Covid-19: Three Industries That Have Entered “Recovery Mode”
For the last three months, the coronavirus pandemic has shaken the world’s economy, with businesses across almost every sector struggling in the wake of store closures, supply chain issues and consumer lockdowns.
Now, with the worst of the crisis behind us, both businesses and consumers are looking for evidence that the world is finally on the road to economic recovery. While not every industry is on the mend, data from Contentsquare — which has been tracking the crisis via its Covid-19 Ecommerce Impact Data Hub — has found several sectors now showing positive signs of recovery:
Fashion
In the early days of the crisis, fashion was the last thing on people’s minds, with self-isolating consumers working from home and seeing little need to dress up or even change out of their pajamas. Since around late March however, Contentsquare has identified a resurgence in the fashion sector, with transactions rising by up to +23% in recent weeks.
This surge in consumer engagement has been driven in part by aggressive promotions and discounts being offered by the fashion industry. As they redirected their operations online in the wake of store closures, fashion retailers were quick to respond, going on the offensive to push their products and stimulate demand online.
According to recent data, this push has paid off, with consumers browsing more fashion sites (+24%), viewing more pages (+38%) and spending longer on these sites (+7%) than before the crisis.
Luxury Goods
As with fashion retailers, many luxury goods brands struggled during the early days of the Coronavirus lockdown. Now however, sales of luxury items such as watches and jewelry are back on the rise, increasing by +20% in the final weeks of May.
This increase may be due in part to a spike in the US around Mothers’ Day, with many consumers heading online for luxury gifts such as perfume and jewelry. Around the rest of the world however, the trend can also be observed, with traffic in Asia picking up significantly over the last month. Today, the sector is just shy of its pre-Coronavirus traffic level, and seeing +24% more digital transactions than before lockdown.
Travel
There’s no denying that of all sectors, the travel industry has been hit hardest during the Covid-19 pandemic. While many travel companies couldn’t accept any new transactions during this time, some were able to take bookings in advance, or adjust their services in light of restrictions. Still, with consumer confidence knocked, the majority of customers felt uncertain about booking any sort of trip — leading to a dramatic fall in page views, visits and transactions across the entire travel sector.
Some brands were also able to sustain customer engagement by reinventing their offering to bring value to customers stuck at home, by introducing virtual travel, family activities etc.
Now however, we’re beginning to see a slow return to normality, with many shoppers tentatively planning domestic trips for the summer, and starting to consider the possibility of pre-booking a holiday ready for 2021.
According to Contentsquare’s data, bookings and transactions on travel sites have risen by 12 percentage points over the last two weeks, with the biggest signs of recovery coming from France and the DACH region. In the USA, UK and Asia, consumers appear to be mostly window-shopping (causing a spike in traffic) and putting off actual purchases for now.
If travel providers are to overcome this, now is the time to truly understand customers’ concerns and priorities, and focus on offering the relevant discounts and deals that will convert web traffic into transactions. To do this, brands need to do more to understand how consumers are shopping for trips today, and to create tailored, personal campaigns that will help convert those browsers into buyers.
This is where digital marketing and analytics can come into their own. By using the latest analytics technology to understand customer behaviors and concerns, marketers can build better experiences, providing personalized offers on the flights, hotels and locations that they know will pique consumer interest. The result will be better deals for customers, greater stability for brands, and another step on the long road to global economic recovery.