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To date, the Covid-19 pandemic has cost the US government more than $16 Trillion US dollars. Companies, firms, organizations, and governments are using online retail systems to adapt to the Covid-19 pandemic. By synthesizing the literature, and as shown in Figure 1, the online retail systems consist of (1) computer software; (2) computer hardware; (3) telecommunications; (4) databases and data warehouses; and (5) users, human resources, and procedures (Kroenke and Boyle 2007). The arrows in Figure 1 are bidirectional. The arrows indicate that for any online retail system to be used as a competitive advantage and for better decision-making, it must adapt to all its stakeholders, as shown in Figure 1. As humans become more dependent on commodities that ease survival and sustenance, they look for more convenient obtaining such items. The old ways of going out into nature and living off the land are over for much of the population. “This means that consumers are more willing than ever to pay for the luxury of convenience, with a spike in the popularity of delivery services like Amazon Prime” (Wright,2020). Convenience has become a way of life that sells and generates revenue. According to research provided by the National Retail Federation, convenience is changing the way people shop and how they view certain shopping options, with 83% of consumers saying that convenience when shopping is more important now than it was five years ago.
Baird and Raghu’s (2015) findings suggest that while the perceived value may be high for generally considered digital services, variations in the underlying digital service business models are likely to impact consumer valuations of digital services significantly. The implications of short-term vs. long-term usage of a product/service may be significant in the context of digital services in hyper-competitive markets. Technology has helped grow convenience exponentially. It has afforded survival and sustenance to the population and luxuries right to our feet at a relatively low cost. There is no need to risk your life or health hunting for your next meal or even spend hours of labor manufacturing your household items. Online retail systems are a software medium used both by the retailer and the consumer to facilitate trade via the internet. Online retail systems make it easier for the retailer and consumer to complete a transaction to obtain goods while eliminating the necessity to be present at the store.
Figure 1. The online retail systems model
The Impact of COVID-19 on Retailers
The Covid-19 pandemic has been forcing retail stores, firms, organizations, and companies to close for the past year. Covid-19 global pandemic is significantly influencing brand loyalty, consumer behaviors, and transition to digital. The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly and negatively affected global communities and international supply chain management systems in the financial market. Approximately 100,000 establishments have temporarily shut down due to the global Covid-19 pandemic. Pandemics are not new to society; the last Federal quarantine in the United States was in the 1960s against a suspected smallpox outbreak (Macfarquhar, 2020). However, much of the population has never experienced a shelter-in-place order or practice social distancing for months and years. This is new for both retailers and consumers. Success and failure are differentiated by mere adaptation to current circumstances. “Many smaller retailers, of course, still don’t have a webshop, often due to either the cost or logistics of setting one up. To that end, the City of Toronto and the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas is offering a program called Digital Main Street to help businesses develop their online footprint through one-on-one consultations.” (McLeod, 2020).
Changes Covid-19 Has Brought Upon Retailers
Covid-19 global pandemic has drastically influence retailers, as shown in Figure 2. A lot of retailers filed for bankruptcy in 2020. Our model, Figure 2, provides insights, knowledge, and understanding of strategies top management should implement to adapt to Covid-19 for competitive advantage and better decision-making.