In a world where retail disruption due to the pandemic was significant, it seems that one of the few firms that was place perfectly to capitalise on this state of affairs was Amazon.

The latest statistics published by GlobalData suggest that the firm’s value increased by almost 42 per cent in the second quarter of the year, leaving it significantly ahead of close rival Alibaba.

This means that Amazon’s value is calculated at over 1.3 trillion dollars, achieved in part because so many more people were making use of safe shopping online to buy goods during lockdown both in the UK and elsewhere globally.

Report spokesperson Kshav Kumar Jha said that the fact that consumers were so reliant on web-based retailers in the past six months helped to give Amazon an unprecedented boost, according to Internet Retailing.

He also pointed out that it was worth remembering that while Amazon appears to have significantly outstripped its competitors, there are some discrepancies to take into account, such as that second place Alibaba is a Chinese-owned organisation that may be subject to delisting from US exchanges, making investors more hesitant about backing it.

While Amazon may be making waves thanks to the current circumstances, it is worth noting that most of the other retailers to make it into the list of the most valuable brands in this industry also have a bricks and mortar presence.

Jha said that the COVID-19 crisis had demonstrated how important it was for retailers to embrace an omni-channel approach, catering to customers who want to buy online while still making it easy and enjoyable for those who would rather visit stores to get their fix of shopping bliss. This strategy seems to have been compounded by recent events after years of being suggested by specialists.