Springfield Business Journal_2020-11-16

Making a Difference. Springfield | Branson | Bolivar • 417-881-8333 OllisAkersArney.com Peggy Gawley Advisor, Senior Services Pamela Hamilton Benefits Supervisor Myleah Shrimpton Director of Claims If any of these questions sound familiar, give us a call. We can help you. • Are you seeking a level of experience and expertise that is totally focused on what’s best for you as the client? • Is there confusion around coverage, options or navigating the claims process? • Have you been looking for a team of advocates that are genuinely interested in your business goals and know how to help you achieve them? When E-commerce Saves the Day Companies use online sales platforms for big advantages amid the pandemic by Mike Cullinan · mcullinan@sbj.net After eight years operating a brick-and- mortar women’s clothing boutique, owner Lisa O’Dell decided earlier this year to take her business exclusively online. The move preceded the coronavirus pandemic by just a few weeks.  “My store closed at the end of February,” she says of Blue Raven Emporium LLC. “My timing could not have been any better.” O’Dell says she experienced a decrease of in-store sales over the past two years, which contributed to her decision to rely solely on e-commerce. She wasn’t sure her customers would remain after many told her they don’t shop online. But then the city’s stay-at-home order went into effect in late March. “I’ve still got them,” she says of her cus- tomers. “They had to learn how to shop on- line, and now they realize how convenient and easy it is.” While declining to disclose her online sales, O’Dell says e-commerce gave her a boost right when she most needed it.  E-commerce has made a significant jump amid the pandemic as consumers conduct business online out of convenience and, at times, necessity.     The most recent data from the Adobe Digital Economy Index notes U.S. e-com- merce activity is up 42% through August from the same period in 2019. U.S. con- sumers spent a total of $63 billion in Au- gust, which was down from a May peak of roughly $85 billion. The Adobe Analytics data cited more physical stores becoming available after stay-at-home orders end- ed as a contributor to the flattening of the numbers. Overall, Americans have spent 14 billion hours, or 1.6 million years, shopping online in the first eight months of the year, according to the data.  Mama Jean’s Natural Foods Market LLC also just preceded the pandemic with its decision to offer online grocery shopping in January. It invested roughly $6,000 for an e-commerce platform from Rochester, N.Y.-based Freshop to allow curbside ser- vice, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting.  “It was really beneficial for us to have the curbside with the e-commerce set up,” Mama Jean’s co-owner Susie Farbin says, noting the service is at its Sunshine Street and Republic Road tores. “We were really lucky to have it in place.” Farbin told SBJ this summer that online grocery shopping during the stay-at-home Doing Less 6.3% Same 59.3% Doing More 31% Restructuring 3.3% Businesses expect online sales to largely stay the same or increase post-COVID-19 Source: SBJ 2020 Economic Growth Survey 4.3% Doing Less Same Doing More Restructuring 60.7% 29.4% 5.5% 7.2% 59.4% 30.8% 2.5% 6.5% 58.1% 32.6% 2.8% ONLINE SALES Business responses by number of employees Small (1-5) Medium (6-50) Large (51+) 8 · SBJ.NET NOV. 16-22, 2020 SILVER LININGS