One might have expected that as the shops reopen and offices are encouraged to reopen that the massive spike in consumers shopping online be somewhat tempered. That’s not the case according to Scurri as they release the results of a survey on UK consumer shopping behaviours during and post lockdown.
The survey of over 2,000 UK adults shows that rather than slowing down, the ecommerce boom looks set to maintain its course. The study also looked at the items purchased during lockdown, the volumes of deliveries during and post lockdown, as well as several aspects of consumer outlook for the months ahead.
As many as a third of the UK population (33%) say they are shopping more online now than they did during lockdown, while 38% are shopping online as much as they did during lockdown. Regionally, these figures were highest in Wales where 39% are shopping more than during lockdown, compared to 27% in Northern Ireland, 32% in England and 36% in Scotland. Those who agreed that they are now shopping much more online than they did previously were in the 55+ bracket (19%) vs 11% of 18-24 year olds.
The most purchased items during lockdown included clothing (17%), followed by home and garden items (11%), alcohol (9%), DIY equipment e.g. paint, tools etc. (8%), health, beauty and fragrances (8%), electrical equipment (6%), footwear (2%) and sports equipment (3%).
During lockdown, an incredible 71% of British consumers received between 1-3 online shopping orders delivered to their homes every week, while 12% had as many as 4-6 parcels delivered every week. 5% of UK online shoppers had as many as 7-15 packages delivered on a weekly basis during the lockdown period. Since the lifting of lockdown, there has been only a negligible decline in the number of packages UK online shoppers have delivered to their homes every week. 66% (-5%) claim they are still receiving 1-3 online shopping orders delivered on a weekly basis, while 9% (-3%) say they still receive between 4-6 packages to their homes.
There is also good news on the horizon for British brands with consumer support looking very strong. As a result of the economic consequences of the pandemic, 59% of UK shoppers say that they intend to consciously seek out British brands to support the UK economy. This sentiment is currently highest among female consumers (63%) versus men (54%). Regionally, this sentiment was highest in Northern Ireland, where 64% agreed with this statement. The biggest difference was in terms of age. Those that agreed least with this were in the 18-24 bracket (45%), while the figure was 70% for those 55+.
“While the road ahead for retail remains in some ways unclear, what these stats do make clear is that online shopping is the new norm. The lockdown meant that many who may not have previously shopped that much online became more accustomed to it. It is interesting to also see that there are still so many who are hesitant to shop in-store, but also that they believe things will take so long to return to pre-virus norms. The survey for us painted a clear picture of a cautious consumer who feels more comfortable shopping from the comforts of their own homes.”
– Rory O’Connor, Founder & CEO, Scurri
If things are busy now for ecommerce, wait for Q4 when Christmas is coming, the weather turns cold and shoppers no longer want to queue outside shops and there’s a high danger that the pandemic could accelerate again as people huddle indoors and spend less time outside. If ever there is a time when you want to use the data available to streamline your business the time is now and this includes using tracking data to keep consumer informed as to the status of their deliveries. If you’d like to find out more, read out white paper ‘Using tracking data to streamline the customer experience in ecommerce delivery’ which you can download for free.
