Global e-commerce tactics to keep retail business alive

This article was originally posted on Smart Brief.

Macau Photo Agency / Unsplash

As the coronavirus crisis has covered the globe this year, Western retailers and brands can learn from China’s retail industry resilience.

In particular, China’s retailers and supermarkets have long been integrated with e-commerce and online marketing channels, partly thanks to strong efforts by digital giants Alibaba and Tencent, the country’s dominant players in e-commerce and social media.

So when draconian stay-at-home measures were instituted to fend off the coronavirus pandemic, many of China’s retailers were able to stay alive through on-demand delivery services, livestreaming e-commerce platforms and private WeChat groups. The digital infrastructure and consumers’ online shopping habits were already firmly established.

These tactics have come to serve customers well over the last few months, providing food delivery, groceries and valuable entertainment for the nation’s 712 million smartphone users, most of whom have been stuck at home.

We take a deeper look at how demand for these global e-commerce best practices has skyrocketed and how they can help your retail business survive the coronavirus crisis.

China’s on-demand delivery infrastructure pays off

China benefits from low-cost labor and relatively dense populations living in urban cities. Unlike the United States, China has few suburban areas where people live in large two-story homes and drive to work every day. China is primarily divided into urban and rural areas; as of 2018, approximately 60% of China’s 1.4 billion citizens lived in urban areas. Read more on Smart Brief