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Brief Retail Analytics Updates Amid Coronavirus Outbreak

April 29, 2020 By Shannon Kelly, Digital Marketing Coordinator

As April draws to a close, some states across the United States look to begin reopening. The American population continues to shelter-in-place as the pandemic continues and considerations are made for an economic return to a new normal. In the meantime, consumers are still turning to ecommerce options to supplement and furnish their homes. Our retail analytics data shows a continued upward trend in ecommerce sales among the homebound consumer base.

Our brief update on retail analytics covers the Food and Grocery, Gifting, and Home Furnishing retail categories, comparing the daily data of April 27 and 28, 2020 with that of April 27 and 28, 2019 to show year over year changes.

Food and Grocery Retail Analytics 

The Food and Grocery retail industry has experienced a boom in sales during the outbreak that has been unmatched. Just from the beginning of this week, we have seen:

  • Website conversions have increased over 650%.
  • The number of transactions increased over 900%.
  • The average order value (AOV) increased over 50%.
  • The percentage of mobile orders increased almost 100%.

As of yesterday, Food and Grocery ecommerce sites have experienced their best conversion rate since NetElixir began collecting their research data.

Gifting in the Time of Coronavirus

retail analytics; ecommerce sales during coronavirus
Virtual gifts keep us connected and help boost ecommerce sales. Photo by Kaboompics

In attempts to stay connected with loved ones while social distancing, people have turned to means of virtual expression. Our daily data has found:

  • Website conversions have increased over 140%.
  • The number of transactions increased over 400%.
  • The AOV decreased by 27%.
  • The percentage of mobile orders increased marginally by 5%.

Despite tremendous growth in terms of converting searchers to shoppers, basket sizes have decreased for many retail categories throughout the outbreak. People have stocked up on food to feed all those now living under one roof, but discounts and offers across other industries have drastically lowered average order value.

Home Renovations During Coronavirus

While we continue to work, learn, and live at home, people look to redesign their surroundings for a change of scenery. Even small updates can be refreshing.

For the Home Furnishing retail category, our daily data has found:

  • Website conversions have increased over 60%.
  • The number of transactions increased nearly 150%.
  • The AOV decreased by 7%.
  • The percentage of mobile orders increased by 66%.

While Food and Grocery and Gifting have seen more dramatic changes in their day-to-day ecommerce sales, Home Furnishing is still seeing positive results in gaining a share of ecommerce growth. Customers are venturing online. Therefore, it is important for businesses to get their products and services on the screens of their returning and potential customers.

Additional Insights

We will be hosting a new webinar series, starting Tuesday, May 12 at 2 PM ET. Our X=Experience: Expert Series pulls together previous speakers from our annual X=Experience event to provide insights and research on how the coronavirus is impacting different fields. Our first webinar of the series on Leveraging AI, Data, and Tech Platforms To Understand Health Pandemics will be presented by Anindya Ghose. Register now.

Our Covid-19 Updates Webinar series can be viewed in its entirety. The schedule is as follows:

  1. March 11: The first of the series on tracking the impact of the coronavirus on ecommerce sales and online shopping behavior
  2. March 26: Meet our first Retail Superhero, Parag Shah, the Vice President of Grocery at Wakefern Food Corporation for Shoprite, and learn over a month’s worth of research
  3. April 9: Our third update featured UPS’s President of SMB and US Marketing, Gerard Gibbons, for a live Q&A
  4. April 23: We detailed over two months’ worth of research and introduced Kaki Zell, Co-Owner and Vice President of Ames Walker for a story of innovation in the apparel industry

While we have covered an extensive dataset, it is by no means exhaustive. Please email us at shareinsights@netelixir.com for specifics into your category.

Further Reading on Ecommerce Updates During Coronavirus

You can join the conversation on social media using #NxInsights.

For further reading, you can see our prior retail analytics updates on retail ecommerce and online shopping behavior: