Managing trade transactions in the covid era: The rise of e-commerce

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has widespread and long-lasting implications for the global economy causing general economic stagnation and crisis. Different industries and sectors strive to maintain the functioning of their business and stimulate companies to increasingly rely on the potential and power of digital technologies and network communications. In the trade sector, there was raising awareness about the importance of digitization and leveraging digital commerce as a strategic investment and competitive advantage. More and more trade companies started looking at digital channels not as an addition to their physical location but as a strategic source of long-term, sustained growth, which proved to be a significant boost for e-commerce all over the world. In this paper, B2B and B2C e-commerce segments are analyzed including current trends and dynamics, management of new business models, and expected implications of the latest digital technology innovations. Investments in new digital technologies tools and solutions in e-commerce had been driven by the need for frictionless shopping, personalization, and improved operational efficiency required by new-age customers. Experiences of the Serbian economy in e-commerce transactions are analyzed as well.