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Burgeoning E-Commerce Again, all this online buying could mean fewer cars on the road, fewer miles traveled, fewer accidents and less collision repair work. Change In Shopper Preferences Eventually COVID-19 will be beaten but, according to Rakutan, but what will remain is a “permanent change in shopper preference.” Many people will become more germ conscious. Many shoppers will prefer no-touch deliveries, while social businesses and outlets like communal buffets may suffer a loss in popularity. Consumers may also be less attracted to using public keypads, something which will force retailers to switch to no-touch technology with more focus on general hygiene. Body shops may need to be “sanitizing” customer cars for some time to come. Fighting Fire With Fire It’s more important now than ever, especially since so many people are online, for businesses, including body
shops, to have a prominent e-commerce presence so customers can find them. Business owners should look at their website and Facebook or other social media presence, or better yet, have a disinterested friend look at it. How does it compare, not necessarily against other shops, but the presence of other businesses? I will expand on this in a subsequent article. Looking To The Future Rakutan suggests “consumer views on shopping in a new ‘socially distant era’ will likely remain beyond the pandemic.” Consumers must now deal with what is becoming a “longterm side effect” of the pandemic and a “new normal.” The pandemic acted as a catalyst for consumers’ swift transition to digital commerce and it will likely remain. Rakutan says the post-pandemic situation is similar to the effect of the 2003 SARS epidemic in China. Like the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., SARS caused the closure of shops, schools and factories, but opened the gates for e-commerce merchants. Alibaba, the Chinese
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Nonprofit Finds, Matches Living Organ Donors MatchingDonors is the nation’s largest living organ donor nonprofit organization finding and registering living organ donors for people needing organ transplants in the U.S. Twenty-two people die every day in the U.S. waiting for a kidney transplant, most waiting seven to nine years. The team at MatchingDonors.com is working hard to make sure that does not happen by finding altruistic living organ donors for people needing kidney transplants. Many patients get their transplant through MatchingDonors.com within only six months, or less. In conjunction with various health organizations, MatchingDonors has created a successful PSA campaign to help people realize they can save lives by being a living organ donor, to encourage them to register as an altruistic living organ donor, and to make them realize they can help save the lives of people needing organ transplants by donating other things. For more information. see MatchingDonors.com. Source: MatchingDonors
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equivalent of Amazon, received a huge boost. According to GlobalData, a UK-based data analytics and consulting company, “COVID-19 will have a long-term positive effect on the e-commerce sector, with even the most skeptical consumers forced to abandon physical stores in response to restrictions on movement.” According to PaySafe, “winning in this new e-commerce environment means an even greater focus on consumer experience. To win and keep these new customers that want to shop online more frequently, merchants must offer a seamless product via both browser and smartphone app.” For body shops, this means they must make it easy for customers to reach them via the e-commerce experience.
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