US Customers Turning to eCommerce Amidst Covid-19

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2020

eCommerce business owners are eating their share of the cake as physical store retailers wait for COVID-19 to calm with bated breath. Customers are on Coronavirus lockdown. They would rather have products brought to their doorstep than go out and risk exposure to the lethal virus.

A seven-day analysis conducted by Emarsys, in the dying embers of March, shows a 57 percent increase in revenue. Meanwhile, online orders went up 45 percent. Emarsys is a digital-marketing expert who is dedicated to a continuing study analyzing the effects of Corona on retail.

But the growth rate, revenues and orders differ by (1) region and (2) between eCommerce merchants with physical stores versus those without.

Growth rates are on the up for eCommerce retailers without physical locations in the various regions.

• South 72%
• West 71%
• Midwest 66%
• Northeast 57%

But the situation is different for eCommerce retailers with brick-and-mortar stores. Revenue for these merchants plummeted significantly in all the studied regions as follows;

• 27% in the Northeast
• 22% in the South
• 20% in the Midwest
• 16% in the West

In the meantime, the number of orders for physical store owners with online presence also plummeted as follows;

• 26% in the Northeast
• 21% in the Midwest.
• 14% in West
• 14% in the South

As hinted earlier, the seven-day analysis was just part of a continuing study Emarsys is dedicated to.

The digital-marketer is partnering with GoodData to create a functional Coronavirus Commerce Insight tool (CCInsight) that seeks to track the impact of COVID-19 on online sales.

So what insights can merchants draw from the useful tool? The tool seeks to track how Corona is impacting;

• The count of eCommerce transactions
• The count of orders
• The average order value (AOV)
• The types of products purchased, and so on

The tool cuts across all industries and parts of the globe with respect to the unprecedented measures in affected nations worldwide.

Hagai Hartman, creator and CIO at Emarsys said the move will help industries keep track of customer behaviors that have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’ve rolled out CCinsight to provide the various parties with up-to-date consumer info at a time of economic unrest.”