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Vietnam expects to generate $35 billion turnover from e-commerce by 2025

Vietnam e-commerce
Vietnam e-commerce

While we have been concentrating on e-commerce markets such as the US, Canada, Europe and even India, we have to acknowledge that many of the growing markets in this space are being left behind. But that does not mean they are not making progress in the space and the fact is that they are making quite a lot of progress.

Talking about progress and e-commerce revenue, the biggest marker for any market is the turnover that e-commerce generates for them. This is the total amount of sale that the entire market is making regardless of profit or loss or gross revenue and all those figures.

This is also a good figure to be pointed out when we are looking at the raw data of any market’s contribution to the economy. Now, we have a new report regarding Vietnam and this shows that one of the biggest markets was being neglected by us in being reported. As per the report, Vietnam is expecting to have a strong turnover of close to $35 billion by the year 2025 which is in the next five years.

Also, these are not just numbers given by the Vietnam government but they have made an action plan for the same as well which has been announced on Monday in the country.

According to the Vietnamese officials, “more than half of Vietnam’s 96 million people are set to shop online by 2025”. This way, they will be able to generate more revenue and turnover from online sales rather than offline and local markets.

The government also mentions that “Each online shopper is expected to spend an average of $600 a year by 2025”. It also mentions that “online shopping should account for 10% of Vietnam’s total retail sales of goods and services by then”. As of 2019, Vietnam’s turnover in e-commerce is said to be $19 billion and the country hopes to double this in next five years.

Microsoft and FedEx are partnering to deliver packages in the US

Microsoft Azure
Microsoft Azure

Two of the biggest companies in the US, FedEx and Microsoft, have announced a new partnership and this is for something that Amazon should be worried about. This is because Microsoft and FedEx have teamed up to deliver packages and pose a challenge for Amazon in the US markets. As far as the reports are concerned, both these companies have teamed up and they say that this will “transform commerce” in the country. This is with the help of Microsoft providing their cloud support whereas FedEx already has a robust delivery service put in place.

As part of this announcement, both Microsoft and FedEx also announced the name of their venture. This venture called FedEx Surround will give real-time analytics into the supply chain and delivery, so companies could potentially better ship goods. It clearly suggests that Microsoft will provide their data analytics and prowess in the department to share the same with FedEx who will benefit from those data to deliver efficiently.

Having said that, not all the details of this partnership have been revealed yet which includes the amount FedEx will have to pay to Microsoft in order to use their Azure cloud computing services. This also means that FedEx is showing Amazon that they are going away from Amazon Web Services and choosing Microsoft Azure to challenge the company on multiple fronts.

This is also because FedEx was miffed as a result of Amazon’s continued push to move away from them for its delivery service and build their own delivery service. A report also claimed that Amazon is already delivering half of all the packages in the US and that could reach 80-90% once Amazon ramps up its delivery services. This is the reason why FedEx wants most of the non-Amazon parcels to be delivered by them and choosing Microsoft is a step in that direction.

AirDev: An innovative No-Code company significantly reducing time to market for eCommerce

Digital Icons – A vlog series

Tricks of the trade to grow and nurture your business

No-code development has been getting much attention lately. Can you tell us a brief insight into what this innovation is all about?

No-code is just the latest iteration of how we tell computers what to do. Software development started with binary (0s and 1s) because electricity only has two states: off and on. But it’s really inefficient to write binary because you have to write a lot of it for even a very simple command. So over time people built abstractions on top of binary – first assembly languages (i.e. X86), then programming languages (i.e. Java), then frameworks (i.e. Ruby on Rails), and now no-code tools. The exciting thing about no-code is that it’s usable by a much larger group of people than the coders of the world. But, at the end of the day, even software built without code gets turned into the same 0s and 1s under the hood.

nocode development
nocode1

There are issues of vendor lockin, IP control, ability to migrate as an independent application: How are you handling these?

Yes, it’s very true that when you build on a no-code platform you then have to continue using the platform to run the application. Here’s how our platform of choice, Bubble.io, handles the listed concerns:

Their policy is that the user who builds the application owns all of its IP and data

The developer can export all of their data at any point, either through an API or CSV download

If they want to build an independent application they can always do that and plug into the Bubble API to have the two applications talk to each other

Many No-Code platforms generate half baked solutions, and eventually, the companies have to shift out. How is your solution different?

