Twin peaks: it’s a time of peak purchasing, but not as we know it

Purchasing in the time of Covid-19 is fuelled far more by necessity than luxury, and it’s an unprecedented peak the retail industry is rapidly trying to adjust to. These aren’t indulgent puddings to follow your Christmas spread, or a fun new gadget you’ve treated yourself to because the Black Friday discounts were too good to miss.

Self-isolating has brought with it a sudden shift in the dynamics of daily life, and all tasks, including those that might otherwise have been outsourced have been brought in to the home hub; work, school, exercise, cooking, cleaning, gardening… With all these new hats the heads of households are forced to wear, it’s no wonder there’s an urgent need to buy things in to help keep life ticking along, resulting in a huge responsibility on retailers to provide these unexpected essentials.

In our recent survey, we compared the current parcel volume by category against annually occurring ‘peak’ e-commerce events: Valentines, Easter, Black Friday and Christmas.

It’s already been reported that the electronics and IT market has seen a huge surge in demand since the outbreak, and our study shows this is certainly true; the electronics and IT category during Covid-19 has outstripped sales from all the major e-commerce events.

Black Friday, for example, is a significant peak time for electronics purchasing, but Covid-19 purchases in this category are up by 78% compared to Black Friday last year. Sales in this category have been steadily increasing since the effects of Covid-19 started to hit the UK; compared with Valentines last year the category was up by 88%, and a little over a month later when we hit Easter, compared with the same time of year in 2019, sales in the category were up by a massive 138%. No doubt this surge is due to the importance of two key activities households are now attempting to conduct from home – work and school.

Christmas is a huge peak for most product categories, and is also a time when many who aren’t frequent e-commerce shoppers will head online; for different reasons, both of these points are also true of e-commerce during Covid-19.

The unique Christmas peak that differs from the rest of the year is in the grocery category, when people often eschew busy supermarket aisles for the relative ease of online ordering, or are seeking speciality foods and drinks for their planned celebrations that can only be obtained from e-tailers. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Covid-19 is topping Christmas in this category by almost 20%. Online grocery ordering during the pandemic however, is not about celebration but sustenance – a very real lifeline that people need to know will arrive without issue.

Due to the highly emotive drivers leading people to make these online purchases during lockdown, it’s so important that retailers are keeping regular contact post-purchase on the status of their parcels. Our findings show that dispatch confirmation emails have seen an increase of 5% in unique open rates and 6% in unique click rates. In fact, we’ve seen an uplift in engagement on all points of post-purchase contact during Covid-19.

The total open and click rates in relation to the dispatch confirmation has increased by 10% on open rates and 13% on click rates. Now more than ever customers want to know where their shipment is.
Post-purchase communications already see a healthy engagement rate, but an already super high rate is increasing even further – since Covid-19, open rates have increased from 147% to 163% and click rates from 66% to 75%.

With an open rate of 75% – significantly higher than standard marketing emails that retailers might put out – these emails are a great opportunity to communicate other key information that shoppers will find reassuring, uplifting or inspiring in this uncertain time. As well as letting anxious recipients know how and who will be delivering their items, how to stay safe during the exchange and operational information about how they are keeping the business running and their staff safe and supported, personality and creativity will bring a little cheer and build brand rapport.

Shoppers making purchases related to rusty or new skills will appreciate expert advice and help – videos, how-tos, recipe ideas etc – which can all be an added bonus delivered to them through tailored post-purchase communications. Suggesting related items – for example, a slightly more challenging craft project to follow the one they’ve just received – helps inspire customers, and if retailers can also follow initial purchases with a discounting offer on further buys, the gesture will be hugely appreciated at this financially tricky time, making shoppers feel valued.