According to the report, “Signifyd Weekly Pulse Report For E-Commerce”, eCommerce sales that ended for the week of June 29th showed that they were 27% higher than before COVID-19 pandemic broke.
The increases in double-digit proportions demonstrate a powerful indication that the adjustments in consumer purchasing behavior will be permanent. As many consumers who have never purchased anything online have had to resort to online purchases for their needs, this will likely remain unchanged. However, it may not be at the same level.
Increases Seen In Different Categories
There were two categories that had strong weeks, these included Fashion, Apparel, and Luggage and Commodities & Collectibles. Total spending for Commodities & Collectibles was up 39%. This category comprises precious metals such as gold bars. It has also seen an 88% increase in spending online in comparison to the week of February 25 to March 2. This time-frame is considered a “pre-pandemic benchmark”.
For the Fashion and Apparel category, sales rose 11% “week-over-week”. This category has experienced a favorable course in the past three months. Compared to “pre-pandemic” sales, total spending in this category is up 34%.
Noteworthy Shifts In Sales
A noticeable shift in sales was seen in the Electronics and the Leisure and Outdoor categories where sales declined. Although they have remained relatively strong throughout the pandemic, sales in Electronics missed the mark by 12% and Outdoor and Leisure dropped 15%.
It was found that two categories had sales below the levels of what they originally were before the pandemic. Sales in the Beauty & Cosmetic category dropped 3%. Business Supplies were 22% below the levels of origin in pre-pandemic sales. This category was negatively impacted by the closure of “non-essential” businesses.
The Development Of The “eCommerce Habit”
According to Signifyd’s data, the number of new online customers grew by as much as 140% during the COVID-19 outbreak. It also shows that this growth has remained largely resilient.
Emarketer, a market research company, ascribed most of that growth to consumers who are 45 years old or older, who have never really formed an “eCommerce habit”. The research firm released a report in June that showed the number of online consumers aged 45 and older will rise by 5.8% in 2020. Before the pandemic broke, the firm made a prediction that the increase would be at 3.2%.
Small Businesses Making A Comeback
The CardFlight Small Business Report discovered that small business sales experienced an 18.2% increase in total sales for the week of June 15-21.
Retail sales for small businesses were also up 16.8% from its baseline period. Sales at food and drink businesses were also up 21.9%
Hope On The Horizon
It is much too easy to dwell on all the negative ramifications that have been brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, these reports demonstrate that this could be the beginning of recovery for many businesses.
Andrew Lipsman, eMarketer principal analyst, had this to say:
“Everything we’re seeing with e-commerce is unprecedented, with growth rates expected to surpass anything we’ve seen since the Great Recession.
Certain e-commerce behaviors like online grocery shopping and click-and-collect have permanently catapulted three or four years into the future in just three or four months”.