This works exactly the same way with no-code as it works with code. The quality of the application depends on the quality of the development process. We believe our approach is high-quality and results in great applications. But there are certainly a lot of poorly built software applications out there, developed with and without code.

How does No-code development work?

The way it works is that a programmer creates an application not by writing code but by doing things that are more visual. So, instead of writing code that describes a button that should be on the screen, they just drag and drop a button onto the screen. And instead of writing code that specifies what should happen when you click on that button, they make human-readable logical statements.

How will No-code development change the e-commerce landscape?

In many ways it already has. Shopify hosts hundreds of thousands of online stores and Shopify is a no-code tool. Someone who wants to start an online store no longer has to worry about all the things that Amazon had to worry about – spinning up servers, hiring expensive engineers, etc. However, Shopify has technical constraints and many businesses need functionality that falls outside of those constraints.  We are more excited about tools like Bubble.io, which allow you to build basically any functionality that you need without using code, which will result in lots of e-commerce experiences that deviate from the traditional model.

No-code development is going to change the IT space in e-commerce? Does it spell an end for the tech-heads?

I predict the opposite – a lot more tech-heads, along with a re-definition of what a tech head is. That person no longer needs to be a genius who started coding at 5 years old but instead an analytical generalist who uses no-code tools to build stuff.

From the total cost of ownership point of view, some of the nocode solutions ends up being more expensive that the custom development, how are you handling it?

We haven’t really seen this play out. From our experience, no-code solutions end up 5x+ cheaper than having developers build from scratch.

What kind of applications can be created using No-code development? Are they going to be up to par with what previously exists?

Even at this point, most kinds of web applications (marketplaces, e-commerce tools, sales tools, etc) can be built without code.  And, when there is a technical limitation, the no-code web app can be supplemented with code to overcome that limitation. However, native mobile development is not quite there yet when it comes to no-code. You can’t yet build an application like Whatsapp or Uber and have it be comparable to the coded version. I expect this limitation to go away within the next few years.

How can businesses revamp the online marketplace using No-code development?

We predict that, as no-code development makes creating software drastically faster and cheaper, we will see a lot more niche tech-enabled businesses pop up. In the past, it didn’t make financial sense to build a tech product that serves a small audience because of how expensive it was (thus the VC model). But with no-code it will be very possible to have a highly profitable online business that serves 1,000 customers. Which will result in an explosion of these types of businesses that are able to serve their customers in a much more tailored way.

What are the plans for Air Dev over the next few years?

We’d love to bring a large number of new people into the world of tech. Both on the client-side (non-technical people launching software startups) and on the developer side (non-coders making a living building software).

About AirDev

AirDev is a San Francisco-based development firm that specializes in rapid no-code development. We build fully custom web platforms (marketplaces, SaaS, productivity tools, etc.) in 1-5 weeks and at a fraction of the cost using this new approach. Our clients range from early-stage startups to Fortune 50 companies that use us to quickly and affordably launch new products.
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Jack Ma resigns from SoftBank board due to record loss prediction

Jack Ma
Jack Ma

We have seen how Jack Ma has had a huge influence on the Chinese entrepreneurship market as well as the hold of Chinese e-commerce because of AliExpress and its related companies. However, it must be noted that Jack Ma is also a board member in SoftBank which is the leading investment company in the world which recently bought majority stakes in WeWork. Now, we know that there were mere hours left before we were getting to know about the earnings call from SoftBank and it was estimated that they are on track to post record losses due to the Coronavirus and related problems.

But we have even more breaking news which is that Jack Ma has resigned from the SoftBank board and the financial losses seem to be the main reason behind this move. Also, along with news of Jack Ma’s resignation, SoftBank revealed that the Japanese company is preparing to double the money it has spent on repurchasing its own shares.

Now, there is a history behind Jack Ma’s inclusion in the SoftBank board as well. It is known that SoftBank Chief Executive Masayoshi Son had invested $20 million in Alibaba long time and that capital grew to become $100 billion due to the rise of Alibaba in the Chinese market. It is known that the funds from SoftBank’s investment in Alibaba group helped them “transform itself from a telecom company into the world’s largest and most powerful tech investor”.

