Virus outbreak spurs digital transformation in economy

Retail industry

In terms of the retail industry, delivery orders for goods soared as traditional supermarkets all developed online sales channels via apps, WeChat mini programs, and other offline-to-online food delivery platforms like Meituan and Ele.me.

Carrefour, the traditional retailer, faced with increasing demand of vegetables and meat during the Spring Festival vacation, has upgraded its delivery service coverage to a 10-kilometer radius, and ensured a sufficient food supply based on big data systems, cited an interview by Zhang Jindong, the chairman of Suning, from National Business Daily.

Carrefour's total orders experienced a particularly large growth in Spring Festival holiday, up 300 percent, with vegetable orders expanding 600 percent compared to last year.

"During the virus outbreak, the stay-at-home economy has emerged, which is pushing forward the rapid development of e-commerce platforms serving daily needs that combine online and offline," Zhang said. "The thriving demand brought by the stay-at-home economy will force enterprises to optimize customer service and speed up the digital transformation."