Grocery shopping post the Covid-19 outbreak

The stay-at-home protocol activated across countries to combat the spread of the virus has proven to be a game0changer for the online shopping sector, writes Zainab Mansoor

- Zainab Mansoor

In the aftermath of the Covid-19 infection, a lot has changed.

Several months after the virus strain first appeared in Wuhan, capital of China’s Hubei province, the world continues to battle the pandemic that has swept across continents and has claimed more than 178,000 lives. As nations enforce lockdowns and activate stay-at-home campaigns, several industries are toiling to stay afloat.

However, the recent social restrictions have, in effect, accelerated the growth and adoption of the online grocery concept. Considered one of the most underpenetrated sectors amid the larger e-commerce spectrum, e-grocery has taken an unprecedented flight.

Prior to the Covid-19 spread, the e-grocery market was worth $200m in the GCC and Egypt, constituting less than 1 per cent of the e-commerce industry. Only 27 per cent of consumers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region were keen to order groceries online, 58 per cent still preferring to buy groceries at physical stores, according to Wamda’s 2019 Online Grocery Retail in MENA report.