As we are all very aware, the pandemic has forever changed our lives. Approximately two and a half years ago, COVID-19 began to wreak havoc on the world. We no longer took hanging out with friends and family for granted. Instead, we began wearing masks, keeping our distances from each other and avoiding regular, everyday interactions with businesses. Online shopping – already very popular – became an absolute must for nearly everyone.
Needless to say, the surge in e-commerce sales became a huge result of pandemic-related restrictions. As a result, it became more important than ever for businesses to focus their efforts on improving their company websites. Ensuring that they were mobile-friendly was a top priority. The majority of consumers use their smartphones to surf the net and make purchases. Through mobile devices, online purchases have hit all-time highs in the past couple of years.
45% of Canadians purchased other physical goods online more frequently compared to before the pandemic.
This statistic comes courtesy of Statistics Canada. It was announced in a June 2021 report by Howard Bilodeau, Abby Kehler and Nicole Minnema. The stat is one of the many findings of the Canadian Internet Use Survey, which was conducted from November 2020 to March 2021. The survey results make clear that focusing on e-commerce is practically mandatory for businesses from all industries.
Food, as you may have imagined, became highly sought-after on the internet. Both restaurants and grocery stores saw major spikes in online purchases in the wake of the pandemic. “Over one-fifth (21%) of Canadians reported that they ordered groceries online, either for delivery or pickup, more often since the start of the pandemic,” reports the StatsCan team, “Furthermore, 13% of Canadians ordered groceries online for the first time during the pandemic.”
75% of Canadians 15 years of age and older engaged in various Internet-related activities more often since the onset of the pandemic.
Another finding from the Canadian Internet Use Survey, this stat connotes that people of all ages are surfing the internet with much higher regularity. That includes seniors. The StatsCan team reveals that more than half (54%) of Canadians 65 to 74 years of age report more online activities. It begs the question of all business owners. Is your company website speaking to the needs of the modern day consumer?
Remember that today’s shoppers aren’t just looking for convenient ways to make their purchases. Online shopping has proven to be among the easiest ways to browse through items and purchase products. However, it must be stressed that e-commerce continues to offer a safe method of making purchases for the COVID-conscious shopper. It’s only sensible to conclude that ensuring a user-friendly experience for your site’s visitors is an absolute must.
Allow MeloTel to boost your website’s traffic!
As we stressed in our last blog, it’s very important to have a strong online presence. In that blog, we also highlighted the various services that MeloTel provides to help our clients significantly improve their websites. In addition, we invited Southern Ontario business owners to enter our brand new contest!
We are offering FIVE Matterport 3D Virtual Tour giveaways! The contest’s grand prize has a value of $1,899! It includes the capturing of your facility’s interior via photo and video to create a 360 degrees guided tour of your place of business for your website!
Enter our contest HERE! Good luck! The contest is open until October 1, 2022.
