Presently that it's been several weeks into Singapore's Circuit Breaker, there have been numerous changes to how people live and how they conduct business. To curtail the spread of the virus, the essential split work arrangements and shift work in 2020's first quarter evolved into a full-blown stay at home and work from home regulations starting from April 7th this year. Numerous challenges are arising from the Covid-19 outbreak.
This has made a sudden and dramatic change in consumer behavior, with more consumers turning to online shopping experiences, as non-essential businesses and offices are required to close their offices and stores. While circumstances caused the behavior to change quickly, the reversion back to normal may take significantly longer, if it even reverts to those levels. To help navigate these dubious times, we'll take a gander at some of the key developments and changes that have affected the eCommerce sector in Singapore and what it means for eCommerce businesses.
As per the study, about 37% of consumers in Singapore have increased the rate at which they were shopping online, with 76% indicating that they won't return to their traditional shopping ways after the outbreak. With this, we can conclusively say online purchases are turning into the new normal. The convenience and accessibility of online grocery and non-grocery purchases during this crisis have increased the number of online shoppers as well as changed over a good chunk of offline shoppers to online shoppers.
While the situation currently is indeed complex, opportunities still exist for eCommerce merchants to tide through the crisis as well as emerge stronger. For one, eCommerce consumption everything considered has surged greatly as consumers turn to the internet to make their purchases. With society spending additional time online, merchants presently have a great opportunity to focus on online advertising and to engage with consumers in a meaningful way. Given the current climate, consumers have expressed the prerequisite for eCommerce retailers to be more communicative, giving more updates on shipment statuses and giving promotions or changes to inventory considerably more frequently and openly. For more knowledge, read this blog.