The Impact of Covid-19 on E-Commerce Platforms and The Opportunities and Challenges They Face

Abstract

Since the outbreak of Covid-19 in 2019, many countries set policies to deal with Covid-19. Because of these policies, many people were restricted from going out. Hence, E-commerce platforms are the preferred way of shopping for many people during Covid-19. The aim of this paper is to examine the impact of Covid-19 on E-commerce platforms and how they can be improved in response to the epidemic. According to the financial status of several E-commerce platforms, sales and revenue increased during the Covid-19 period compared to the past. Furthermore, essential goods are the items that most people preferred to buy during the epidemic time. Mounika Veeragandham’s research shows that 50% of respondents chose to buy essential goods during the epidemic time, which is the highest compared to other purchases. And more people prefer to shop on E-commerce platforms than on traditional ways. To better respond to Covid-19, many E-commerce platforms have taken some measures such as shared employees and online consultation. Based on the above phenomenon and its analysis, this paper hopes to provide some reference for the development of E-commerce platforms in the epidemic situation.