Entrepreneurship

development
CIA- I

Done By,

Rahul Sebas Mathew- 1923317

Industry: E-commerce.
Subject: Impact of COVID-19 on the Industry.

About COVID-19:

COVID-19 the pandemic started as a pneumonia of unknown causes on DEC 31st of

2019 in a city called Wuhan in China. We all know how it shook the world after its
outbreak. COVID 19 is from the SARS family which was also a virus which killed
hundreds of people. We were not prepared for a pandemic like this and that clearly
shows. As of June 9th 2020, the total number of cases in India is 267k and people
recovered is 129k and total deaths are 7466. Currently (i.e 9/06/2020) USA has the
highest number of cases all over the world, it has 2 million cases.

The name COVID 19 (CoronaVirus Disease 2019) was given by WHO on 11th February
2020. There was a meaning for the name also. The WHO went through many names
like, the China Virus or the Bats Virus or SARS-2. They did not choose the first one
because that would bring a bad reputation to the whole country, they did not choose the
second one because the last time they named something with an animal in its name like
the bird flew, it started to strike a fear on that creature and violence against it. The
WHO named the disease COVID-19 and the Virus SARS-CoV-2.

New Zealand is the first country that has been free of Corona after it had impacted the
country.

About E commerce:

If we need to know the textbook definition of e commerce it is a:

“Commercial transactions conducted electronically on the Internet.”

Now let’s understand the definition,

From the definition above we can understand that e-commerce is nothing but buying
and selling of goods and services using the internet and transfer of money and data to
make the transactions happen.

Let us take a few examples, A) Flipkart, B) Amazon, C) Alibaba, So on and so forth.

Now that we understand the meaning of e-commerce, let us jump a little deeper.
There is no doubt when we say that E commerce is a booming business and it has been
increasing and diversifying for the last few years like never before. Now-a-days we
can’t even imagine our lives without online shopping. You have something in your head
to buy, it is available at your fingertips and now that we even have one day delivery it
has become easier and more comfortable than ever before. I would agree that the E
-commerce industry has made man lazier. Further down the road we will discuss the
impact on this industry due to coronavirus but before that let us understand what impact
it has had on Indian economy.

The impact of COVID 19 in India:

We all can agree on a common term that India was not ready for a pandemic but we
have managed to contain it for now. We cannot speak for the future. Even though India
is the second most populated country it has been containing the virus pretty well. In
states like Kerala it has been going well and even Goa too.

Lockdown will be a word that will stick in the future history textbooks of India. The
lockdown played a major role in containing the virus in the country. Now that there is
no lockdown the cases will shoot up but it is our responsibility that we maintain social
distancing and keep our hands clean at all times.

Coming to economy of India after the COVID 19 situation,

Some would say that the impact that the COVID 19 pandemic has done to India is
disruptive or devastating and that some are true. Let’s get into statistics here, in the
fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2020 India’s growth has come down to 3.1% according
to the Ministry of Statistics. But, what does this mean to us, it means that,

1. There will be an increase in unemployment,

2. There will be high stress on supply chains,

3. The tourism industry will take a major hit,

4. There will be a collapse in hospitality industry and

5. There will be a major decrease in government’s income.

And these are only a few of the outcomes. India is one of the 30 Countries in which
there will be huge change in the economy according to the World Bank.
Now let’s get back to our topic, and let’s talk about the E-commerce industry and the
impact on it due to coronavirus.

Impact on E commerce industry:

To understand this topic let's break it into parts,

· The E- commerce industry before COVID 19,

· The current situation of the E- Commerce industry,

· What will be the future of the E- Commerce industry?

