Marketing 3 min read

COVID-19 Concerns may Boost Ecommerce Says Study

Alexandru Nika / Shutterstock.com

Alexandru Nika / Shutterstock.com

A recent study suggests that COVID19 concerns may boost e-commerce as consumers avoid going to stores.

The newest strain of the coronavirus has impacted several nations across the world.

More companies are asking employees to work from home as the pandemic continues to spread. For example, Google, Facebook, and Amazon have implemented remote working policies for employees.

Similarly, cities have been placed under lockdown, with people avoiding public and crowded places such as shopping centers and malls.

Unsurprisingly, the pandemic has significantly affected consumers’ shopping habits. But how?

To answer this question, a British international Internet-based market research and data analytics firm, YouGov, conducted a survey.

Here’s the major takeaway.

COVID-19 Concerns: Fewer People are Going to Shopping Centers and Malls

A recent study suggests that COVID-19 concerns may boost e-commerce as consumers avoid going to stores.
Image Credit: eMarketer.com

The YouGov survey suggests that people are generally avoiding crowded public places.

Roughly 85 percent of internet users in China said they’ve avoided crowded places in the last two weeks. Meanwhile, about 27 percent in the U.S. and 14 percent in the U.K. said the same.

What’s more, eight in 10 participants ages 60 and older said they were likely to avoid shopping malls and centers. And that’s not surprising.

However, the outbreak also has an unintended consequence on consumers’ shopping habits.

eMarketer analyst, Mark Dolliver explained:

“This could mean more adoption of e-commerce, an area where they’ve been laggards. People whose attitude has been ‘I’d rather die than buy online’ may rethink this if they feel going to crowded, germy stores truly could kill them.”

Another study supported these findings, noting that e-commerce activity in health and grocery is currently booming in the United States.

Ecommerce and tech provider, Pacvue reported a recent surge in Amazon searches for products like sanitizers and antibacterial soap. Also, more people are switching to online shopping despite the longer delivery window to avoid going to stores with possibly limited inventory.

While retail giants like Amazon can benefit from the shift to e-commerce, it also presents a challenge.

On the one hand, the click frenzy is bringing in more paid search dollars. However, eMarketer points out that third-party sellers would start looking for ways to stay on top of supply chain issues. And this could involve reducing their ad spending.

“The combination of supply shocks and demand shocks due to the novel coronavirus means the situation is more complex and faster-moving than ever before,” says eMarketer analyst Nicole Perrin.

“Advertisers need to be on top of their supply chains as well as the latest news driving consumer behaviors.”

Read More: YouTube Creators can now Monetize Coronavirus Content

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Sumbo Bello

Sumbo Bello is a creative writer who enjoys creating data-driven content for news sites. In his spare time, he plays basketball and listens to Coldplay.

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