Ecommerce sector to hit $19.7bn – Back of Coronavirus Pandemic
Current Situation
UAE malls acted promptly, and malls were shut down on March 25, 2020 in order to protect the health and safety of the general public and employees, the malls began partially reopening beginning April 25, 2020, but shoppers remain cautious.
Despite country-wide closures in the UAE, consumers barely needed to change a single product that they use, thanks to the digital infrastructure that Dubai and the UAE provide, an abundance of online retailers that deliver throughout the country and a digitally enabled population, nearly all of whom use the internet. From groceries to fashion, everything consumers shopped for at the malls is readily available to purchase online.
Ecommerce
As consumers avoid shopping malls in response to COVID-19, online retailers and e-commerce platforms are poised for growth.
Driven through necessity via covid-19 lockdown and curfew across the region, retailers in the region reveal growth from enforced switch to online sales, leading with Saudi Arabia at $8.3bn followed by UAE at $7.5bh, according to a panel of experts at the virtual roundtable on Intelligent Orchestration of Retail Experience.
Retail brand owners has identified the gap as well as the opportunities. They have seen tremendous demand to engage with retailers keen to make the shift. Consumers are now asking for more self-service, contactless payment options for shopping.”
Prior to the pandemic, records shows that retails had identify they online sale averaging at five percent of total sales, however records show a jump to 500 percent to 25 percent of sale during lockdown (settling to a 10 percent
Life After COVID-19
“Staying positive through negativity.”
Post COVID-19, shoppers will return to the malls, but not at the same levels as before, as online shopping habits will have become more routine.
The shift to online shopping has created tremendous opportunities for e-commerce retailers and the logistical and delivery services that cater for them. However, it is not a level playing field, and a significant number of retailers remain offline. This in turn creates an opportunity for governments to ensure that their smaller retail-ers with limited online presence are not left behind by providing them with an e-commerce platform of their own. Not only will this help smaller retailers survive the pandemic, but it will also aid them in the long term as consumer shopping habits change.
There remains a significant number of mainly offline retailers who are at risk. The pandemic is temporally forcing the closure of ‘bricks-and-mortar’ retailers around the world as consumers switch to online shopping and this represents an urgent call to action for landlords and governments to provide a lifeline for struggling offline retailers.
Customer Key Factors
• Associate yourself with a trusted and respected real estate agency.
• Research their track record.
• Talk to a lender before you hire a real estate agent.
• Get referrals from your network.
• Research potential candidates.
• Interview at least three real estate agents.
• Request references — and check them.
• Go with your gut.