A few months into the COVID-19 crisis has caused major effects on businesses and consumers. In the current situation, although many online sellers face severe challenges, they are optimistic that e–commerce will leave the crisis as a winner. The new necessity of ordering products online, encourages those not shopping online to switch to online stores, while simultaneously causing significant shifts in demand for certain products.
The leading e-commerce growth software, Sellics, has conducted a survey, revealing the challenges, chances and expectations of businesses on Amazon. Additional exclusive insights show how and where demand increases or declines, and which products are winners of the crisis.
E-commerce could see long-term benefits
A vast majority of the participants expect the crisis to last 3 to 6 months or longer and fear a long-lasting recession because of the current situation.
Nonetheless, numerous brands also consider ecommerce to leave the crisis as a winner, for more people start ordering products online. This could lead to a change in behaviour that enforces an already existing trend and catapults ecommerce years into the future.
Fig. 1: Will ecommerce benefit from the crisis? Image © Sellics
Supply & Demand sees bottlenecks and significant shifts
Even though supply prices (costs of goods) are rather stable, sellers currently see negative effects on shipping and production, leading to quickly declining stock levels. About half of the participants have
Fig. 2: How has the pandemic affected the demand for your products on Amazon? Image © Sellics
Top selling products amid the Coronavirus crisis – current shopping trends
As a result of the Coronavirus crisis, demand has been shifting. Between countries, the product categories experiencing the highest increase in demand, vary from country to country (looking at week over week estimated sales growth in % from 02 March 2020 to 09 March 2020). In the U.S., groceries ride on the top (26% estimated sales growth), while Italy shows a growing demand on products for sports and (solo) outdoors activities (236% estimated sales growth). In Germany, toys and games see a peak (36% estimated sales growth).
However, there are also some clearly visible shopping trends common across all countries: groceries and home basics, medical supply, backyard and garden products, entertainment and activities, indoor and (solo) outdoor fitness, as well as home office tools have been trending, indicating that online shopping behaviour is adapting to the new situation.
Fig. 3: Top 5 main product categories in Italy by week over week estimated sales growth in % from 02 March 2020 to 09 March 2020. Image © Sellics
“We are facing a new and challenging dynamic environment for Amazon businesses. To help our clients find the right measures and cope with the current crisis, we have been setting up a newsletter with weekly updates and webinars,” says Franz Jordan, CEO of Sellics. “We are also constantly working on reliable and up-to-date information to provide as many insights as possible to support brands and agencies on Amazon in their decision making.”
In March 2020, Sellics interviewed brands selling on Amazon focussing mostly on the U.K., the U.S. and Germany for the analysis. Read the entire report on the Sellics COVID-19 customer survey here.
For the analysis on COVID-19’s impact on shopping behaviour and winning products, click here.
For more information visit: sellics.com
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