4 ways in which e-commerce platforms have been affected by a global pandemic
As a worldwide epidemic unfolds, e-commerce giants have adapted their operation at an unforeseen speed.
Big players like Amazon and Walmart online are struggling to keep up and prevent potential health risks.
With significantly reduced foot traffic in malls and shopping centers, the population has placed their hopes and dreams upon online solutions.
1. The strain on global supply chains
COVID-19 will be the reason that many shareholders and industries will need to rethink and redefine their whole supply chains.
With the downfall of the world's factory, China, some Fortune 500 companies have suffered from a severe disruption in their operations. Especially the ones with ties to facilities around the Wuhan epicenter.
Apple has announced, in their quarterly investor update, that their iPhone supply is "temporarily restrained" due to the closing and reduced hours of some suppliers' facilities in China's Hubei Province.
America's favorite Lingerie brand, Victoria's Secret, posted on their webpage a statement saying that their online shop will continue to be open as all of their brick & mortar shops are temporarily closed.
Amazons' CEO, Jeff Bezos, has announced that they are still on board for Prime day, which is set to be two months from now. However, they have addressed the situation of delays on their current deliveries amongst the pandemic.
On the bright side, emerging technologies are improving supply chain visibility.
Shifting from a linear supply chain into a digital supply network (DSN's) will enable companies to be more connected and make way for flexibility and optimization.
Harvard Business Review highlights the fact that "The procurement function is measured by cost savings, not revenue-assurance.
2. Health & Safety measures taken by online retailers.
The Washington Post reported that as Amazon's warehouse workers test positive for COVID-19, the company has shut down some of its fulfillment centers to clean and disinfect their facilities.
Reuters has reported that at Lazada, part of Alibaba Group Holding BABA.N, their staff are displeased over the health requirements they are expected to comply with to prevent the spread of the virus. The workers feel like it’s a little too much and express their clash with Chinese-style management.
3.Consumer behavioral changes
Consumers nationwide are hoarding emergency supplies and other things.
We Americans tend to be particular about our toilet paper. But as fears amidst the coronavirus arise, the stockpiling has only just begun.
According to Nielsen's "Pandemic Pantries" report, citizens are gathering items beyond hand sanitizers, masks, and cleaning products. Non-perishable items such as canned goods, bottled water, sugar, and flour.
Up next, Nielsen's Pandemic Pantry table containing relevant information about the increase of CPGs sales over the course of one week in the U.S.
| Sales of shelf-stable CPG items are on the rise amid COVID-19 concerns | ||
| Category | Dollar Growth (%) | Unit Growth (%) |
| Oat Milk | 305.5% | 280.5% |
| Fruit Snacks | 12.6% | 4.7% |
| Pet Medicine | 11.0% | 8.6% |
| Dried Beans | 10.1% | 2.5% |
| Energy Beverages | 10.1% | 14.9% |
| Bath & Shower Wipes | 9.5% | 12.5% |
| Pretzels | 9.0% | 5.5% |
| Supplements | 7.8% | 9.7% |
| First Aid Kits | 6.2% | 0.2% |
| Water | 5.1% | 4.9% |
| Source: Nielsen Retail Measurement Services, Total U.S. All Outlets Combined (xAOC), the one week period ended Feb. 22, 2020 |
||
4. Price gouging
Price gouging occurs when a seller intends to take advantage of customers by increasing the prices of goods and services exponentially despite the unfortunate circumstances.
For example, the NYTimes reported that in Minnesota, a smoke shop was charging $79.99 for 36 rolls of toilet paper.
The NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) declared an emergency rule that makes it illegal for businesses and individuals to participate in price gouging for goods and services that limit prevent or even treat coronavirus.
It is illegal to increase prices by 10% or more, this applies to:
- Cleaning products
- Diagnostic products and services
- Disinfectants (wipes, liquids, sprays)
- Face masks
- Gloves
- Hand sanitizer
- Medicines
- Paper towels
- Rubbing alcohol
- Soap
- Tissues
The only exception is accepted If the price was raced because it costed more to supply them. If this is the case, you must provide proof to DCWP.
Walmart shared on its web page the following statement:
"Online, we are taking a firm stance related to the potential for price gouging by third-party sellers. Violations of our seller pricing policy and seller prohibited items policy will not be tolerated and will be resolved quickly."
eBay has shared on its website that they are continuously monitoring the listing and new products being posted. They are actively removing listings that contain the following words on the product title or description COVID-19, coronavirus, 2019nCoV , excepting books,
This week, they started restricted items such as toilet paper, baby formula, baby wipes, tampons, and diapers. The products will only be permitted for sale by business sellers in a fixed-price format.
E-commerce players must innovate in the way they operate their businesses. This epidemic might not be the last one to put a strain on global supply chains.
Just in time models work under optimal circumstances. However, when events like this occur, the importance of mapping effective backup plans is indispensable.
WWW.121CORP.COM
PRIVACY POLICY
This privacy policy has been compiled to better serve those who are concerned with how their 'Personally identifiable information' (PII) is being used online. PII, as used in US privacy law and information security, is information that can be used on its own or with other information to identify, contact, or locate a single person, or to identify an individual in context. Please read our privacy policy carefully to get a clear understanding of how we collect, use, protect or otherwise handle your Personally Identifiable Information in accordance with our website.
What personal information do we collect from the people that visit our blog, website or app?
When ordering or registering on our site, as appropriate, you may be asked to enter your name, email address, phone number or other details to help you with your experience.
When do we collect information?
We collect information from you when you subscribe to a newsletter, fill out a form or enter information on our site.
How do we use your information?
We may use the information we collect from you when you register, make a purchase, sign up for our newsletter, respond to a survey or marketing communication, surf the website, or use certain other site features in the following ways:
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Consent
We’ll ask for your consent before requesting any type of information, it’ll also be optional to do so. You can also easily withdraw it or change it at any time. However, failure to provide that consent will prevent us from delivering content and other experiences to you.
Where do we storage your data?
We store all your data exclusively on our servers for at least a year, and we are the only ones that have access to them.
How can you access to your data?
You can exercise, at any time, the rights of access, rectification, cancellation and opposition of your personal data via email, addressed to privacidad@121corp.com indicating your name, surnames, telephone number, attaching a photocopy of your ID or official document that proves your identity and clearly indicating the right you wish to exercise.
How to ask us to delete your data?
If you would like to unsubscribe from any of our communications you may do so by sending us an email to privacidad@121corp.com. Otherwise, by continuing to interact with our emails, you provide us with permission to manage and use your data as described above.
How do we protect visitor information?
We do not use vulnerability scanning and/or scanning to PCI standards.
We use regular Malware Scanning.
Your personal information is contained behind secured networks and is only accessible by a limited number of persons who have special access rights to such systems, and are required to keep the information confidential. In addition, all sensitive/credit information you supply is encrypted via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology.
We implement a variety of security measures when a user enters, submits, or accesses their information to maintain the safety of your personal information.
All transactions are processed through a gateway provider and are not stored or processed on our servers.
What happens if there’s a data breach?
We will inform all of our users within the first 72 hours.
Do we use 'cookies'?
We do not use cookies for tracking purposes
You can choose to have your computer warn you each time a cookie is being sent, or you can choose to turn off all cookies.
You do this through your browser (like Internet Explorer) settings. Each browser is a little different, so look at your browser's Help menu to learn the correct way to modify your cookies.
If you disable cookies off, some features will be disabled that make your site experience more efficient and some of our services will not function properly.
Third Party Disclosure
We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your personally identifiable information.
Third party links
We do not include or offer third party products or services on our website.
Google
Google's advertising requirements can be summed up by Google's Advertising Principles. They are put in place to provide a positive experience for users.
https://support.google.com/adwordspolicy/answer/1316548?hl=en
We use Google AdSense Advertising on our website.
Google, as a third party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on our site. Google's use of the DART cookie enables it to serve ads to our users based on their visit to our site and other sites on the Internet. Users may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy.
We have implemented the following:
• Google Display Network Impression Reporting
• Demographics and Interests Reporting
We along with third-party vendors, such as Google use first-party cookies (such as the Google Analytics cookies) and third-party cookies (such as the DoubleClick cookie) or other third-party identifiers together to compile data regarding user interactions with ad impressions, and other ad service functions as they relate to our website.
Opting out: Users can set preferences for how Google advertises to you using the Google Ad Settings page. Alternatively, you can opt out by visiting the Network Advertising initiative opt out page or permanently using the Google Analytics Opt Out Browser add on.
California Online Privacy Protection Act
CalOPPA is the first state law in the nation to require commercial websites and online services to post a privacy policy. The law's reach stretches well beyond California to require a person or company in the United States (and conceivably the world) that operates websites collecting personally identifiable information from California consumers to post a conspicuous privacy policy on its website stating exactly the information being collected and those individuals with whom it is being shared, and to comply with this policy. - See more at:
http://consumercal.org/california-online-privacy-protection-act-caloppa/#sthash.0FdRbT51.dpuf
According to CalOPPA we agree to the following:
Users can visit our site anonymously
Once this privacy policy is created, we will add a link to it on our home page, or as a minimum on the first significant page after entering our website.
Our Privacy Policy link includes the word 'Privacy', and can be easily be found on the page specified above.
Users will be notified of any privacy policy changes: • On our Privacy Policy Page Users are able to change their personal information: • By emailing us
How does our site handle do not track signals?
We honor do not track signals and do not track, plant cookies, or use advertising when a Do Not Track (DNT) browser mechanism is in place.
Does our site allow third party behavioral tracking?
It's also important to note that we allow third party behavioral tracking
COPPA (Children Online Privacy Protection Act)
When it comes to the collection of personal information from children under 13, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) puts parents in control. The Federal Trade Commission, the nation's consumer protection agency, enforces the COPPA Rule, which spells out what operators of websites and online services must do to protect children's privacy and safety online.
We do not specifically market to children under 13.
CAN SPAM Act
The CAN-SPAM Act is a law that sets the rules for commercial email, establishes requirements for commercial messages, gives recipients the right to have emails stopped from being sent to them, and spells out tough penalties for violations.
We collect your email address in order to:
To be in accordance with CANSPAM we agree to the following:
If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from receiving future emails, you can email us at
• Follow the instructions at the bottom of each email. and we will promptly remove you from ALL correspondence.
Contacting Us
If there are any questions regarding this privacy policy you may contact us using the information below.
www.121corp.com
7315 Winsconsin Avenue, Suite 400 W
Bethesda, MD 20814
USA
privacidad@121corp.com
Last Edited on May 25, 2018