Analysis On Impact of Covid-19 On The Market
The pandemic began with its epicenter in China in 2019 and has continued to spread around the world with 216 countries and territories impacted by COVID-19. COVID-19 events affecting large named countries with clear foreign market dominance have negatively affected the economy worldwide. The outbreak of coronavirus has led to a global crisis, many firms are bound to take difficult measures to lay off their workers, small enterprises are shut down and production plants are shut down. However, the market for food and drink has seen an immense spike as well as a lack of supply leading to the panic purchasing from the population. Similarly, the market for pharmaceuticals has also grown as new solutions for prevention measures are being implemented. A variety of sectors have been affected in the supply chain due to constraints on logistics and the closure of production plants. In addition, the recession in the economy has limited the willingness of individuals to invest and people are saving money for emergency situations. The marketing automation market has noted a decrease in the demand due to lockdown and COVID-19 norms and majority of the companies have cut down their marketing budgets. Moreover, there has been and operational halt in businesses which have forced the companies to reduce money spent on the marketing operations.
Aftermath of Covid-19 And Government Initiative To Boost The Market
COVID-19 outbreak has affected the behavior of the individuals and markets which impacts on economies and societies. The companies who will be able to rebound from the pandemic crisis will need to be technologically secure, consider consumer expectations and adapt to a quickly shifting environment. During and after the pandemic, the scenario of marketing spend has transformed completely. Consumers are more inclined towards digital and augmented shopping to avoid any physical contact with people. Marketers are focusing on the adoption of new marketing technologies which includes conversational marketing, email, video and others. The governments of various countries are focusing towards digitization of business process and making it mandatory to adopt technologies which support physical distancing and social distancing norms.
STRATEGIC DECISIONS OF MANUFACTURERS AFTER COVID-19 TO GAIN COMPETITIVE MARKET SHARE
In order to gather competitive market share, market players are focusing on strategies such as acquisitions, product launches, partnerships, client acquisition and others. Moreover, several industries such as BFSI, healthcare, retail, manufacturing, IT & telecom and more are adopting to marketing analytics solutions, new advanced technologies, in order to strengthen customer loyalty, provide consistent customer support and study consumer behavior patterns.
For instance,
- In December 2020, Israel-based provider of digital advertising services, Kenshoo Limited, announced the acquisition of Signal Analytics in order to enable automated marketing automation campaigns. The acquisition would enhance the company’s ability to employ machine learning algorithms to gather data from external resources and effectively target specific types of customers. The company also aims to increase customer engagement through online platforms.
Price Impact
The COVID-19 lockdown imposed by the governments of the countries had adversely impacted the prices of marketing automation platforms. The pandemic brought reduced demand of marketing automation tools among industries due to operational halt in businesses and disruption in supply chain management.
Impact On Demand and Supply Chain
The pandemic has resulted in reduced demand for marketing automation tools due to lockdown and COVID-19 arms and shut down of manufacturing facilities. However, digitization and automation has becoming mandatory for any business. As a result, several business verticals require marketing automation tools to analyze crucial consumer’s data and to drive insights for providing enhanced customers online shopping experience, safety, personalized and virtual shopping experience and to formulate effective marketing strategies to boost the sales during the crucial period. The supply chain was adversely affected as the lockdown prevailed in many regions globally, in addition to limitation of workers. Hence, the companies are adapting to the new normal, through work from home and rotational shifts which is likely to positively impact the implementation of new marketing technologies in near future.
Conclusion
Initially, a decline has been witnessed in the growth of marketing automation platforms. However, as the situation gets back to normal, the demand for marketing automation solutions is expected to rapidly increase in coming years, owing to rapid need for new marketing technologies, wide shift towards digitization, requirement for multi-channel marketing, improved customer support, saving time and money and others.
Some of the techniques that can be adopted by marketers which further resulted in high growth of marketing automation platforms include:
- Develop engagement strategies to welcome, onboard and check-in to target new customers.
- High focus on personalization across all digital communications, especially with existing and long term customers. Go that extra mile to make sure that the company gives the utmost importance to client feedback.
- Invest more in in virtual interactions. By being the company that establishes these social ties with consumers, it will serve to improve the credibility of the brand.
- Use platforms such as Yelp and G2 to collect feedback, evaluate information, recognize trends and then adapt in real-life scenarios to further enhance user engagement and satisfaction.