Since then, it is known that “Mr. Son has pumped enormous amounts of capital into cutting-edge and often risky start-ups, companies that he believes have the potential to effectively monopolize entire industries”. However, we also know that many of them have turned out to be riskier than profitable such as WeWork, Uber, Airbnb and others which have made a name for good or worse.

Analysts say advertisers should figure out their online strategy post COVID ‘in a hurry’

Online advertising
Online advertising

We have seen that the world is changing at a rapid rate and no better example can be given of this then the Coronavirus outbreak. We were literally welcoming the new year a few months back and poised to have a positive 2020 when the things took a turn for the worst and now everyone is sitting at their homes for the last two months with not much work to do and a recession just around the corner once everything starts. This also means that the marketing people who were doing their campaigns online and offline have stopped doing that for the fear of economic crisis and a cash crunch.

Now, things are slowly getting back to normal and people are returning to their jobs whereas e-commerce was already known to be doing well in this period and it will also be back when it comes to non-essential item deliveries. However, there is only one problem here is which is the way in which advertisers will have to do their campaigns once again in this post-COVID-19 era where things are definitely not normal.

As far as analysts are concerned, it is known that their job is to perform analysis on the impact caused on different sectors of the world and its economic impact and they have done so on the advertising industry as well. Analysts have now said that “Following the onset of Covid-19, it has not been surprising to see the strength in e-commerce, but what has caught us by greater surprise has been the boon (in) lower-priced media — particularly on Facebook — has been toward that acceleration,”

They add that “Table stakes are getting your online strategy right — yesterday. If you have not had a cohesive online e-commerce strategy, you better figure one out in a hurry,” because most believe that e-commerce is going to stay here from now on.

Everyday was reportedly a Black Friday in April 2020 as per data

Shopping surge
Shopping surge

It is a fact that online retailers have been seeing a boom in shopping due to the Coronavirus crisis that has meant that everyone is confined inside their homes. This is also because the physical stores of offline retailers have been closed and they are also looking to start online sales of their products. Having said that, we are seeing an unprecedented surge in online shopping right now and a new report shows that this surge has been crazy. This new report regarding shopping during the Coronavirus shows that people have been shopping in April 2020 like it was the holiday season.

As per the report, there was a record number of sales last month and it has crossed the records set in 2019 holiday season as well. Also, it can be said that each day in April was a Black Friday because the sales we saw on a single day were seen every day last month. PriceSpider CEO said that “In the past few weeks, we’ve seen historic shifts across e-commerce, whether it be how much they’re buying, what they’re buying or where they’re buying it,”

It was also seen that May 3 was a historic day because the orders on this day alone were quite massive in comparison to all the other days during this pandemic which is still going on. This is also because May 3 was the last day before which “stay-at-home” orders were put in place by the US administration meaning that people are now not allowed to roam out other than for buying essential items.

However, the difference between Black Friday and these sales was that people were not looking for deals on products. Instead, they were buying essential items at a regular or even higher price to stock up on them. However, there is also a concern that the regular holiday season will not see as many sales due to recession and unemployment.

Amazon reportedly suffered during COVID crisis due to delayed orders

Amazon delivery
Amazon delivery

It is important to note that we are currently living in unprecedented times which the world has not seen before in decades. There is a Coronavirus pandemic going around in the whole world and everyone is suffering from it in some way or the other. However, we know that the only thing that is running all over the world is e-commerce and delivery business that is thriving since people want to have essentials and products delivered which they can’t go out and buy. For this reason, it was predicted that Amazon being a mega brand in the e-commerce sector would dominate in this period.

Well, we have seen that the net worth of Jeff Bezos, as well as Amazon, have gone up considerably since the crisis started and people kept ordering online. However, we are also seeing reports now that Amazon did not have that great a run in the market as we initially expected. People were expecting Amazon to absolutely crush rivals because they have a great supply chain and delivery mechanisms. But that seems to have failed during this crisis as we got reports that the majority of people’s orders were getting delayed.

