The COVID-19 pandemic has changed almost every aspect of life as we know it. From public transportation to work habits to even grabbing your morning coffee, our behaviors have had to shift to prioritize community safety and public health.

Since the situation is unprecedented, it's challenging to predict how the pandemic’s effect will trickle down to the world of ecommerce. But luckily, the World Wide Web is still accessible from almost anywhere to allow people to approach consumerism through a new — and digital — lens. 

Even before COVID-19 spread worldwide, consumer preferences weren’t totally uniform.

As a business owner, you probably know that different consumers like different things. While 67% of millennials like to shop online, less than half of Baby Boomers enjoy clicking Add to Cart. Similarly, only 28% of small businesses report making sales online, but the majority of customers say they enjoy the flexibility and time savings of being able to shop online 24/7. So does ecommerce or brick-and-mortar reign supreme? The answer is there is no answer.

All of the conflicting information and differing preferences made succeeding in ecommerce challenging before the new normal. So what does that mean now that things are even more complicated? 

Consumer behavior was always hard to predict — and even more so today.

Though ecommerce sales have made up over 10% of total retail sales in the past, shifting consumer behavior is hard to anticipate during unprecedented events like a global pandemic. It’s impossible to say what metrics 2020 could bring. 

As stay-at-home restrictions ease across the country and more and more people are returning to their pre-pandemic behaviors, will consumers feel comfortable shopping indoors and in-person? While some people may be itching to get back out into the world, it’s likely that others will prefer the familiarity and safety of adding-to-cart from the comfort of their living room. Only time will truly tell if the uptick in online orders seen at the beginning of the pandemic are here for the long haul or were simply a result of panic purchasing from uncertainty.

You can’t control the future, but you can control your customers’ online shopping experiences. 

Whether customers will still flock to online shopping in the future remains to be seen. But building the best possible digital experience should always be a priority for all ecommerce businesses, no matter what. 

Tools like live chat give customers a better way to communicate with your business and are also proven to increase your conversion rates — and TextChat is the most accessible live chat platform available. Built to create a more convenient experience for business owners and customers, TextChat integrates with text message technology, so your team can answer customers in real-time. 

Instant access to expert answers helps customers make informed buying decisions and complete purchases. The TextChat experience boosts your sales numbers, increases client satisfaction, and helps you capitalize on the dedicated, and potentially expanding, group of online shoppers. 

While we wait to see what ecommerce really looks like in a post COVID-19 world, you should start adding tools to your arsenal that make online shopping even easier. Go ahead and give your customers one less thing to worry about. Prioritize a better and more streamlined customer experience, so you can make the customer journey simpler and build a long-term relationship with your client base that will, ideally, outlast the pandemic.

Bring a better experience to your ecommerce site today with TextChat. Get started now.