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Online spend doubles but the ‘ COVID-19 effect ’ on e-commerce won ’ t be permanent
As high streets and shops start to reopen across the UK , business leaders will need to adapt their approaches if they are to encourage a sustained footfall . LambdaTest , the browser testing platform , has published the first in a series of datadriven reports that take a deep dive look into consumer expectations of in-store and e-commerce experience .
In a wide-ranging survey of UK consumers , LambdaTest reports that online spending surged in the 12 months since the start of the first COVID-19 lockdown , but any suggestion that the pandemic has transformed the way consumers will shop forever is based on hope rather than fact .
This time last year , the Brits were spending £ 384 shopping online ( per month , excluding household bills and mortgage / rent payments ). This amount doubled to £ 761 per month over the last year .
Asad Khan , LambdaTest co-founder and CEO , said : “ Retailers with an online presence have been riding an incredible wave over the last year .
“ They ’ ve overcome some enormous challenges to make their online presences as great as possible in extraordinary , tough circumstances .”
While 70 % of people whose monthly online spending has increased in the last year put it down to COVID-19 , 68 % say they ’ ll spend less online after the pandemic passes .
There ’ s been a 233 % surge in the number of people using the Internet to do most of their shopping over the 12 months ( up 33 % to 77 %). In the same period , the average monthly online spend has surged 198 %.
Ultima warns CEOs of huge security threat from employees returning to work
With the roadmap out of lockdown now underway , many employees are set to return to the office either parttime or full-time . Ultima said that while this might be an exciting development for many , businesses need to be aware of the IT risks the return poses .
While companies may think they have good IT security in place , in lockdown employees have been swapping between devices , using USB media and sharing devices with other family members as well as accessing their own IoTs devices , and all across a flat network . This is a problem because flat networks don ’ t have the same level of protection as corporate networks . and malware has been on the increase since the start of lockdown . Since the start of the pandemic , people have been targeted with sophisticated , highly emotional scams , for example , a WHO headed letter suggesting insurance against COIVD-19 .
And in a recent webinar poll , Ultima found 60 % of IT staff say their remote end-users don ’ t have next-generation anti-virus tools on their end devices .
So , it ’ s highly likely your employees could be walking back into your office with devices that have been loaded with malware , making your business vulnerable to hackers .
Phishing attempts have risen 600 % since the end of February ( Accenture )
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