Role of E-Commerce Coupled with Digital Technology During COVID-19 Crisis in Asia

Lockdowns, restrictions, and widespread hysteria during Covid-19 have led to major shock to business operations and severely impacted the economy and society. The resulting labour shortages, supply chain issues and collapse in offline shopping forced companies to take immediate decisions and devise new strategies to respond and recover with minimum damage. Coupled with a digital eco-system, the e-commerce technology and its value networks have played an important role in alleviating the damage caused by sudden disruptions, mitigate risks, maintain business continuity, and ensure that businesses can economically and socially sustain through the uncertainties. While e-commerce was increasingly being used by Asian consumers for convenience, low price and variety, its role has now become essential for survival in countries like India, China and Singapore during the lockdown. Therefore, it is useful to understand the way the business processes were impacted, how the business decision-makers responded and the role of e-commerce technology and services in Asia during Covid-19. This chapter tries to throw light on the above aspects, understand how e-commerce was affected and how it has helped in crisis response and recovery for businesses and consumers. It will also look at whether and how advanced technology such as data analytics, intelligent systems, cloud and blockchain have played an important role in accelerating the reach and impact of e-commerce in Asia.