial issues. This
project explores the influence of corona virus on E-Commerce. It impacts in both, positive and
negative way on online businesses as well as physical store. It is predicted that in future, it
provides benefits to businesses. However, also creates some challenges like health safety which
become a major issue for retailers in future.
INTRODUCTION
E-Commerce can be defined as the buying and selling of products and services through the
utilisation of internet and transfer of data and money in order to execute the transactions. Due to
outbreak of corona virus, the behaviour attitudes and buying habits of consumers are changing
which influence on the sales and revenues of both offline and online businesses (Hasanat, & et.
al., (2020). This is a research proposal report, which includes literature review on topic “What
are the impacts of coronavirus on E-Commerce?”. This report intent to present the literature
review by comparing views of different authors on the topic. It includes discussion about impact
of coronavirus on electronic commerce, positive and adverse impact on online and offline
shopping and the future of shopping after corona virus (Shahidi, (2020).
LITERATURE REVIEW
Effects of coronavirus on E-Commerce
As stated by Koshle, Kaur, & Basista, (2020), the forces that drive growth of online market
before the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic involves steady and strong growth of internet users
as well as increasing awareness associated with online shopping, low price because of bulk
purchase, maximizing online product launching and so on (Hou, (2020). Apart from this,
maximizing number of exclusive goods in market and their low prices because of economics of
scale and direct distribution channel further contributes in e-commerce market growth at global
level. In addition to this, after the outbreak of covid-19 pandemic, staying home and social
distancing is also expected to push customers towards shopping online (Impact of the Covid-19
on the World's e-Commerce Market, 2020). However, supply chain issues and uncertain
consumer demand can influence the E-Commerce sector. The issue arises due to coronavirus
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crisis can also influence big merchants like Walmart which is experiencing supply chain
disruption, decline in casual shopping and rise in purchase of essential groceries, toiletries and
other products.
The E-Commerce businesses of all over the world are affected by novel coronavirus
pandemic outbreak. Key organisations getting influenced in market involving Inc., Alibaba
group housing limited, amazon.com, JD.com, shopify, eBay Inc., Walmart and many others. For
example: Amazon made heavy investments in shipping in one day which are not compensating
off quite yet. In year 2019, the shipping cost of company is increased by 46% and the net income
is declined by 26%. Profit of the company is highly influenced by pandemic throughout the first
half of year 2020 (Cortez, & Johnston, (2020).
According to the view point of Lizzy Hillier & Nikki Gilliland, 2020, The ongoing
pandemic, coronavirus is impacting each part of life and this has wide ranging ramifications for
E-Commerce advertising and marketing as well as numerous other sectors like entertainment and
travel. 65% of shoppers in United Kingdom has made more online purchases during outbreak of
covid-19 than usual. Nearly three quarter of people plan primarily to shop online at the time of
holiday. This presents numerous opportunities for brands which operates online as they are able
to market to consumers which are relatively new to E-Commerce channels. So far, around 49%
of consumer's in United Kingdom have cut back the spending because of coronavirus crisis
(Jámbor, Czine, & Balogh, (2020).
According to the view point of Sharma, (2020), because of lockdown, the delivery of
products is impacted majorly like significant delays or no delivery which declines the sales of e-
commerce. The operations of online businesses are also impacting as because of high economic
uncertainty; people are hesitant to spend. Stock levels and supply chain are also influenced
because of spread of virus and lockdown in several countries. However, it is predicted that
electronic commerce is expected to increase or grow by 50 percent (Choudhury, Koo, & Li,
(2020). It is also reported that 52% increase see in online sales with digital commerce and 8.8 %
rise in online shoppers. After the spread of coronavirus pandemic, people avoid to go on physical
stores for buying anything and prefer more to purchase from online platforms (Kabadayi,
O’Connor, & Tuzovic, (2020). However, spread of coronavirus will provide various
opportunities to E-Commerce businesses to grow and develop their business. They are starting to
collaborate with offline stores and deliver their products to different locations.
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A survey was conducted by Dynata and ChannelAdvisor according to which it has been
found that customers are now finding that shopping in brick and mortar shops are less convenient
because of the factors such as follow a one-way system or having to queue in order to enter into
the store. 67% of people said that the find it more convenient to make their purchase from online
marketplaces such as Amazon (Lysenko, & Мolchanova, (2020). It has been found in a report
that in e-commerce market of United Kingdom, the share of Amazon rose to 35 percent during
lockdown and up from 30 percent at the completion of last year, which shows that it is one
among the E-Commerce giants which has benefited the most during coronavirus pandemic (35%
of all UK online purchases during lockdown were made via Amazon, 2020). In United
Kingdom, the another E-Commerce retailer benefited during lockdown includes Tesco, which
saw around 23% increase in net perception and 9% rise when it came to post covid-19 purchase
intent. On the contrary, the rivals like Morrison and Sainsbury's gained 12 percent rise in positive
perception (Al-Ubaydli, (2020).
