RALEIGH – COVID-19 has changed the way we do everything: from conducting work meetings and staying in touch with loved ones, to shopping for groceries and educating our children. What are the implications for brick-and-mortar stores? How can companies capitalize on new opportunities? And will websites facing increasing legal strutiny for what technology they do – and don’t – provide for people with disabilities?

Almost overnight, it’s created new consumer behavior, pushing businesses to remain nimble and adapt. For many, it means accelerating the inevitable shift to e-commerce, or die trying.

Internet news site eMarketer notes the trend:

“We now expect there to be a 10.5 percent decline in total US retail sales this year, with a 14 percent drop in brick-and-mortar sales. The news isn’t dire for all retail channels. E-commerce is poised to grow 18 percent following a 14.9 percent gain in 2019, further evidence of the digital shift.”

Consider the month of April alone, shortly after the COVID-19 outbreak: US e-commerce saw a 49 percent spike in daily sales in April, based on the Adobe’s Digital Economic Index. In particular, the online grocery sector jumped a 110 percent jump in daily sales that month. BOPS (Buy-Online-and-Pick-up-in-Store) sales, meanwhile, saw a 208 percent year-over-year growth rate.

Over the last several weeks, many major retail chains have announced permanent store closings and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Wireless carrier AT&T is planning to permanently close more than 250 of its stores and cut at least 3,400 jobs nationwide.

The series

COVID-19 & ecommerce: How some Triangle companies are tapping into online opportunities

COVID-19 & ecommerce: ‘It’s been a whirlwind’ of growth for startup Spoonflower

COVID-19 & ecommerce: ‘This is our time’ says CEO of online services firm ChannelAdvisor

COVID-19 quarantine + surge in ecommerce = Americans with Disabilities Act discrimination claims?

Microsoft is closing its retail “stores,” including one in the Triangle.

Clothing company The Gap indefinitely suspended rent payments in May (about $115 million per month in North America) and said some stores may permanently close.

Others, meanwhile, like American Eagle Outfitters and Bath & Body Works, have reported significant financial losses.

America’s malls will likely never be the same.

So is this a glimpse into the future of modern commerce?

It’s still not clear just yet. But in a series of articles and interviews, WRAL TechWire explores this emergin tsunami of change, and some of the ramifications.

The first piece investigates how the surge in e-commerce has created the “haves and have nots” in the Triangle.

On the back of a pandemic and stay-at-home orders, local companies like ChannelAdvisor and Spoonflower, both firmly in the e-commerce sphere, have flourished.

Meanwhile, companies like Get Spiffy, an on-demand car care, technology and services company, saw its fortunes reversed, with revenue initially plummeting by 90 percent in April. (It has since pivoted to offer disinfection services for vehicles and facilities, and is on the rebound.)

To get an even closer look, WRAL TechWire’s Chantal Allam conducted Q&As with:

  • Global ecommerce services provider ChannelAdvisor’ CEO David Spitz
  • Triangle-based emerging leader in online custom fabrics firm Spoonflower CEO Michael Jones.

According to Spitz, this is their time. “At this point, we’re incrementally bullish and therefore looking for different ways we can lean into how we help our customers.”

Finally, Angela Doughty, an attorney at Ward and Smith in New Bern, examines how this new reliance on digital means of consumer interactions creates previously unconsidered risks and liabilities to businesses.

She offers some tips on how firms can assess their website for compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, which was enacted to prevent discrimination against people with disabilities in locations generally open to the public, including mobiles sites and applications.