Does Coronavirus Crisis Really Boost e-Commerce?

Germany e-commerce and Bevh said that online retailers have not benefited from the closure of stores due to the New Crown virus crisis. Instead, turnover has dropped significantly. In March this year, revenue fell by 18% compared to the same period last year.

Now e-commerce has become a normal shopping channel. Therefore, the consumer atmosphere during this crisis period will also have a full impact on the e-commerce industry. Only in the physical stores, such as food stores, lifestyle supermarkets, pharmacies, and building materials stores, the types of goods in high demand have seen significant growth in online sales.

Among the best-selling commodities are medicines, whose sales increased by 88%. Food sales increased by about 56%. While sales of apparel fell by more than 35% in March, sales of consumer electronics products fell by nearly 21%. Although many people need supporting facilities to work from home, the retail sales of computers and their accessories have dropped by 22.7%.

e-Ticket service providers are the biggest losers

The online service industry has suffered huge losses, and the most severely affected are service providers such as travel, event planning, and air ticket booking. In March, its turnover fell by more than 75% compared with the same period last year.

The new crown crisis will trigger a wave of bankruptcy

A survey by Coface showed that one of the consequences of the New Crown Virus Crisis would be a large increase in the number of bankruptcies in German companies. The company’s bankruptcy rate is expected to increase by 11% in 2020. In January of this year, experts expected a bankruptcy growth rate of only 2%. However, compared with other countries, the bankruptcy of German companies is fairly limited.

It is estimated that the number of company bankruptcies will increase by 25% globally. The number of U.S. bankrupt companies is expected to grow the fastest, and may grow by about 39% during the year. The number of bankrupt companies in the UK is also expected to increase by about 1/3.

The new crown virus crisis will also have a serious impact on the newly industrialized countries. In addition to the decline in trade volume, the continuing decline in oil prices is also a problem.