Embracing tech in the new normal to mitigate the spread COVID-19

In the wake of the global health pandemic that is the Corona Virus, lives have been drastically changed as many nations are quickly coming to terms with the new normal. The whole world is grappling with the new reality that has slowed down the momentum or totally immobilized a lot of economies.

With the situation rapidly changing, the effect of it has taken a sad toll on restaurants, theatres and other social joints in the country with a majority of them forced to shut down, all these in efforts to try combat the virus. 

This phenomenon has sharply changed the shopping behaviour of many Kenyans within a very short period of time as most people now prefer to do online shopping through e-commerce platforms. Brands are also having to adapt and be flexible to meet changing needs and consumer demands during this time. This realization has presented a significant opportunity for all e-commerce players in the industry to provide hope even as the country stares at a partial lockdown.

With the rallying call from many governments and international bodies like the World Health Organization being handwashing, maintaining social distance and staying at home in order to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 many people are rapidly shifting to tech enablers in order to conform to the situation.

E-commerce is turning out to be a vital tool that is aiding to curb the spread of the virus. It is laudable that more and more Kenyans are heeding to the government's call to stay at home thus in order to adapt to this new life, technology has become of critical essence. With the threat of outdoor exposure to this disease, Kenyans have embraced e-commerce to ensure a safe way of creating much advocated for social distance. This move has seen various e-commerce players affect a raft of measures to protect consumers even as the demand for their services continues to soar high.

Glovo, a technology company that links motorcycle riders to consumers wishing to buy and deliver products in Kenya effected a number of new measures in their operations in a move to ensure the safety of consumers and their riders. These included signatureless delivery hence customers no longer have to sign for orders upon delivery, no contact delivery drop-offs which allows customers to request that orders be dropped at a particular place of their choosing and digital payment in order to limit direct contact between customers and couriers.

Being a critical enabler in this crisis, all e-commerce platforms have to realize that thousands of Kenyans are today entrusting them in the quest to wade through these tough times. Therefore it is of significant importance that every player in the sector upholds safety of every delivery they make as a paramount concern in the delivery process,

The ripple effect of this pandemic in Kenya is massive and it is slowly ravaging the gains in many sectors of the economy thus we all have to utilize all our resources to contain and mitigate it. 

With confirmed cases of COVID-19 patients sadly growing in the country each passing day it will be imperative for businesses to innovate and provide alternative online platforms for shopping as the numbers of walk-ins are slowly but very steadily going to reduce. It is important for organizations to respond and adapt to consumer needs during this time and deliver keeping in mind our overall goal of fighting this virus. 

Even as we strive to embrace technology in this fight, let’s all adhere to measures initiated by the government, the guidance of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the advice of other authorized public health authorities.

The writer is Priscilla Muhiu, Africa Head of Marketing and Growth, Glovo.