Pandemic impact on e-commerce

Our end of June research – now covering more than 7.600 interviews with Dutch online shoppers - indicates that Dutch consumers will reduce their overall purchases in July (i.e. in both online and offline purchases). It is worth noting that July is a summer month, which may impact consumers’ purchase intent. At the same time, Dutch consumers say that they will continue to shift purchases to online channels in July.

This is a continuation of the trend we saw in June, when Dutch on… Read more

Instead of being entertained at cinemas, concerts, theatre shows, during sports and team activities and social gatherings, lockdown measures forced consumers to explore different ways to entertain themselves - at home.

How has this impacted online purchases in Media and Entertainment (books, movies, games, music)? Which consumers are more prone to buying Media and Entertainment online than others? What will happen once societies open up more? And how big is the impact of warmer temperatures and summer holidays on Media and Entertainment e-commerce? AfterPay I… Read more

We have added new research data for the first half of June. Our research now contains responses from more than 19.000 consumers in The Netherlands, Germany and Norway over a period of three months. Results from the new survey responses show that e-commerce purchase growth reached a plateau in May, with similarly declining growth rates now developing in the first half of June in all countries. Is this dampening growth t… Read more

Food and Groceries is the rising star within e-commerce. But what do recent developments look like? Which consumers are more prone to buying Food and Groceries online? And what are their motivations for doing so? Which dimensions do Food and Grocery merchants need to focus on to keep online momentum going? AfterPay Insights decided to find out.

Looking at the full landscape of online product categories, Food and Groceries leads the way in terms of growth. Directly following the corona outbreak, online Food and Grocery purchases boomed like no other category.… Read more

Fashion is the biggest product category in e-commerce. But it is, due to its selective nature, also highly vulnerable. And with a global pandemic, looming economic crises and brick-and-mortar stores on lockdown, Fashion is all the more exposed. It is no surprise that every industry professional wonders what the impact of the corona outbreak on Fashion really is. What are the drivers of growth? And how satisfied are consumers? What dimensions do Fashion merchants need to navigate in the new e-commerce landscape of today? AfterPay Insights decided to find out.
Read more

Deze post is ook te lezen in het Nederlands.

AfterPay Insights research among more than 5,500 consumers in the Netherlands since the corona outbreak reveals that e-commerce purchases are up +48% compared to Dutch consumers’ normal online shopping behavior, so preceding the corona outbreak. Although Dutch e-com… Read more

Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache erhältlich. 

This article is an updated version of the deep dive into German e-commerce f… Read more

The impact of the corona-outbreak is still noticeable all around us. However, countries around the world have started easing restrictions, hopefully giving way to economic recovery.

In parallel, consumers’ changed e-commerce behavior is slowing down and growth hits a plateau. This is confirmed by the two new data points that have been added to our dashboard. With these new data points, we are now able to show you development of e-commerce in The Netherlands, Germany and Norway from end of March until end of May. The first and second half of April are characte… Read more

From a merchant perspective, AfterPay Insights previous research shows that one of the most critical aspects to attract and retain customers is to be perceived as ‘secure’. And this has become even more central since the corona outbreak. But how do consumers interpret a ‘secure’ webshop? Which dimensions are most relevant to build trust in security? We decided to find out by taking a deep dive into the space of ‘perceived security’.

We found out that ‘security’ is a lot broader than just the technical- and data privacy related aspects that the industry normally… Read more

Data from AfterPay Insights’ research into the e-commerce behavior of 3,400 Norwegian consumers shows that purchases are up +32% compared to before the corona outbreak.

In contrast to the other countries analyzed by AfterPay Insights, online consumers in Norway show the most opposite behavior when it comes to e-commerce. They are skeptical when they project how they will shop in the future, but in reality still continue to increase purchasing online. Norwegian consumers are also very driven by rational motives to shop online and an increasing number of consu… Read more

Data from AfterPay Insights’ research into the e-commerce behavior of 3,400 German consumers shows that purchases are up +36% compared to before the corona outbreak.

The increase of online purchases is largely driven by existing online shoppers buying more. Both infrequent- and heavy shoppers have increased e-commerce purchases, and our research reveals that only more frequent online shoppers are prone to shifting purchases from brick and mortar stores to online in certain categories - this is especially noticeable in the food categories.

We see that o… Read more

New consumer data from The Netherlands, Germany and Norway has been added to our research, expanding our research base to more than 11.400 respondents and generating consumer e-commerce insights that span two months. 

With this new data we have found that e-commerce purchases since the beginning of the corona outbreak have overall increased 33% in The Netherlands, Germany and Norway after the last two weeks of April. This is in line with the projections that we made in the beginning of April. The current overall increase is primarily driven by growth in Garde… Read more

Deze post is ook te lezen in het Nederlands.

AfterPay Insights research among more than 3,400 consumers in the Netherlands since the corona outbreak reveals that e-commerce purchases are up +32% compared to Dutch consumers’ normal online shopping behavior, so preceding the corona outbreak.
The increase of online purchases is largely driven by existing online shoppers buying more. Both infrequent- and … Read more

As consumers transfer more purchases from offline to online, venturing into new categories, also comes a change in mindset from a consumers’ point of view. Offline habits and expectations have now completely transferred to the digital experience. With this also comes a challenge for merchants. Are they able to satisfy consumers’ online and offline purchasing needs?

Our research shows that consumers are becoming increasingly less satisfied with merchants’ performance as the pandemic continues. The satisfaction with delivery time, for example, has significantly… Read more

It seems like the initial impact of the pandemic in Europe is now behind us. Where consumers’ first reaction was to stockpile, it now looks like consumers in The Netherlands, Germany and Norway understand the longevity of the situation.

Our previous blog posts have shown that in the last two weeks of March, consumers turned to the easiest form of distraction: food and entertainmentRead more