During the coronavirus pandemic, the TSL industry lost a lot. It hasn’t been shut down like restaurants or stores in malls. However, there are far fewer freight orders due to the lockdown in other industries. But are there any new opportunities?
Nearly 1/3 of Poles in the pandemic are more willing to do shopping online than in stationary shops. Moreover, about 3% have completely switched to e-commerce. Why did this happen? It was caused mainly by the fear of the pandemic. On the other hand, the lack of access to establishments that were closed also had an impact. The so-called “hours for seniors” also contributed to this.
Is such a change likely to continue? Certainly not on this scale, but we can already see the lasting consequences of the pandemic in stationary retail, as well as the benefits that the pandemic paradoxically brought to the e-commerce industry. Not surprisingly, it is the logistics service of online stores that many TSL companies rely on. This is for several reasons.
First of all, the consistent development of the industry is encouraging. Going in the direction of servicing online stores, there is no shortage of orders for a transport company. The numbers themselves speak about it, which best show the scale of changes that have taken place in the pandemic. Only in Poland in 2020, about 5.5 thousand new online stores were created. At the same time, 2 thousand owners of such businesses closed their businesses. So the difference is colossal.
These stores need to be somehow supplied with goods. If not the stores themselves, then certainly wholesalers, who offer all kinds of goods, products, materials, tools, etc. to online stores. The possibilities are enormous here. Everything also depends on the transport company itself and what kind of goods they carry. Here another question arises: where is the niche?
There is no denying that Poles, as well as all people on Earth, by the pandemic better care and will care about personal hygiene. The masks themselves will probably stay with us for a good year or two, maybe even more – it all depends on how the situation develops. However, remaining on the subject of hygiene, we need appropriate means for this. Disinfectant liquids, soaps of all kinds, antibacterial wipes, moistened wipes – this is a likely niche that has not yet been fully filled. Importantly, these are products that will always be needed!
Humanity’s awareness of hygiene is now greater, which means they will be more likely to wash their hands or disinfect them in public places during a pandemic, but also afterwards. Demand drives supply. Nowadays, online pharmacies, but also stores offering this kind of products or even health food outlets and completely unrelated industries and products have masks in their offers, but also our main protagonists, namely hygiene products and disinfectants.
There is no denying that most of the products for personal hygiene, but also disinfectants, come from foreign manufacturers. A large part is imported from Germany, but also from other countries in Western Europe. That is where it is worth directing trailers that will return with products and fill the warehouses of wholesalers, online stores, as well as those stationary. In every supermarket, and certainly in stationary pharmacies, there is a shelf where you can buy liquid soaps, spray with disinfectant, or moistened and antibacterial wipes
Customers need products from this category. Their sales have increased several times, and in some countries there is even a shortage of them in hospitals. This is where another opportunity arises, namely supplying public and private medical facilities with disinfectants or liquid soaps.
(photo: pixabay.com)
