eCommerce Overview: End of April -First Week of May 2020

April 2020 showed an increase in online shopping, compared to March 2020. Consumers continued to buy their groceries, electronics, and other purchases online.

 However, as the calendar turned to May and retailers started opening up, we saw a decline in online sales.

 Electronic retailers in Germany, Israel, and the Nordic states experienced a 10% online sales decrease between the last week in April and the first week in May. Home office equipment, including laptops, showed a 20% decline, while profits in printers dropped by about 9%.

 Groceries also experienced a drop in online sales, as consumers headed back to stores.

 What we are seeing is good news for some retailers. After being locked down for months, consumers want to go to stores and return to normal. Israel, which lagged behind other countries in online sales, is seeing higher volumes of grocery sales than other places, although electronics online sales are still being purchased at a higher volume today than before the pandemic.

 In Germany and Nordic countries consumers are heading back to the stores, but at a slower pace than Israeli customers. In those countries, when we compare YoY May 2020 to May 2019, instore shopping is about 50% of what it was a year ago.

 We’re seeing some interesting things in other categories. People stopped buying baby products in the Nordic states. Comparing May YoY online shopping decreased by 30% and wasn’t compensated by in-store shopping.

 Pet stores, which were considered essential, stayed open throughout the lockdowns, but consumers did most of their pet food and product shopping online. May has shown a 10% decrease in online shopping revenue and a 15% decrease in the number of items sold.

 Overall, it looks like people are cautiously going back to stores again, but we expect to continue to see a thriving online marketplace.