As per the view point of Susan Meyer, 2020, As the spread of covid-19 pandemic
announced, individuals responded by shopping up. Both online and brick and mortar stores
struggling to meet the demand and price gouging for goods became rampant. During covid-19,
the purchasing behaviour of youngest generations is altering. It has been found that around 96%
of generation z and millennials concerned regarding outbreak of coronavirus and its influence on
economy (Understanding the COVID-19 Effect on Online Shopping Behavior, 2020). This
concern leads to alter their behaviour and they cutting back on spending. As social distancing is
very crucial and considered as a way to slow down the spread of coronavirus, a drop off has been
found in brick and mortar shopping. This leads to rise in online shopping as people more
diverted towards ecommerce to buy the products. This creates an opportunity for E-Commerce
businesses (Okyere, Forson, & Essel‐Gaisey, (2020).
According to the opinion of Ben Culpin, 2020, initially, it was predicted by many market
experts that the sales of e-commerce would rise rapidly as the cases of covid-19 increased,
leading to restrictions on socializing globally and enforcing greater social distancing. In fact,
around 36% of sellers anticipate that their sales will actually drop off because of supply chain
issues, shipping delays, product shortages and the potential for decline in demand as the
economy fluctuates (A positive ecommerce outlook initially (A positive ecommerce outlook
initially, 2020). The uncertainty of struggling economies at global level and worries over
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personal financial situations of consumer may act as obstacle on E-Commerce spending.
However, it has also see that after emphasizing on securing the basic needs like health products
and groceries, customers have been changing their online activity to emphasize on production
services that will assist get them through the period of isolation. As many physical stores closed
down because of falling consumer numbers, E-Commerce is expecting to see an increase in the
sector (Elrhim, & Elsayed, (2020).
According to the report published by global data (2020), Electronic commerce playing
crucial role in fighting against coronavirus pandemic. Online retailers experiencing bulk of
orders from consumers. A recent report of the data and analytics company reveals that
coronavirus will have long-term optimistic influence on electronic commerce industry, with even
most skeptical customers forced to relinquish physical shops in response to movement
restrictions. Coronavirus has given electronic commerce industry a boost, with E-Commerce
grocery retailers which are the biggest beneficiaries. Apart from this, supermarkets and
experiencing high demands for grocery delivery. the online food and grocery market in United
Kingdom is expected to grow by 20% in year 2020 to 13.2 billion pounds (COVID-19 have
long-term positive impact on e-commerce, says GlobalData, 2020). However, the measures for
social distancing have dealt a significant to blow to footwear and clothing retailers. A drop in
online sales of 7.9 % in United Kingdom is forecast from year 2019 levels. However, it is
expected that the online retailers I will have the opportunity to acquire market share from their
rivals in high street. Organisations will be emphasizing on supply chains and the way
Technologies like 5G, internet of things, cloud and block chain can assist to enhance their
robustness and efficiency. Ultimately, electronic commerce will benefit from coronavirus with
even worse influenced organisations will start to develop momentum again once the restrictions
of lockdown have been lifted (Bhalekar, (2020).
Coronavirus has been biggest disruptor of businesses and life in the history. Apart from
developing an overwhelming caution sense, concern and fear, it has severely influenced
sentiment with regards to commercial transactions. Amongst the global growth of multichannel
and online marketing and their influence on physical retail involving malls, the covid-19 crisis
will be a game changer for retailers all across the world. Assuming that the sentiment of buying
is not influence negatively, there is possibly be a shopping surge post covid-19. After lockdown
experience, people are influenced and will feel a compelling need to go outside (Mohamad, & et.
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al., (2020, May). So, experience it will become are main aspects of shopping, thus, the appeal of
offline stores will be greater in comparison to online purchases. At the point of sale, customer
health safety will be the major strategic issue in front of offline outlets until year 2022. It
becomes very difficult for the stores to ensure health safety of people. In order to overcome this
issue, organisations need to invest on safety measures and new facilities must be developed in
order to ensure that the risk can be minimised during the visit two sales outlet. The e commerce
is becoming a significant part of food purchasing habits as well as the proportion of purchasing
online will exceed 10% amongst key retailers by year 2022 (Elrhim, & Elsayed, (2020).