What this meant was that Amazon left the door open for its rivals to also take a fair share of advantage during this crisis in taking people’s orders and they did so quite well. Since Amazon users were getting delayed orders or even estimates, they would go to rival companies and see what their estimates where and if they were earlier then the rivals would be preferred since everyone wanted to get their packages as soon as possible. In normal conditions, however, that would not be the case since Amazon is known to be the fastest delivery service in the US due to its large fleet of delivery.

Temporary store closures from COVID-19 might turn out to be permanent

Store closure
Store closure

The world has noticed the impact of the Coronavirus and we also know that all the retail stores around the world are closed due to this reason. It is also seen that stores around the world are putting a “temporarily closed” banner in front of their physical space. However, it is seen that many of them are succumbing to the pressure of Coronavirus because they have to pay the rents while the sales are zero during this period. Now, a new report has emerged during this pandemic which could be seriously bad for the industry.

According to the report, it is said that the stores that have been closed on “temporary” basis right now might even be closed on “permanent” basis and this is because of their financial condition. Nordstrom is one big retail player and they announced back when the lockdown started that all their stores in the US, Canada and Puerto Rico will be closed to stop the spread of the virus. Now, a new comment from them reveals that 14% of their stores which are sixteen of these shops will never open for the public which means that they are permanently closed. In other words, this is a measure from Nordstrom to cut costs wherever necessary and it is more than likely the stores that have been closed were either making marginal profits or even none at all.

Nordstrom is believed to be a healthier business in the industry and one expert says that “If they’re taking that sort of reflective look at their physical footprint, I suspect others will as well.” This means that other businesses that were not very healthy even before the pandemic will have to close fully or 50% of its operations after the pandemic. Another expert predicted that “20% of brick-and-mortar stores in places such as North America and Western Europe could close due to the pandemic”.

France e-commerce market will rise to 115.2 billion euros this year

France e-commerce
France e-commerce

We are seeing a trend in the world economy where people are moving towards e-commerce and that traditional commerce is still playing a major role but the role of e-commerce cannot be ignored as well. Talking about the same, we have the deadly Coronavirus pandemic right now which means that people are almost exclusively shopping online for both the essentials and the non-essentials.

This means that the likelihood of e-commerce’s share in the GDP of any countries’ economy is much higher. It is also the reason why governments are encouraging people to shop from online stores and even developing stores for local markets to sell their products online.

At the same time, we have a report from France which reveals that the country’s e-commerce market will continue to grow at a rate similar as last year in 2020 as well. The thing to note here is that the e-commerce contribution to France’s GDP will also rise close to 5% with this year’s increase meaning that it plays a major role in the contribution to their economy. As for the raw numbers, it is expected that France e-commerce will have a turnover of 115.2 billion euros by the end of this year which was 103.4 billion euros last year.

This means that France will see a rise of 11.4% in its e-commerce turnover as compared to last year which could be even more if the lockdown situation gets extended since people will then have to buy most of the things online. It is worth noting that France e-commerce turnover in 2013 was just 49.5 billion euros and it has been steadily rising ever since then. Also, the report mentions that France is seeing an increase in spending by each e-commerce customer too. As for payments, France e-commerce users prefer paying by cards which contribute to 80% of their payments.

Logistics platform DispatchTrack raises $144M for its last-mile delivery service

Dispatch Track
Dispatch Track

We have seen how the world has literally changed within months where we all had been planning to do stuff for the new year and have been locked down inside our homes because no activity can be done fearing a virus contraction. This is also the reason why we are seeing economic packages being released by the central governments and people thinking about how they can revive their businesses since everything is on a standstill right now. One way to do so is to adopt the e-commerce trend because we have seen that one business that is definitely going to work in the future is e-commerce delivery as well as buying and selling.

Now, we have seen that not everyone can have the resources that Amazon, Walmart or Best Buy have and so they are facing the problem of inventory management as well as an efficient delivery mechanism where the orders are not delayed and they don’t face issues as well. For this reason, we have Dispatch Track which is a company that does what it is named after. The company looks after the last-mile delivery for companies that want to have an Amazon-like service.

As per TechCrunch, Dispatch Track “provides a platform for last-mile deliveries specifically to help companies mimic Amazon-like experiences for themselves by planning and tracking deliveries more easily”. It is now known that the company has raised $144 million in funding and this is also the first round that Dispatch Track have ever raised meaning that they were bootstrapped up until now.

