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Two-thirds of consumers have increased online shopping because of the coronavirus

It’s been a whirlwind of a year for online retailers. As the coronavirus swept across the world, many online retailers gained new business as shoppers were urged to stay home and many stores temporarily closed. Yet, some web merchants took a hit as shoppers shied away from discretionary purchases with the economy in flux and most in-person gatherings canceled.

New research provides insights into how the pandemic has shifted shopping to the web.

50% of consumers currently do more than 75% of all their shopping online and 25% do more than 90% of their shopping on the web, a survey from personalization vendor Qubit finds. Additionally, two-thirds of consumers have increased online shopping because of the coronavirus and only 28% of consumers feel comfortable returning to stores. 36% say they plan to return in 2 months, 19% of consumers are planning to return in 2021, 13% said where there is a vaccine, and 4% said never.  The survey of 809 respondents in the U.S. and the U.K. was conducted in July 2020.

44% of respondents plan to shop more online this holiday season than they did last year. When asked: “With stores now opening again, do you think you’ll shop online more or less than prior to the pandemic?” 35% of consumers said they plan to shop online more and 11% said they will do less shopping online than they did prior to the pandemic.

However, loyalty is decreasing, with 37% of shoppers stating they now shop with more brands than they did a year ago. 46% say they are less loyal to the brands they love. Additionally, 52% say they recognize when a brand is using personalization and two-thirds expect personalized experiences once they have shopped with a brand. 70% of consumers would share data with brands for a more personalized experience.

Other research from GlobalWebIndex finds that 49% of 16- to 64-year-old internet users worldwide expect to shop online more frequently after the pandemic ends. In the U.S., that figure is 36%. Additionally, 41% of global internet users plan to use mobile payments more after the pandemic. In the U.S., that percentage is 16%. The research was collected from 15,271 consumers in 18 countries between June 29 and July 2.

Additional data from the firm also finds that ecommerce traffic to supermarkets was up 35% for the week ending July 12 compared with average traffic for the category from Jan. 6-Feb. 16, (before the pandemic became widespread globally). Sports equipment was up 34%; cosmetics, 13%; jewelry and watches, 11%; home furnishings and DIY, 6%; fashion, 2%l and luxury items, 0.5%.

By number of transactions, sports equipment was up the most when comparing the same time periods at 83%, followed by supermarkets, 67%; home furnishings, 42%; cosmetics, 42%; luxury, 22%; fashion, 20%; and jewelry and watches, 17%.

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