INDUSTRY
BIG ASK
HOW HAS THE INDUSTRY ADAPTED TO THE GROWTH IN ONLINE COMMERCE? In a year where most of us had to move our professional and personal lives online due to multiple lockdowns and social distancing, we speak to the industry about how this shift looked in their businesses
TIM PERCIVAL, DIVISIONAL
and their ability to handle online orders, reducing the
DIRECTOR ANTALIS UK
need for staffed customer service teams.
In 2020, COVID changed
We saw new channels open. B2B2E – Business 2
everything. It touched the
Business 2 Employee; home workers requiring supplies
way we work, and where we
to facilitate home working - ordered through their
work; it stopped us working
normal business supplies provider, but delivered direct
and it caused more work. Data
to the employee’s home.
suggests that online retailing
From a capability perspective the industry is already
increased by 46.1% in 2020, the highest year-on-year
well-positioned to handle online orders; the biggest
increase since 2008.
challenge to overcome is around the quality of data/
According to the Office for National Statistics, in
content and imagery available to populate their web
Quarter 4, immediately prior to lockdown two, 38% of
stores with. Crucially for consideration is also how any
the UK population worked from home. The impact on
orders will be fulfilled/delivered to the point of need.
our industry varied significantly by region, with London
Today, data/content/imagery is probably adequate
reporting rates as high as 59% of the population
for transactional business - i.e., existing customers
working from home; this change in where we work
simply using the web store as a convenient method to
left offices empty, and often closed, particularly in the
order and re-order what they consume. Where this is
capital.
challenged is around consumers using the web stores
Many resellers were able to take advantage of government support and dramatically reduce resource; they were able to capitalise on previous investments,
[18] MARCH 2021
www.dealersupport.co.uk
to browse, primarily because they do not always know exactly what they want - or in fact need - to purchase. Let’s take the situation over the last 12 months,
