Is COVID-19 Boosting Retail Ecommerce & Related Tech in 2023?

We’ve already entered in the last month of 2021 and although several vaccines have arrived on the scene, the COVID-19 pandemic is still far from over. On the business end of things, the pandemic resulted in a near-total overhaul in consumer behavior and how organizations operate with the hopes of coming out stronger on the other side.

The direct-to-consumer (DTC) trend is taking center stage, but retail eCommerce was already booming at a staggering pace — global retail eCommerce sales amounted to 3.53 trillion US dollars in 2019, up from 2.98 trillion in 2018. These revenues are projected to grow to 6.54 trillion US dollars in 2022.

The pandemic-induced social distancing guidelines (not to mention lockdowns) have furthered the shift from in-store to online shopping. In fact, between February and May 2020, online sales skyrocketed from 19% of total retail sales to a whopping 32.8%.

Long story short, the pandemic has forced a huge chunk of the population — both consumers and entrepreneurs — to double down on eCommerce.

Here’s an elegant infographic designed by Pack & Send that visually communicates the impact of the still roaring COVID-19 pandemic on the retail eCommerce industry, and how it’s furthering the emergence of new eCommerce tech.