The beginning of the year 2020 does not seem to go too well, not only just for me or you, but the entire world. And the only reason for that is the Coronavirus which has shaken everyone and created chaos globally.
Originated from the Wuhan City of China, the COVID-19 has spread across countries infecting and killing many. This global pandemic has severely affected businesses, be it offline or eCommerce.
Before I proceed further, let’s understand what this COVID-19 is, what are its symptoms, how it can be prevented and lastly how it is affecting businesses.
What is COVID-19?
Corona Virus Diseases 2019 or COVID-19 is an infectious disease that spreads from person to person through respiratory droplets like when an infected person coughs or sneezes. These droplets can transfer from that infected person to the other person and make them infected too. And that’s how this coronavirus chain is formed.
A person can become the victim of COVID-19 in some other ways as well, like by touching an object or a surface that has the virus attached to it and then touching their face with those hands.
Symptoms of Corona Virus
People infected with Corona Virus might display symptoms like-
- Mild to strong fever
- Dry Cough
- Difficulty in breathing/ Shortness of breath
The symptoms are not reflected immediately but usually after 1-2 weeks. Therefore it is advised not to be careless and take preventive measures.
How can Corona Virus be prevented?
- Wash your hands often properly for at least 20 seconds | Use Sanitizer
- Maintain Social Distancing
- Avoid touching your face with unwashed hands
- Stay Home
- Cough into your elbow
Impact of COVID-19 in eCommerce
With the everyday increase in the total number of corona positive patients, the situation is only getting from worse to worst. From a local shopkeeper to popular eCommerce brands, the COVID-19 outbreak has left no one. Cities, states, even whole countries are getting locked down to prevent the spread of the disease and break its chain.
– Theatres, bars, restaurants, gyms, everything that involves mass gathering have been shut down.
– Corporates are left with no choice but to provide their employees with the work from home facility.
– Online food delivery businesses are almost shut.
– On-demand booking apps like OLA and Uber have also discontinued their facility in many places.
– Online shopping businesses have also witnessed a significant drop in the number of orders. Brick-and-mortar stores, on the other hand, are facing heavy downfall as people are not coming out of their home.
People have totally isolated themselves and are remaining inside their home. And this is the time when online streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hotstar are making the most out of it. There is even talk of these streaming services reducing down their streaming quality to avoid the heavy traffic congestion during this pandemic.
Health-related products like Masks, Sanitizers, etc. are being sold in huge numbers and the sales figure is touching sky.
Final word
Let’s just hope this COVID-19 pandemic ends soon and the world takes a sigh of relief. Till then, just stay at your home, enjoy Netflix and chill. That’s the best way to do the best for your people, for your country and for this world.
Hope things get back to normal again and we are living the same life as it was before this Corona pandemic.
We, at Knowband, are trying our best to help eCommerce businesses in this difficult phase. Following the Corona outbreak, we are thinking to make some modules cost-free for our customers.
Check out the list of the free modules below-
PrestaShop Product Check Availability by Zip Code
OpenCart Product Availability Check by Zip Code
Magento Product Availability Check by Zip Code
We have recently launched a Free COVID-19 Information Popup module as well for the PrestaShop and Magento 2 platform.
With the help of this module, you can notify your customers about any shipping and delivery related changes or any updates about your business. You can use this to educate your visitors about the preventive measures to stop the spread of the Coronavirus. And if you have some offers running on your website through which you want to help your customers in this quarantine period, you can do that too.
