Research has revealed that a colossal 92% of UK adults have changed their shopping habits due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with e-commerce emerging as retail’s biggest lockdown driver.
We’re shopping more online during working hours than previously (13%), with a quarter of Brits (25%) across all age ranges understandably buying items online they’d previously bought on the high street. Amazon is the online retailer of choice for around one in five of us (19%), rising to 27% of millennials aged 25-34.
The tracker study of more than 2,000 UK consumers, commissioned by global e-commerce agency Melody, further revealed that six out of ten UK shoppers (60%) believe they’ll maintain these new shopping habits even when the pandemic and lockdown are over:
- 12% say they’ll continue to buy products online that previously they would have bought in stores/on the high street
- The same number (12%) say they will shop more on Amazon than before
- Around one in seven (15%) believe they will do less shopping of any type.
The research also highlighted that UK women are more likely than men to have changed their high street shopping habits because of the Covid-19 pandemic. While a third of all UK shoppers (33%) say they now do less shopping of any type, this rises to 40% of women.
Female shoppers are also now more likely to shop online instead of in stores – and much more likely than men (29% vs. 18%) to no longer shop on high streets at all.
At the same time, men are more likely than women to visit e-commerce sites more often to browse because of the lockdown (13% of men, 8% of women). In addition, 17% of men say they now do more online shopping during working hours, compared to only 9% of women.
Mark Burgess, Business Director at Melody, comments: “Clearly we’re living through unprecedented times and it’s hard to separate anticipated consumer intent from actual behaviour, but the lockdown has significantly impacted the UK’s retail landscape and our shopping habits.
“According to our research, the shift to online retail looks here to stay. More people are trialling e-commerce channels at more numerous points on their shopper journey and as e-commerce absorbs the role played by the physical environment.
“It’s no surprise that companies that have never previously considered offering an e-commerce solution, or indeed needed to, are now trying to adapt their business model – or at the very least, enhance their current content and media solutions across retail.
“For retailers as well as brand owners, it makes sense to accelerate their e-commerce strategies at speed and right now.”
Melody are an amazon agency offering amazon account management services. Contact us to find out more.
This article was featured in over 170 publications, including:
