In 2020, more than any year since the advent of online and mobile commerce, consumers lost a sense of control. Online shopping became a refuge, not because of overwhelming convenience, but because contactless commerce was necessary. And because necessity births invention, intransigent store-based retailers were finally unable to rationalize kicking the digital transformation can down the road to next year’s budget — driven not by the prospect of growth, but rather survival.
Meanwhile, for merchants that had already built their businesses online before the pandemic, a larger addressable market buoyed most, but created scalability challenges for all (including Amazon). While the pandemic may have accelerated existing digital trends by several years, few could claim they were prepared for this.