The simple description of Dispatch Track is that it is a “kind of all-in-one logistics and delivery toolkit designed for ecosystems that include physical storefronts, warehouses, drivers and end customers”. The company has been able to grow up to 60 million deliveries per year and with the latest investment, it is expected to grow multiple times.

US e-commerce sales see 49% jump in April thanks to online grocery

US e-commerce
US e-commerce

While we are all aware that the pandemic has caused a lot of damage to the countries around the world, we also know that there are some trends which we cannot ignore at all. One of these trends is that online grocery has been showing a massive upward curve. People are buying grocery online and they will continue to do so since it is not safe to go outside and buy stuff that can be delivered at the doorsteps. On the other hand, we also know that non-essentials are not being delivered right now by most companies so its sales are taking a hit.

However, there is a new report regarding the US e-commerce sales which reveals that there is a massive growth seen in this department. According to this report, the US e-commerce sales have seen 49% growth in April this year. However, it must be said that retail sales were down by the same margin so we feel that the sales have rounded off in totality. Also seen is that the sales jump in the e-commerce sector has been because of the contribution by online grocery delivery. Since the majority of the people are ordering grocery at home, this trend was likely to be seen and we now have the numbers to show as well.

This report from Adobe shows that “consumers are willing to spend on products that will help them manage the COVID-19 crisis. This includes, in large part, online grocery pickup and delivery.” Another interesting detail is that “computer prices even crept up in April, due to rising demand. Plus, sales of audio mixers, microphones, microphone cables and other audio equipment jumped 459% in April as would-be podcasters and various creatives set up their home studios”. We are also getting reports that Logitech saw serious growth in their sales due to people working from home.

PepsiCo launches two new websites for online sales during COVID-19

Pepsico
Pepsico

We have seen that every other company has had to make adjustments to how it makes sales of its products and no company, either big or small, has been kept out of this. Now, one area that we have not focused on much is the food department and especially the packaged food department such as chips manufacturers and cold-drink suppliers. The biggest name in this industry is PepsiCo which runs multiple brands of selling snacks as well as beverages and we also know that most people like to buy them as well.

On the other hand, the lockdown situation and the virus outbreak has meant that people were stocking up on things and snacks come first on the list of these items. So it is known that the sales were drastically up during that time period. But now that everyone is inside and quarantined, their sales have gone down and limited to only those who have gone out to buy things. This means that Pepsico has also had to think out of the box and they have started delivering snacks and products from their lineup online.

According to the report, Pepsico has also bought two domains namely Snacks.com and PantryShop.com in order to make online sales during this time. The statement from Pepsico also claims that “Snacks.com will feature more than 100 Frito-Lay products, while PantryShop.com will offer meal kit-esque bundles of snacks — think Gatorade and Sun Chips. As FastCompany reports, items purchased on these new websites “should arrive within two business days,”

As per a new report studying the impact on sales due to the virus, it was observed that Pepsico’s sales went up 10% higher due to panic buying and people stocking up on things but it has gone down since then so this move from the company seems obvious as well.

Clyde is helping e-commerce businesses offer extended warranty by raising $14 million

Clyde warranty extension
Clyde warranty extension

We have seen that e-commerce is going through a lot of change right now even though we know that they are the only ones delivering to customers due to lockdown situation everywhere. Right now, we know that the main priority for these companies is to deliver essential items as well as non-essential items and then focus on other parts of the business such as customer engagement and sales support etc. However, we know that once the situation eases out, we will see that companies focus on this aspect of their businesses a lot as well and there will be changes to their models.

Now, one change we have already seen is that e-commerce companies are starting to offer extended warranties since people can’t go out and return their products while the warranty might get expired. We have a new startup called Clyde which is working to provide e-commerce businesses with a way to extend the warranties for their customers. Clyde has also announced that funding of $14 million has been raised by them in the recent round.

We will now try and understand how exactly does Clyde help e-commerce in extending the warranty for their customers. As per the company’s explanation, Clyde is a platform that connects small retailers to insurance companies to launch and manage product protection programs. In addition, customers can access a dashboard and e-commerce apps to manage their protection programs.

