COVID-19 Impact on Global Shipping and Packaging Dynamics
The continued transition away from brick-and-mortar to ecommerce brings demand for packaging innovations that enable faster delivery and better content protection from shock or temperature variations.
The shift from brick-and-mortar to digital shopping had been under way for some time when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Since 2017, ecommerce revenues have risen from an estimated $1.4 trillion to $2.4 trillion, or about 2.7% of global output.
China is the largest market, followed by the U.S., Japan, the UK, and Germany. The pandemic has further accelerated this shift. The restrictions on mobility imposed to fight the spread of the virus led to a surge in online demand for many goods and services. As individuals stayed home, the online share of retail sales in China, Germany, the UK, and U.S. rose by 4-7 percentage points in 2020. In China and the U.S., the share has recently fallen again but remains well above its pre-pandemic level.