How Covid-19 Affected Digital World

The uncertain times of the rising pandemic have put a lot of businesses in a state of halt. Every enterprise is facing a dramatic shift in its sales. Coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, has brought fear among the consumers because of which they are reluctant to purchase products from stores. However, many are still reliant on online purchases as they feel safer and offer a more contactless solution for shopping. Many businesses are beginning to market their products featuring sanitary measures to ensure safe delivery for their customers. Even the digital signage companies in Dubai and around the world are finding that consumer behaviour has abruptly changed towards the digital world. Therefore, many signage advertisers are introducing contactless and sanitary advertising strategies to keep viewers connected.

As much as everyone would like to believe that pandemic has a drastic impact on e-commerce businesses and digital marketing, it is quite the contrary. The fall in the stock market prices is incredible for many enterprises; however, its recovery does not appear to be as prolonged as one would imagine. As soon as the pandemic dies away, it is likely that the sales will get back to normal and companies will recover from their losses. For now, the impact of COVID-19 on businesses is inevitable. The digital world is seeing a slight uptick in sales as the consumers feel safer purchasing products online. Below are the ways how COVID-19 is affecting the digital world:

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INCREASED DEMAND FOR EFFICIENT CONFERENCING APPS

There has been an upsurge in employees working remotely from their homes. Many workers have shifted their offices to homes and are proceeding to work with the same zeal as before. The digital era has made it much easier for workers to work from home without facing any major difficulties. Working from home may not be the same as working from your office in many ways, however, for many companies, it is increasing work productivity.

Companies owning conferencing applications have seen a soar in the stock prices as people are engaging with the outside world through phone calls and video calls more than ever. Practising social distancing is made easier through conferencing apps, as they allow people to interact and execute meetings with colleagues. This allows all workers to be on the same page with their employers. Engaging through conferencing apps is also promoting people to transfer work on the digital platform. From businesses to education institutes, everyone is going about their daily routines, yet working remotely and interacting online.

BUSINESSES TURNING ON KIOSK MODE

People are avoiding retail outlets, as they fear that stores are going to be overcrowded; and they are not wrong. At the start of the pandemic, a lot of people packed supermarkets competing to panic buy the necessary items. The items include sanitizers, toilet papers, rice, flour, etc. This has led to a shortage of items too. For this reason, many businesses are now turning toward e-commerce businesses to control the supply and demand of goods.

Panic buying may put pressure on the delivery services of the companies, but shifting the businesses online has been beneficial for many enterprises. Retailers can put a limit on products consumers can buy at a time through digital kiosk applications. Kiosk applications allow brands to turn on the kiosk mode for their brand application that does not allow consumers to change the settings of the restriction policy. Customers will be confined to the purchase of only a certain number of products, regardless of their personal preference. The brands set the supply policy for their consumers accounting for several factors. They need to analyse what products are consumers most likely to panic buy, as the pandemic gets worse. While they also need to make sure, they are meeting the customer’s concerns with sound solutions.

SURGE IN ONLINE ADVERTISING

Many e-commerce businesses are reluctant to invest in traditional advertising. Not only has the consumer rates decreased but the production of the goods is also seeing a downfall. Where investing in traditional marketing does not appear to be the wisest decision, businesses are willing to promote their products through digital marketing campaigns. Due to the nationwide lockdown, many stores cannot be opened, while regular customers are not purchasing the products from the opened markets as they used to.

Advertisement of products through digital marketing is seeing an uptick as many businesses have shifted their businesses online. Despite consumers are beginning to purchase products online, digital marketing only seems to have a little impact on the sales for some brand categories. For this reason, online ads have lower their estimates for the first half of 2020. Digital advertising may be slowing due to coronavirus but as things appear to be under control, people are willing to make purchases online.

EVENTS ARE BEING HOSTED ONLINE

Events demand a large audience for the promotion and success of their events. However, because of the pandemic, events are either being canceled or postponed. Brands that sponsor events get immense benefits from the hosting event but due to the pandemic, these brands are finding themselves losing their customer loyalty. To prevent a big loss, event managers and companies are now scheduling events online. With entertainers such as BTS, a K-pop group, hosting live concerts via online platforms. Due to this technique, event holders are catching up on all of the loses and selling physical tickets online for all the online concerts. Similarly, many events that have the potential of being conducted through online conferencing apps are being hosted online.

Events being hosted on large platforms have the upper hand in the sense that it will allow people to avoid large-scale gatherings while still being able to organize and attend the events. Digital channels are growing as they are featuring the events that would normally be administered live. The advertising campaigns still need to get their message across to the people to get their attention towards the events. Online advertising is seeing an upsurge as brands reach an audience online to attract traffic and emphasize on online lead generation.

UNCERTAINTY IN PROFITS

Different experts are giving their own suggestions on how the pandemic can affect online businesses in the coming months. Some experts suggest that the online digital marketing activity and its impact will remain unaffected by the impact, as there is little next to no change in the daily utility demand of people. However, certain businesses will face immense downfall as consumer demand declines. These enterprises include hotels, airlines, etc., which can lead to interaction with the public and expose you to the deadly virus.

The digital marketing will also face a downfall attributing to the declined demand of the said enterprises. The SEO paid search and online display advertising will decrease drastically. In this uncertain time, there will likely be fewer searches for the products and services. However, even if the searches are unabated, there would not be any significant sales and marketers would be required to redirect their budgets.

DRIFT IN DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIES

Other enterprises that can be effectively operated online and purchases can be made through delivery services, their sales appear to be persistent over the past months. Brands that supply sanitary products are seeing an exception to this rule. The widespread virus has kept the people on their toes. They are practising every hygienic routine to avoid catching the virus. The virus is highly contagious and if the necessary measures are not taken to prevent the spread of the virus, it can lead to a much greater problem than many companies cannot afford.

As there has been an upsurge in demand for facemasks, hand sanitizers, toilet papers, etc. digital marketers are using this opportunity to their advantage. Using keywords of products that are high in demand will optimise your content which can lead to more traffic to your web page. Stores that have shifted their businesses online are a huge advantage if they choose to employ the said strategy.

CONCLUSION

During these uncertain times, as much as people need to practice social distancing and take proper hygienic measures to prevent the spread of the virus, they must focus on their work. Everyone is under stress as to what the situation might lead to. Working from home is becoming prevalent and many businesses are being shifted online.
Like everything else, the digital world has also seen a drastic change in digital usage. There may be a different school of thought as to how the impact has been for the digital world but according to studies, certain online businesses are benefiting far more than others are. The demands of consumers have changed, as they are more focused on purchasing the utilities as for now everyone’s primary concern is survival. Luxury is out of the questions for many. Keeping the heart of business pumping is the priority for all businesses and digitizing it seems to be the most rational option.

Author’s Bio :
Count Miler is a professional digital content creator having years of experience working for many different industries and recently working in Digital Signage Company. He is a book lover, Miler is a reader in moon and a writer in the sun.

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