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WILL INTERNET TRADE HOLD THE HEIGHT GAINED?
According to open data from the Association of Internet Trade Companies (AITC), for 2020 as a whole, online trading will increase and amount up to 10% of the turnover of the entire market. Roza Timakova, associate professor of the USUE Department of Food Engineering, speaks about the directions in which B2C and C2C markets are developing in Internet.
The expert notes that during the period of the pandemic, B2C (“business to consumer”) and C2C (“consumer to consumer”) markets received a noticeable development in the Internet sphere. Existing in parallel, they have their characteristics and principles. Restrictive measures on offline trade, which were introduced in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, very quickly affected the movement of goods, sales volumes, and logistics. Retail outlets were closed and, against this background, the popularity of online sales on both B2C and C2C markets, when two individuals participate in a purchase and sale process, increased significantly. Roza Timakova believes that the C2C market is noticeably gaining momentum. Using the example of her environment, the expert sees that a significant part of the target audience of the Internet services market is young people who value their time and who find it convenient to shop online without leaving their homes.
The websites of both manufacturers and trade enterprises have become more active. The most in-demand are aggregator sites that post on their platform data on goods from different manufacturers and that exist due to the services of an intermediary between the seller and the buyer. This increases the profits of aggregators, manufacturers, and wholesalers.
Roza Timakova is sure that some of the consumers who discovered this type of shopping during the lockdown will remain adherents of the online shopping even after the shopping malls open because they managed to appreciate its definitive advantages. Others will revert to their old shopping habits, leaving the online shopping experience as a necessary measure but they are unlikely to stop using it. The business community will not be outside the mainstream and will develop Internet sales channels in its supply chain.
According to the expert, the most active representatives of small businesses will continue to use the increased demand for online supplies for their benefit, since Internet sites allow excluding the retail link from the supply chain and delivering products directly from a manufacturer to an end consumer.
