Developing Online Shopping with the Pandemic

Our world is now smaller than it has ever been, and it has become such that we can immediately reach what we want. Now, nothing and nowhere is further from us than at our fingertips. In the past, even different districts in Istanbul were far from each other and difficult to reach, now even the e-mail we can send to Australia in a split second has become very ordinary and natural for all of us. In the past, our letter, which was expected to reach its target for days or even weeks, now does not take longer to reach its target than if we close our eyes. In fact, we have only recently acquired this power that we are not aware of. This power is at our fingertips.

In this case, it is all about the point where our technology has come. We now have faster and more ubiquitous internets, more accessible devices than ever before, larger logistics networks than ever before, and most importantly, we have more open-minded ideas and opinions than ever before. As a result of the coordination of all these, we have succeeded in fitting our planet into our palms.

In all this explosion of technology, it was unthinkable that our way of life and our standard of living would remain the same, and it did. Nothing is the same as our old lives anymore. The Covid-19 and pandemic experience, which we have been experiencing for the first time in the last 1 year, has been the biggest breakdown of this transformation. One of the biggest points that this process has brought us is how advanced our technologies and infrastructures are.

Remote working life, which used to be the utopia of many employees and only decorates their dreams, has entered our lives with a speed and success that we never expected. Even those with the most pessimistic approach to remote working are now very happy with this transition. I'm not sure if anyone wants to go back to the old office system. But for some occupational groups, a hybrid system can be applied. If we consider the employees, the place where people are most productive is their own living space and this is no place other than our home.

While our working lives have changed so much, the marketing and shopping sector took action accordingly and entered a new path. This is called online shopping, as everyone is familiar with. In fact, this field is not a very new field, but with the pandemic in the last year, e-commerce grew by 52% in the third quarter of 2020, while the 60% growth in September was recorded as an all-time record. We now source the majority of our purchases online. Even in our market and grocery shopping, which seems very normal, we resort to this way. For this reason, e-commerce, which has grown by a minimum of 30% every year since 2015, has made a huge improvement of 110% in the first 6 months of the pandemic. To say that these numbers will continue to increase without slowing down in the new period would not be a prophecy.

So, what happens if we process this data? Namely, one of the most important currencies of our age is speed. Now, instead of creating time to visit the store for hours, people can perform this process in a very large product pool in a much shorter time while lying on their sofa. We now have such a golden opportunity. This is also true for many industries. Now, within 1 hour of cooking and collecting the food, our food reaches us in half an hour after a few clicks without any effort.

It is obvious that these developments are an invaluable boon for producers and sellers. For example, while our grocery uncle could only sell to a certain street, he can now appeal to the neighborhood. For example, while a boutique jewelry store caters only to a certain location, now the manufacturer, who produces his own products at home, can deliver his jewelry to all over Turkey and even to various parts of the world. And since the manufacturer is now freed from some cost items such as shops and storage, entrepreneurs in these areas have become inevitable. Apart from that, collectors like me are very happy with these developments. Now we can reach our favorite products and parts, regardless of location. Because now we have a wide transportation network from the other side of the world to our door.

And as this sector develops, competition will increase and as competition increases, we, the consumers, will win. I am very hopeful for the future and E-commerce field. I wish you joy and happiness for the future.