Online shops are indispensable

Digital commerce Online shops are indispensable

Published on 21.01.2021 by Philippe Mettler, Digital Commerce Consultant, Post CH Ltd

Europe-wide lockdowns introduced to combat the pandemic have shown that retailers who embraced digitization early are at an advantage. They are more resistant to any decline in revenue. For any companies that still operate purely in stationary retail, now is the time to make the move online.

Whether in Switzerland or any other country: a direct consequence of the pandemic has been an almost explosive growth in digital commerce. There was an increase of between 35 and 40 percent across all sectors for the entire year. Entirely new customer bases have discovered online shopping and are ordering products that they previously only ever bought in-store. The current figures for online market Farmy.ch clearly demonstrate this trend. In a year dominated by coronavirus, the company has managed to boost its sales by an impressive 170 percent (in German)!

Anyone who was following the business news during the final quarter of last year will know that companies such as IKEA, Adidas, Inditex and other international corporations are all telling the same story: as predicted, in-store revenue has fallen due to shop closures. But online sales have grown swiftly. Those retailers who implemented an omni- and multichannel strategy early on have been able to partially absorb their losses.

COVID-19 has changed old habits

Retailers who never had an online shop before the pandemic or offered their customers only a very basic online service have been left behind by the lockdowns. Anyone investing all their energy in a purely stationary concept during these difficult times is depriving themselves of customers. Indeed, they don’t even have the option of keeping in contact with their customers. It would be highly risky to continue along this path, holding out hope that there’ll be a return to earlier days as soon as this pandemic is over. 

Experience from the past 20 years has shown that consumers who have become accustomed to a particular way of shopping will continue with it. And online shopping is set to become the “new normal” in a post-COVID era. The move to digital sales channels is a permanent one.

Obstacles in appearance only

Selling online requires technology. Checkout, sales funnel, usability: digital retail is already swarming with technical terms. And yet opening a shop requires neither a degree in information technology nor a particularly large investment. Where there’s a will, there’s a way – and a touch of creativity helps, too. Any company can get started in digital retail and reap the benefits.

A new shop in 14 days with Swiss Post

Swiss Post offers a new service that aims to support retailers as they enter the world of online retail. For a fixed price, you can benefit from the long-standing experience of our consultants and leading Swiss e-commerce agencies. We guarantee that you will be able to start selling from your online shop within two weeks. The technical basis is selected to be future-proof, so that you can continue harnessing the benefits of your investment for a long time to come.

When developing the concept, it was important to us that retailers were able to get online fast and with as little fuss as possible. This helps you to create a good foundation that will safeguard your future viability. After all, taking that first step is the only way to gain important experience that will ensure you can gradually succeed in conquering the digital sales channel.

More information can be found at “An online shop in only two weeks”, or you can contact us directly.

Philippe Mettler, Digital Commerce Consultant, Post CH Ltd

Philippe Mettler has many years of experience in consulting and project implementation, particularly in e-commerce, web and PIM. He has wide range of practical knowledge from customers from various sectors. Using this knowledge, he helps our customers further develop their digital competence and successfully operate in digital commerce.

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