E-commerce, COVID and captivating click happy consumers

Since e-Commerce has opened up the global marketplace, the world is becoming a much smaller place. BorderBuddy was built on the belief that e-commerce would be a burgeoning business, and we were right. COVID only made us, well, more right.Like everything else in the world, e-commerce was deeply affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. From supply chain woes, to closed borders, to less disposable income, to soaring inflation, limiting the average consumer’s buying power, COVID-19 had a hefty and enduring impact on e-commerce as an industry.

E-commerce: what is it (still) good for? Almost absolutely everything

According to the Economic Times of India, e-commerce opportunities are actually well positioned for growth for SMEs (small and medium enterprises) under the “new normal”, via FedEx. Despite prices for ocean freight increasing dramatically year over year, consumer spending online during the 2021 holiday season grew 8.6% year-over-year to a record $204.5 billion (source: Adobe Digital Economy Index). E-commerce continued to surge, “adding an additional 19% sales growth for 2020, and additional 22% sales growth to the existing 9% and 12% regular forecast sales growth rates, respectively.”, via Trade.Gov.Despite every possible reason to falter, online consumer spending for 2021 went up by 9% to a record (staggering) $855B USD, according Adobe’s US Consumer Spending Study in 2021.

Why should you care?

Last month, we interviewed BorderBuddy’s innovation lead, the wildly talented technologist, Monty McCallum. He shared some key info about BorderBuddy’s proprietary software, the BorderBuddy Shopify app. Using BorderBuddy’s Shopify app for your own shipping needs is easy, quick, and the app is free to download. It syncs seamlessly within Shopify, so whether you’re a consumer or a merchant, capitalizing on the growing demand for real-time e-commerce has never been easier, nor more financially rewarding. COVID pandemic-related business restrictions forced a global business paradigm shift towards the digital economy, i.e. e-commerce. Traditional brick and mortar retailers suffered if they didn’t innovate, and BorderBuddy made it easy for anyone to become e-sellers.Watch BorderBuddy CEO, Graham Robins, explain how BorderBuddy’s app works, and how your next lucrative side hustle could be capitalizing on the ongoing strength of e-commerce:

How does it work: https://youtu.be/e9jsjlKG7UkAnother reason to consider e-commerce as a good bet for the future, the sake and ease with which you can now monitor border wait times through BorderBuddy means your side hustle could be making you money, while you watch its progress from the safety and comfort of wherever you are.Curious? Have a play around with the BorderBuddy free shipping calculator online or our Shopify app and join the thousands of other solopreneurs who are using tech to save time, open borders and delight customers!