COVID-19: An opportunity for E-commerce

E-commerce has become one of the popular choices for earning during this pandemic because it
requires minimal resources, serves as a direct alternative source of income, and established
platforms are easily accessible.

The pandemic, COVID-19 has brought several problems that affect not only our health but
our livelihood. It is evident that the pandemic has a huge impact on our life. The transition to this
“New Normal” that we have been going through is very hard and was unexpected. I think that its
safe to say that no one was ready for a crisis like this. Ever since the start of the outbreak
businesses have started to close, jobs were lost and basically our whole life was changed in a big
way. In this pandemic situation, one of the aspects that wasn’t affected negatively was the
internet. Even before the pandemic, majority are already able to access social media and a lot
were doing full time jobs on the internet. Given this, a lot have chosen to use the online medium
to do their jobs, study and all other activities that were stopped due to the pandemic. I’ve
witnessed this many times, whether it was through my friends who started their own online
businesses or the ones that started working from home. Because of this, I would say that e-
commerce, also known as “online selling” has become one of the popular choices for earning
during this pandemic because it requires minimal resources, established platforms are easily
accessible and serves as a direct alternative source of income.

During this pandemic, almost all our resources that are necessary for working are affected.
Our transportation has been limited especially to those who don’t own private vehicles. The places
that we go to have also been limited. Also, aside from the resources we need there are also some
people whom have lost their jobs due to this pandemic. Despite having these difficulties, it’s still
crucial in fact I would say it’s even more crucial that we have a source of income because we
would have to be prepared in case our health is put at risk during these times. It may seem
overwhelming to some especially with all the problems that we are facing but usually looking at
different perspectives work. Transitioning to e-commerce has become popular. It’s easy to
understand why it has suddenly spiked and if you think of it compared to adjusting to going to
work physically, it’s much safer and less hassle now. Engaging in e-commerce is an example of
how people make decisions, more specifically the first principle, people face trade-offs and the
second, the cost of something is what you give up getting it. Although it’s very easy to start online
selling, you would still experience a trade-off. One of the most common necessity would be time
because you would have to devote a large amount of it to set up your online business and to
maintain it. During the summer in this quarantine I started working for my brother in his business
which was luckily already online even before the pandemic. The business was an online selling
page for wholesale ready to cook churros, I was managing the page and was directly interacting
with the customers. I witnessed firsthand how these people would either start their own online
retail business or would do it as a part time job. We were able to get their background through
interviews since we used it also as an advertising technique. One of the most common responses
from the customers was that it was not difficult to do.

In this quarantine our exposure to platforms on the internet has significantly increased
because obviously since we’re all at home we spend a lot of time on our screen. Also, because
of this we’re very familiar with the different online selling sites. One thing that I really think can be
associated with this topic is The Role of Assumptions in the book of Mankiw. It really applies to a
lot of things in this field, first would be how these established platforms have performed these
past months. Since the quarantine has started, it was not possible to say when it was going to
end or when everything would be back to how it was and because of this most of these platforms
have decided to improve their services in the assumption that the use of their platforms would
significantly rise up. One of the best things that they have done is how they made it simpler and
easier for almost anyone to access their sites. They make it possible for people who want to start
their own business or shift to e-commerce to sell in their platforms.

One of the advantages of e-commerce even before the pandemic hit us was that it could
sustain the needs like any other traditional jobs. With the situation and limitations, it has actually
become a better option compared to some jobs nowadays. Similar to what I mentioned in the first
paragraph, I’ve also witnessed how those who start their online businesses compare their income
in e-commerce to their old jobs. They usually start it as a part time source of income but then
when they saw that they can actually earn the same amount if not more, they would usually shift
to doing it full time. This was very common this pandemic situation, especially for those who lost
their jobs due to the pandemic, a lot of them were saying that it was crucial for them to have a
source of income especially now with the risk that we are facing and this is an example of the 3rd
principle of how people make decisions, rational people think at the margin. Almost all of us,
whether we lost our jobs or not, we’re all doing this right now because of the situation that we are
in. We all think at the margin because it’s very important that we are prepared to face anything
especially now. Given that, since e-commerce is easily accessible, and is practically one of the
best options to earn from because of the amount that you can get while still being safe, it’s
understandable why suddenly there’s a huge increase in the online market

These are only some of the important points on why E-commerce has become one of the
popular choices for earning during this pandemic because it requires minimal resources, serves
as a direct alternative source of income, and established platforms are easily accessible.

Mark Lance Eldrick M. Santos

191191

References

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Conference on Trade and Development, 8 Oct. 2020, unctad.org/news/covid-19-has-
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“Embedding Resilience.” KPMG, KPMG, 4 Mar. 2020,

home.kpmg/ph/en/home/insights/2020/03/the-business-implications-of-coronovirus.html.

Arreola, Renz Homer S. “The ‘New Normal’ of Increased Online Business Transactions, and
Revisiting Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 55-2013.” KPMG, KPMG, 28 July 2020,
home.kpmg/ph/en/home/insights/2020/07/the-new-normal-of-increased-online-business-
transactions.html.

Harris, Steve. “Safe Shopping: the Impact of COVID-19 on Retail.” Orange Business Services,
14 Aug. 2020, www.orange-business.com/en/blogs/safe-shopping-impact-covid-19-retail.

PricewaterhouseCoopers. “Startups and COVID-19: PwC Philippines.” PwC, May 2020,

www.pwc.com/ph/en/publications/startups-pwc-philippines/startups-covid19.html.

Sanchez, Martha Jean. Philippines: Leading e-Commerce Websites by Monthly Traffic 2019. 26
May 2020, www.statista.com/statistics/1120159/philippines-leading-e-commerce-
websites-by-monthly-traffic/.