Clyde’s CEO says that “We give you access to large insurance companies and we enable you to launch the program live on your website or physical point of sale and store wherever you sell.” Clyde CEO also reveals that Amazon’s extended warranty offer does not share revenue with its seller which is not the case with their company since Clyde shares revenue of warranty extension with them.

Groove raises $12M for its sales engagement automation plans

Groove, for those of you who don’t know, is a platform that is famous among marketers as well as sellers because it helps the sales team show which product is working for them and selling more and which is not. This gives them an idea about where they can put more focus and where the pedal needs to be lifted from the gas. Now, we know that many other providers give you the same feedback but Groove takes this a step forward and you can ask any salesperson and they will vouch for Groove.

Now, there is a new funding round which has been done by Groove which is regarding automation of its sales engagement. According to Groove CEO’s announcement, they have raised $12M of funds in a new round and that they will use those funds “to expand awareness and accelerate adoption”. We know that the future of sales will be AI and Machine Learning and the marketers will rely on those tools to predict what will work in the future and what will not.

Already, we are seeing reports that 87% of the people in this business are ready to or are using “machine learning for sales forecasts and email marketing”. This means that the number is likely to reach 100% very soon and that it will take place sooner than expected because of the pandemic situation right now where door-to-door surveys and other methods of finding out customer trends will not be possible.

Talking about some features provided by Groove, the platform allows “click-to-call functionality across Gmail, Outlook, Salesforce, flows, and other services. With local presence calling, sales reps can have calls come from numbers within any area code and can send and receive SMS messages directly from a PC in nearly real-time” which means that the process becomes that much easier for salespeople.

Online checkout launched by Square to take on PayPal

Square payments
Square payments

You must have seen that e-commerce is the only part of the world economy that is trending right now since everything else is going down. However, we also know that e-commerce sources product from local commerce so we have that as well. Talking about e-commerce, payment process for online stores is also a major part of acquiring customers since it proves to be a tough part as well. We have seen that e-commerce stores have emerged from nowhere and some big e-commerce stores have vanished because they couldn’t figure out how to perfect the payment process.

Now, we are here to report about a new feature being released by Square which is one of the biggest payment platforms after PayPal. Similar to PayPal, Square has now launched a new feature on its platform which is known as online checkout. It is just like how you would pay with PayPal. For example, if you are buying something and you would checkout with PayPal, it will give you the options to pay from PayPal’s dashboard. Now Square will also do the same and let you pay with Square dashboard regardless of where you are buying the products.

Square is seen to be targeting the customers who are not big stores but normal sellers who would want to accept payments in an easy manner. For example, Square says that people who want to take payments via its online checkout “can sign up to Online Checkout, and from the dashboard, they can create a link for any goods or service that they want to accept payment for — this could be cake-baking or an online fitness class — and give the link a title and a corresponding dollar amount”. It clearly shows that Square wants people from all walks of life accept payment, small or big, using their platform without any issues.

Trend of elderly complaining about e-commerce services is increasing

Elderly customer complaints
Elderly customer complaints

We have seen that the e-commerce deliveries are going on right now despite the fact that we are seeing a surge in lockdown measures and people are advised to stay at home right now. This also means that we are going to see some measures being put in place for e-commerce as well and some of them are already there. Since Coronavirus is something that happens to the younger generation as well as the older people, we have seen companies making special provisions for shopping by elderly people. However, a new report now shows that elderly people are also having complaints when it comes to shopping online.

This new report from Korea shows that there is an increase in complaints given by the elderly people and it is regarding their shopping and delivery. As per the report, “The Korea Consumer Agency said that the number of e-commerce-related claims filed by consumers aged 60 or older has grown rapidly in recent years”. In 2017-2018, the number of total complaints filed by the elderly was 3.5% annually which has grown up significantly and there needs to be something done in this matter.

As per the same report, half of these reports which count for 51.2% to be precise, have been filed against the products or services that are bought from online e-commerce platforms whereas rest of them are filed against door-to-door delivery services as well as telecalling companies. There is also a rise in the numbers right now because elderly people are either not able to get the delivery required or they are having to do things extra in order to get the delivery since measures are put in place to prevent the virus outbreak. The agency also mentions that complaints from people under the age of 60 has dropped by 6% in contrast during the same period.

