How in 14 days the mobile phone has transformed into a virtual mall?

The world is facing another challenge – the global pandemic caused by COVID-19. What will be the medium and long term consequences of the coronavirus and how will the economy be restructured?

One of the effects that are currently being reported is the increase in the use of mobile applications for banking services, food delivery and e-commerce. The state of emergency has significantly influenced the needs and priorities of Bulgarian consumers. In just two weeks, the market changed radically compared to the situation before the measures were imposed. By staying at home, Bulgaria within 14 days adapted its consumption to the new reality and replaces most of the offline services with online solutions provided by the companies.

Through mobile marketing technology, Brand New Vision, in partnership with Selectivv Poland, has conducted a study on the use of specific mobile applications by companies in different sectors: banking, food delivery and e-commerce.

Comparing the period February 28 – March 13 with the period March 14 – March 27, when restrictive measures were introduced, we see that traffic to mobile applications is increasing significantly.

Food delivery is marking double digits growth –  Takeaway is jumping by almost 35%. The mobile application of Еmag attracts 19.24% more users.

Mobile applications of banks are also taking a serious upward turn. Although most of their branches are opened, users prefer to stay safe at home and manage their finances via mobile apps. The graphs show to a great extent the natural reaction of people to the imposed lockdown.

However, it is not clear what the response of consumers will be after the end of the state of emergency. There may be a backlash to traditional forms of trade and nutrition, but the experience will surely leave its mark. It is not excluded that symptoms of the so-called “Agoraphobia” – fear of leaving home, mixing with crowds, etc. may occur. There will be too many psychological effects, the impact of which is difficult to predict at the moment.
 
On the other hand, the state of emergency makes us thinking about how well we use our time. Many people are realizing now that the hours they spend travelling to a bank or store and the time spent there can be reduced by using online solutions and mobile apps. It seems like we suddenly realized that something that didn’t seem as important to us, such as online shopping or banking, actually saves us a lot of time. This, of course, allows us to do many more other activities.

In this regard, it can be predicted that the enhancement of e-commerce and online banking, as well as online education, will not be short-term. The new reality is increasingly necessitated by the so-called disruptive technologies, which in a very short time will become an integral part of our daily lives. These trends indicate that companies need to focus their efforts on attracting customers to their mobile apps and online solutions, rather than to the traditional way of offline offering.

There are great opportunities for much larger use of mobile marketing in terms of knowing better the consumers and offering them new solutions. This will improve to a higher extend their products and services, thus the customers’ satisfaction.

The world is becoming more turbulent and dynamic than most companies can respond with the necessary speed and flexibility. We need to adapt quickly and think about how we can drive the change.