Almost half of all retailers expect some economic downturn in their revenue as a result of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaring a pandemic known as the coronavirus, or COVID-19, according to a March 2020 survey by Digital Commerce 360 of 304 retailers.
In the Digital Commerce 360 exclusive article, “Taking the pulse: Retailers and the coronavirus,” senior consumer insights analyst Lauren Freedman details the worries and expectations retailers have concerning their business and the coronavirus.
Results from this survey show that:
- 47% of retailers expect some downside revenue implications
- 80% of retailers believe the coronavirus will have at least some impact on consumer confidence
- 30% of retailers suspect that the coronavirus will cause their ecommerce business to be somewhat up, and 32% expect their online business to be somewhat down
- Only 36% of retailers are taking a “wait-and-see” approach to the level of action they are taking relative to COVID-19, while the rest are being proactive
- And 44% expect production delays as the coronavirus progresses
“Much of the challenges retailers face in our interconnected world is supply chain-related,” says Freedman. “When asked ‘which of the following actions are you taking as a result of the coronavirus,’ supply chain communication (48%), contingency planning (34%) and hopes to minimize disruptions (32%) top the list of retailer actions.”
