In just one month of the coronavirus pandemic, the company Marker from Varaždin received inquiries for web store creation equivalent to what they usually receive in six months. However, director Ivica Kruhek expects that only a small number of these will be realized as companies are not prepared for the new sales channel.
– The coronavirus has greatly increased interest in web store creation among merchants who have not activated this sales channel until now. In one month, we received inquiries equivalent to what we usually receive in six months. The problem is that most of the companies that reached out were only motivated by the coronavirus situation and were not internally prepared to launch a web store nor did they have the breadth of information needed to initiate it. We received inquiries from companies in literally all industries except for the travel industry and others related to tourism – says Kruhek.
Marker has so far created more than 180 web stores, and there are few industries in which they have not created at least one. Most of them were made precisely because clients outgrew their existing systems and switched to them to improve online sales results. They also have many examples of large retailers who wanted a quality solution from the start and asked Marker to create their first web shop. However, the most significant impact on Marker’s business during the pandemic was the extraordinary increase in traffic for existing web retailers. Since revenues grew by up to ten times compared to the same period last year, Kruhek emphasizes, this created a whole range of new challenges, but also opportunities for development. He advises entrepreneurs:
