The pandemic of COVID-19 has damaged all the spheres of people’s lives. One of the most extreme measures is a global lockdown, which has influenced the way customers all over the globe do shopping. People in many countries are no longer able to visit physical stores, so naturally, they have switched to online shopping.
There’ve been already made several studies on consumer behavior since the pandemic started. One of them shows that 7 out of 10 shoppers started to buy more online than they usually do because of the lockdowns. The tendency lead to the result that 86% of the e-shops owners that took part in researches marked that their online revenues increased, ranging from 1 to more than 200 percent, compared with pre-COVID times.
It’s also worth mentioning not only the revenues changed. Such rapid growth was followed by supply chain diversification and eCommerce presence expansion up to 39%. At the same time marketing budgets enlarged by 32%. Business owners started paying more attention to ready-go web-based selling platforms for the distribution of their products.
Another research made by Nielsen company has identified changing consumer needs that have influenced the e-commerce supply. It is no secret that first of all, the demand for products related to proactive protection measures has soared. These include masks and sanitizers in the first place. After a year, the demand has not decreased, but it has changed in its performance. Ordinary methods of protection have been replaced by customization and personalization. So the sellers who offered customized masks in advance increased their profits up to 200%.
According to the data from Nielsen, items like hygienic and medical mask sales have been up by more than 300%.
At the same time, sales of household items and non-perishable products increased as well. Customers began to buy great amounts of dried fruits, canned food, and ready-made products that can be stored in the freezer. Shelf-stable goods have been up by more than 300% in dollar growth at the end of the year.
It is also worth noting there have been seen the growth in sales of items related to various hobbies and sports equipment. Being locked in their apartments, people got the opportunity to devote more time to activities that they like as well as self-development. Even those who previously did not walk more than 15 minutes on foot a day for the sake of experiment or just out of boredom bought sports mats.
The pandemic has not just temporarily changed people's lives, it has permanently instilled new habits in many of them. This issue requires a detailed study of those who are interested in developing their own business in the online market.
At the same time, you should not completely rely on the current marketable products. So when it seems that household goods have become a top product, the lockdown may end and people will be eager to fill their lives with beauty in the form of new clothes, for example. Today, the fashion sector is experiencing a decline of 20% per month, but no one can say for sure how long this trend will continue and whether the day will come when sales of clothing in online stores will increase by 300%.
