By Patrick Tame, CEO at Beringer Tame
COVID-19 has impacted the way businesses operate like never before, and while some businesses are facing disaster in the current situation, others are seeing unprecedented demand for their products or services. One such industry is the ecommerce sector, which is currently booming, and therefore the jobs market within it is also seeing a sharp uptick.
Throughout the outbreak of COVID-19 the digital world has become a lifeline to many. From only being allowed to leave the house for essential items, to abiding by social distancing rules, never has shopping online been more attractive to consumers, even for those that don’t deem themselves particularly ‘tech-savvy’. Everything ‘essential’ has been made available by digital and this ‘digital demand’ has resulted in greater opportunity for those who have solid digital marketing and ecommerce skills.
The majority of conversations at the moment revolve around a ‘post-pandemic world’ and the ‘new normal’ that we’ve settled into. While there is still some hope from many that we’ll return to our same pre-COVID ways, new consumer habits have formed and it’s likely that consumers will continue to be more heavily reliant on ecommerce than ever before. After all, it’s far simpler to get what you need at the click of a button, from the comfort of your own home. Similarly, with no real end to the pandemic in sight at present, even those consumers who do want to return to their old ways are unable to do so and will be for some time to come.
While digital has provided a lifeline for many throughout the past three months, it has certainly shone a spotlight on the companies that did not have the digital skills and infrastructure in place to cope with the unprecedented demand for online services. For example, the online offering of supermarkets, particularly at the beginning of the lockdown period was not even nearly satisfactory. Having such huge uplifts in demand has not been easy on their supply chains, but it has led to rapid digital transformation in a bid to meet demand, especially for those in isolation.
For example, Tesco alone has more than doubled its number of delivery slots, to 1.2m in six weeks. It will not stop there though; we can expect this to go much further, with supermarkets turning to AI and robotics to help speed up and accommodate the increased demand for online shopping services. In the same vein, we’ve seen small retail businesses change their business models slightly or even their entire businesses during this time, with many more still following suit. These businesses all need the right people with the right skills in order to facilitate these changes.
Ultimately, ecommerce is seeing a huge uplift due to consumers increasingly buying goods online and this shift has meant significant changes within the sector, as well as the potential jobs within it.
A variety of new roles have been brought to the forefront in recent months in a wide range of sectors from food delivery and contact solutions to e-learning and e-tourism. From either having an inadequate or none existent offering previously, these industries have had to rapidly adopt online capabilities, and with the future looking as digitally enabled as ever, there are reams of opportunities for talent.
As experts in digital marketing and ecommerce recruitment, we’ve seen these opportunities come to life over the past few months and there is now a huge demand for CRM Managers, PPC & SEO experts, Email Marketing Specialists, Marketplace Managers, Ecommerce Traders, Digital Analysts and Digital Marketing/Brand Managers, to name a few. Similarly, we’ve also seen an increased demand for a number of digital tech roles, including Software Development, Programming, App & Web Development, Data Science & Analytics, Digital Product Management, UX and AI.
This clearly shows that many organisations have understood the changes they need to make in order to survive in both the short and long-term as we settle into new and different ways of shopping, socialising, working, and generally operating.
The changing marketplace has, and will continue to lead to new possibilities, opening the door to career changes for many in the digital and ecommerce industry. Of course, not everything will go digital, but I strongly advise anyone looking for a career move within the digital or ecommerce space to review the job market as there is a whole host of new opportunities on the horizon.