Apple reportedly planning to re-open retail stores in the US

Apple stores
Apple stores

While no one is new to the fact that we have a virus outbreak right now and the fact that the world economy is on a standstill due to it, we have seen that all the retail locations have been closed and those who can are going the e-commerce route for selling things that are essential during these times with the expansion of delivery for non-essentials coming later. Having said that, we have a growing number of people in the US complaining that they should be allowed to go out even if that means catching the virus.

But most of the US economics and experts are opposing this saying that it will have a ripple effect on the cases and they will shoot up much more than what they are right now. On the other hand, we have a new report coming in from Apple via CNBC which reveals something different. It is said that Apple is already planning to re-open their retail stores in some locations of the US such as “Idaho, South Carolina, Alabama and Alaska starting next week.” This means that the company has already made their plans as to where they will resume sales of their products.

An Apple representative even said that “We’re excited to begin reopening stores in the US next week, starting with some stores in Idaho, South Carolina, Alabama and Alaska,”. “Our team is constantly monitoring local health data and government guidance, and as soon as we can safely open our stores, we will.” This is also a good way for Apple to judge their demand right now since we know that tech products might not be a priority for many right now given a recession is looming and jobs are lost every day. Apple says they will allow limited customers at a time inside their stores and social distancing as well as temperature checks will be done daily.

Shopify News, Shopify reviews and Shopify Comparisons

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Apple starts online ‘store hub’ for shopping assistance at home

Apple Store
Apple Store

Apple is one of the best companies when we look at their sales figures and that they have been doing so for a long time. We know that the company has some bulk load of fans as well who are there to support the company by buying their products and there is a good reason as well. We can all agree that the company makes great products. However, this is a time of crisis for everyone and Apple is also out of this because they also have to close their stores everywhere. It is known that Apple Stores are a contributing factor to the company’s sales because people like to try the products before buying them.

However, we know that Apple is a technology company meaning they do have everything sorted when it comes to ordering online. But some people are just not comfortable with the process so Apple has done something regarding that. The company has launched an “online store hub” which is basically a shopping assistant like the ones you get inside Apple Stores, but online.

These are called Apple Specialists and the company says they will help you in the ordering process as well as answering your questions or just say “a friendly hello”. Apple also says that they are “offering no-contact delivery”. The company is clearly targeting the audience who likes to shop products from their physical stores. Since they do mention the fact that “Everything you love about our stores is online,”

Having said that, we should note that Apple just posted their quarterly earnings and there was no noticeable difference in their sales or income. But they do mention that the coming quarter will be difficult for them and it will get worse if the situation gets out of control and the lockdown has to be extended.

Costco reports soaring e-commerce orders, but mentions stay-at-home orders hurt sales

Costco
Costco

We have already seen how the world has reacted to the Coronavirus pandemic and we also saw that there was a mad rush and panic buying in stores all over the world because there were stay-at-home orders given to people. This is also the reason why we had videos going viral of empty shelves and people fighting with each other to get that last roll of toilet paper that they can get. However, things are different when we take into account the fact that companies are reporting a slump in the sale despite those empty shelves.

If you were also fooled by those videos, here is what Costco has just reported. Well, we do know that the shelves got empty because people started buying everything they could get. However, it is also a fact that the condition remained such for only a few days and then things got back to worse than normal. The stores that would see 100s of customers coming in every day were remaining empty. Costco also says that they were hit hard due to the stay-at-home orders that were imposed by governors in the US.

Costco’s VP said that “Stay-at-home orders, social-distancing restrictions and some mandatory closures led to decreased traffic and sales in our warehouses,” He mentioned that “Limited service in travel and our food courts, closures of most of our optical, hearing-aid and photo departments, and lower volume and price deflation in our gasoline business negatively impacted our April sales by an estimated 12 percentage points, of which approximately 70% is related to gasoline.”

At the same time, Costco did mention that its e-commerce orders were seeing a huge hit since most people were refraining from coming out and ordering online instead to get the items delivered at their doorsteps. The company revealed it saw an “86%” growth in online sales which is “meaningful”.