Post pandemic eCommerce and Selling Online in Ireland
Nov 19, 2021,
by Richard Gallacher - Category: eCommerce
We recently participated in a webinar hosted by TrueCommerce during which we looked at the impact the pandemic has had on online spending and the rise of eCommerce platforms in Ireland. We discussed the challenges that organisations face in adapting to these changes and finally, and we looked at a 'pandemic exit strategy' to help businesses maximise their digital transformation journey.
Here are some the key takeaways from the session:
1. The eCommerce market in Ireland pre-pandemic
The Irish Examiner states that Ireland’s online retail sales were up by 17% in 2019 before the pandemic hit. With a well-established online market, it may come as little surprise that many people had already transitioned their buying habits across to digital channels in light of the benefits online buying brings, including convenience, flexibility and price, among many others. However, the pandemic had a huge impact.
2. The impact the pandemic had on Irish eCommerce
As people and businesses across the world struggled with lockdown restrictions, the Irish market (like most other online markets) saw a huge increase in online spending and in particular a rapid acceleration of marketplace transactions. Household names like Amazon and eBay represent selling channels that people are familiar with and their brand identity contributed to the early acceleration of marketplace traffic.
Over the course of the pandemic period we saw an increase in the amount of businesses wanting to take eCommerce ownership in house and into their own hands through a B2B eCommerce storefront rather than relying on external marketplaces, which can sometimes lead to a loss of control, brand voice and touchpoint with their customers.
3. Long term digital strategy
The pandemic forced businesses to shift their selling strategies and embrace online selling as a means of reaching customers. We found that businesses that began the process of digitisation earlier were, as a result, more digitally mature at the onset of the pandemic and thus more likely to experience stronger trading periods.
These businesses found it easier to cater for the new online demand and are better positioned to continue succeeding online as we move into the post pandemic era.
4. Common eCommerce Challenges
Succeeding online isn’t easy. Whilst marketplaces represent one of the most lucrative expansion strategies there are a myriad of requirements to meet before companies can open for business on each platform.
Just like trading with a traditional retailer, each marketplace has unique requirements and regulations they enforce upon their sellers before they open for business on them and organisations trying to manage this process without a Marketplace Integration solution can struggle with the complex requirements.
Digital content can often pose another problem for many businesses. Companies that need to extrapolate technical specifications between spreadsheets, catalogues and business systems and then publish this content to their online channels can struggle and the manual effort required can often be a barrier to expansion for many organisations.
But marketplace requirements and managing product content aren’t the only challenge businesses need to overcome to succeed online:
- Manual data entry: Non-integrated orders, inventory and fulfilment data represent a significant challenge for internal teams responsible for managing increasing demands across new channels.
- Order management: Coordinating inventory between fast moving channels can be difficult, especially if your business relies on manual processes.
- Fulfilment: Selling products is only the first step, efficiently fulfilling those online orders in a timely manner can be challenging.
- High returns: Returns require time and resource to be processed and don’t generate profit. Businesses who have to deal with an increasing number of returns can suffer from a lack of profitability.
Webinar recording
To access a recording of the webinar please register at: https://www.truecommerce.com/uk-en/learn/library/demand-webinar/webinar-post-pandemic-ecommerce-ireland
The TrueCommerce suite of digital commerce services and applications enables you to create a seamless omnichannel experience by helping you manage your eCommerce store, connecting you to over 100 online marketplaces, syndicating and publishing your product data to all your sales channels and integrating your EDI with your ERP whilst connecting you to over 160,000 global trading partners.
Useful links:
If you’re interested in increasing your online sales, accelerating your digital capabilities or preparing your business for the future, why not contact TrueCommerce to discuss how they can speed up and simplify the process?
Tags: online selling, truecommerce, ecommerce,