eCommerce Beyond The Tipping Point - What’s Your Move?

Just as the 2003 SARS Pandemic in China was a catalyst for China’s eCommerce evolution and the emergence of the eCommerce giants Alibaba and JD.com, one of the lasting retail legacies of the Covid-19 crisis in Ireland is the accelerated expansion of eCommerce.

Irish people rushed to shop online during the enforced lockdown, to be faced with virtual queues, unavailability of stock, and next day delivery that turned into someday next week. Nonetheless people bought online in record levels across all categories.

During this time there has been a raft of remarkable, innovative ‘click’n’collect’, ‘call’n’collect’, home delivery and DTC offerings springing up throughout the country. Recent developments by Amazon, setting up an Irish market distribution centre at Baldonnell, will further accelerate eCommerce channel growth.

The question is, how will this evolve as we emerge from lockdown and a landscape traumatised by the Covid-19 pandemic?

As part of the Marketing Institute of Ireland webinar series, our Director Strategic Planning, Robert Flavin, explored key eCommerce themes for brands to focus on “Irish Retail eCommerce : Overlooked and Undercooked, No More”:

People’s rising expectations of an easy and enjoyable eCommerce experience.
The evolving role of eCommerce in Discovery and Evaluation on the shopper purchase decision journey.
The phoney war between the physical and digital is over, the future of retail is seamless integration – Phygital.
Social shopping has become just shopping.
Leveraging retail staff online to enhance the customer experience.
Investing ahead in eCommerce retail landscape post Covid-19.
Jeff is coming – what’s your move?