E-commerce revenues up 20% in Q1 2020: Salesforce

Global e-commerce revenue grew 20% in the first quarter of 2020, revealed the Salesforce Q1 Shopping Index that analysed data from activity of over one billion global shoppers. The data indicates that global buying habits are changing due to COVID-19 pandemic with the rise in stay-at-home online orders.

Initial data and analysis suggest that consumers are still in the early stages of shifting to a new normal, wherein there will be continued increase in digital commerce as more people shop online. While digital commerce saw a surge in traffic and sales, this likely does not account for the significant decrease in brick-and-mortar sales that brands and retailers are experiencing.

Also read: Fastest growing & declining categories in US e-commerce: Stackline

E-commerce demand rises as brick-and-mortar traffic flatlines: E-commerce revenue in Q1 2020 grew 20%, compared to 12% growth in Q1 2019, including 16% web traffic growth and 4% shopper spend growth (reflects average amount spent by shoppers per visit). Salesforce expects this will continue as companies double down on digital.

Essential goods purchases turn digital: Shelter-in-place policies triggered a spike in digital demand for essential goods including food, personal care items and more. Between March 10 and 20, with lockdown in most countries across the world, digital purchases for essential goods surged 200% and remained elevated for the rest of the quarter.

Home Goods, Active Apparel, Toys & Games see large digital spikes: Consumers continued to make purchases for non-essential goods, even while stocking up on the essentials. Digital revenue grew by 51% for the home goods industry such as home decor and crafts, 31% year-on-year increase for active apparel and a 34% year-on-year increase for toys and games.

Pick-up in store brings convenience and safety for consumers: Sites offering buy online, pick-up in store (BOPIS) grew digital revenue by 27% in Q1 2020, compared with 13% for sites not offering BOPIS. Between March 10 and 20, digital revenue for sites offering BOPIS – via curbside, car, drive through or store pick-up – grew by 92%, compared to 19% for sites not offering BOPIS over the same time period.

The Salesforce Q1 Shopping Index analysed activity of over one billion shoppers across more than 34 countries, with a focus on the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Japan, the Netherlands, Australia/New Zealand and the Nordics.

For all the latest retail news from Middle East, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn, like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube page.