CONCLUSION
As per the above mentioned report, it has been concluded that the E-Commerce businesses
and highly influenced by the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic. It alters the buying behaviour of
consumers and cutting back on their spending. Because of lock down, people were not able to
move outside to buy products and services, so they prefer more to shop online. There is a decline
in brick and mortar shopping and increase in online shopping which creates an opportunity for
the electronic commerce businesses to develop large consumer base and achieve higher
revenues. In future, health safety is one of the major issue for offline retailers to maintain. The
need to develop new facilities to ensure minimum risk at the time of visit of consumers to
physical stores.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Hasanat, M. W., & et. al., (2020). The Impact of Coronavirus (Covid-19) on E-Business in
Malaysia. Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 3(1), 85-90.
Koshle, H., Kaur, R., & Basista, R. (2020). Breakdown of Business and Workers in India: Impact
of Corona Virus.
Cortez, R. M., & Johnston, W. J. (2020). The Coronavirus crisis in B2B settings: Crisis
uniqueness and managerial implications based on social exchange theory. Industrial
Marketing Management.
Kabadayi, S., O’Connor, G. E., & Tuzovic, S. (2020). The impact of coronavirus on service
ecosystems as service mega-disruptions. Journal of Services Marketing.
Elrhim, M. A., & Elsayed, A. (2020). The Effect of COVID-19 Spread on the E-Commerce
Market: The Case of the 5 Largest E-Commerce Companies in the World. Available at
SSRN 3621166.
Bhalekar, V. (2020). Novel Coronavirus Pandemic-Impact on Indian Ecology, Economy, E-
commerce, Education and Employment. Economy, E-commerce, Education and
Employment (April 19, 2020).
Mohamad, A. H., & et. al., (2020, May). E-Commerce Beyond the Pandemic Coronavirus: Click
and Collect Food Ordering. In IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and
Engineering (Vol. 864, No. 1, p. 012049). IOP Publishing.
Okyere, M. A., Forson, R., & Essel‐Gaisey, F. (2020). Positive externalities of an epidemic: The
case of the coronavirus (COVID‐19) in China. Journal of Medical Virology.
Al-Ubaydli, O. (2020). Understanding How the Coronavirus Affects the Global Economy: A
Guide for Non-Economists.
Jámbor, A., Czine, P., & Balogh, P. (2020). The Impact of the Coronavirus on Agriculture: First
Evidence Based on Global Newspapers. Sustainability, 12(11), 4535.
Hou, F. (2020). The Chance of China's Cross Border E-commerce in Coronavirus Pneumonia
Epidemic. Region-Educational Research and Reviews, 2(2), 26-28.
Shahidi, F. (2020). Does COVID-19 Affect Food Safety and Security?. Journal of Food
Bioactives, 9.
Choudhury, P., Koo, W., & Li, X. (2020). Working from Home Under Social Isolation: Online
Content Contributions During the Coronavirus Shock. Harvard Business School
Technology & Operations Mgt. Unit Working Paper, (20-096).
Lysenko, M., & Мolchanova, K. (2020). Logistics and e-commerce relationship in Ukraine.
Sharma, S. (2020). Impact of Coronavirus on Global Economic Growth. Available at SSRN
3619696.
Online
Impact of the Covid-19 on the World's e-Commerce Market, 2020. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/04/16/2017173/0/en/Impact-of-the-
Coronavirus-on-the-World-s-e-Commerce-Market-2020.html>
Understanding the COVID-19 Effect on Online Shopping Behavior, 2020. [Online]. Available
through: <https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/covid-19-ecommerce/#understanding-
panic-buying-and-coronavirus>
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A positive ecommerce outlook initially, 2020. [Online]. Available through:
<https://blog.wakeupdata.com/impact-of-coronavirus-on-ecommerce>
35% of all UK online purchases during lockdown were made via Amazon, 2020. [Online].
Available through: <https://econsultancy.com/stats-roundup-coronavirus-impact-on-
marketing-ecommerce-advertising/>
COVID-19 to have long-term positive impact on e-commerce, says GlobalData, 2020. [Online].
Available through:
<https://www.indiaretailing.com/2020/05/18/international-news/covid-19-to-have-long-
term-positive-impact-on-e-commerce-says-globaldata/>
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