E-commerce is having a banner year. As the whole world adapts to life in a pandemic, the ease of online shopping and delivery drove customers out of stores and onto the plethora of shopping apps available. E-commerce is up fifty percent in a year where the increase was only predicted to be 16%, which was still a super increase when predicted.
Between the stay-at-home mandates, reduced capacity in brick-and-mortar stores, social distancing regulations and mask requirements, the ease of clicking through an app, paying with your phone and scheduling a no-contact delivery appeals to almost everyone across the board. Even shoppers over 60, who have been the least motivated to leave traditional shopping behind are up 25% in recent months. Transactions, dollars spent per transaction, and frequency of ordering is all climbing as more people divert their shopping online.
The full shift to e-commerce is the expected outcome since a return to less convenient, in-person shopping seems all but impossible. Behavior doesn’t reverse from backward from more convenient to less, which will bring on a “fundamental redesign” in the supply chain. Amazon has hired 175,000 extra workers since March to handle the increase in demand and grocery shipments direct to consumers is up by 31%.
One question facing sellers is whether you plan to sell via marketplaces in a business to business setting or if you want to ship direct to your consumers. B2B is more profitable as your cargo is centrally located to cut back on the final mile costs, but business to consumer is a more direct and streamlined revenue without a middleman. Where the market goes now in the boom is anyone’s guess as the balance between B2B and B2C sellers will seek out and carve the best path to serve customers, fulfilling our earlier statement that a fundamental redesign will be taking place.
CFI Perishables has an extensive network that you need to ensure your perishable e-commerce cargo is safe and fresh for delivery. When you’re updating your e-commerce business plan to capitalize on the boom, make CFI your perishables carrier and have the full extent of a premier logistics house in your corner.