Let’s get into the discussion now,

The E- commerce industry before the pandemic:

The E- commerce industry was at its peak before the pandemic situation. Companies
like Amazon and Alibaba were taking over the world. It was becoming easier and easier
for a person to buy or sell things online and people started trusting it more than ever
before. Change is a difficult thing and people were getting used to the change i.e.,
buying and selling goods and services online. When we think of E- commerce we only
think of goods but the truth is there are services that are available online like Ola,
Makemytrip, Uber, Zomato, and all these companies are also a part of the E- commerce
industry. The internet was taking over the world and E- commerce was riding alongside
it. Internet penetration in India grew from just 4 per cent in 2007 to 52.08 per cent in
2019, registering a CAGR of 24 per cent between 2007 and 2019 (according to the
IBEF). We might think that the E- commerce industry can’t get any better but trust me
it is going to be a bumpy ride but the destination for the E- commerce industry is going
to be good.
The above is a graphical representation of Retail E commerce trend before COVID 19.

The current situation of the E commerce industry:

The E commerce industry in India took a major hit during the lockdown situation.
Companies like Zomato and Swiggy got a major hit because all the restaurants were
closed and even companies like Ola and Uber also got a major hit. Companies like
Amazon didn’t really get affected by the lockdown because they had to shut down their
operations only for some time because they also had essential goods under their belt
they could come back to business within some time, Amazon didn’t really get affected,
at least that’s what we think. Let’s take a look at recent news headlines of Amazon:

• Amazon's automated HR system leaves workers frustrated,

This happened when Amazon’s AI HR team automatically tried to fire a few employees
due to them not turning up for work. Those employees didn’t turn up due the lock down
but the AI didn’t know that.

• Amazon Struggled During the Pandemic.

This was a headline when Amazon couldn’t meet the demand of its customers and the
rivals had a chance to take over the company.
By this we understand that it was not all roses and rainbows for Amazon.

Let’s take a look at an Indian company called Flipkart and its journey during this
pandemic:

Flipkart, unlike Amazon couldn’t gain the trust of its customers, this might be due its
initial failure in delivering assured products but they have come up the ladder and is
now one of the major competitors of Amazon in India.

Flipkart in the last few years had a race to become “HYPER LOCAL”, that is nothing
but getting to each and every customer as possible, let’s just say that Flipkart was a
rabbit in that race and Amazon was the turtle. Having the advantage that it was an
Indian based company, Flipkart had a major head start but Amazon slowly went into
each and every crevice of Indian market and got everyone.

Let us take a look at Flipkart after COVID 19. The situation is pretty decent I would say
for Flipkart. This is because there are more customers willing to buy online goods and
more customers means more opportunity and this shows that they are getting higher
revenue than before but there was a problem of Employees (delivery boys) for Flipkart
but it has overcome that now. To come over this they partnered with modern retail
store chain Vishal Mega Mart for home delivery of essentials through a safe supply
chain in 26 cities.

Now let’s get into services:

Zomato and Swiggy: These two companies took a major hit during the lockdown but
now that there is no more lockdown and people are craving outside food their
businesses are at its peaks. During the Lockdown these companies were giving massive
discounts, like 70% but now it comes down and they are starting to make revenue again.

Ola: Ola is still recovering. It is one of the few e-commerce businesses that has seen
brighter days. This is because no one wants to travel now in cabs. But according to a
survey done by CNN people said that COVID won’t stop them from travelling in the
long term. The travel industry is an industry that took a major hit in the E commerce
business.

Taking a closer look at the companies that has taken a major blow in E commerce
industry:

• Fashion
• Jewellery

• Sports Equipments

• Auto or tools

• Bags and Travels

Let’s take a look at the growth of the E commerce business in the below chart:

This shows a negative trend in the coming years for E commerce that is because we
have only considered selling goods in the E commerce industry but this is much more
than that. That is why it shows a negative trend and this is because all the other service
companies have taken a major hit.

What will be the future of E commerce? :

The future of us is going to be E commerce but we cannot anticipate the future of E

commerce. It is an industry with strict competition and it has great opportunities for
growth too. I can tell for certain that the future of the world is going to lie in the hands
of E commerce but I cannot say what the industry is going to turn into or its future.

Conclusion:
The conclusion for this topic can be best explained with a picture:

These pictures give us a clear idea on what E

commerce is and what the people want. This
gives us a clear cut idea. I don’t think it’s too
soon to say that the COVID-19 global
pandemic will likely be one of the defining
events of 2020, and that it will have
implications that last well into the decade.