Nielsen is monitoring online shopping but says it’s too soon to detect any “meaningful” shift in e-commerce purchasing in the US, but expects sales to bump up in March.

E-commerce has been beneficial for marketers in accessing products during the Covid-19 scare. For example, small- and medium-sized retailers in China are using ecommerce to keep their shelves stocked, an option they didn’t have during the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003.

“Because shopping behavior is so much different than during the SARS outbreak, and because the government started to control the issue sooner, we think the retail impact cycle will be shorter,” said Ryan Zhou, Nielsen’s vice president of consumer packaged goods in China.

“Store sourcing is also much different today and online suppliers have reacted very, very quickly by offering store owners, for example, mobile applications for sourcing orders. So online has really helped suppliers react and adjust their supply systems in ways that didn’t exist during SARS,” Zhou added in the report.

Coronavirus Disruption Likely In Supply Chain, Stockpiling Spikes Consumer Health Sales

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