55% of shoppers discover online shopping during peak COVID: Criteo survey

Criteo, the advertising platform for the open Internet, today released survey on the dynamic changes in shopping habits and expectations of consumers during COVID-19, titled ‘Peak To Recovery: Social distancing has redefined shopper habits and expectations for the long term’. With the opening of the economy in phases, India is looking out for a shift in consumer behavior. While people would be back in the old ways of purchasing things, there will be, however, changes in lifestyle habits.

With the changing lifestyle habits and shopping trends, this latest survey by Criteo with 1,203 respondents in India deduced that 55% of shoppers have discovered at least one form of online shopping during peak COVID and want to continue. A majority consisting of 32% of respondents bought groceries online while they were at home and a small number of 16% of respondents ordered online food.

This survey revealed that after spending more time at home, people have discovered or re-discovered the thing they would like to continue even after the lockdown completely ends. 61% of boomers & silent respondents would prefer working from home and 50% of millennial respondents would continue watching content on OTT platforms.

While the report deduced that 51% of respondents started exercising while staying at home and Gen Z can’t wait to go back to the gym, it also said that 45% of Indians gained weight during peak COVID (over 4kg on average).

Sharing his thoughts on the survey, Taranjeet Singh, Managing Director for Southeast Asia and India, Criteo said, “This global pandemic has brought various dynamic changes in people's behaviours and lifestyles. This survey brings out interesting insights for marketers in such critical times. The adoption of 'new normal' in our society will be based on many such perspicacity. While the future holds some unexpected situations, this report will help brands and retailers to be better prepared with their tactics to deal with this new frontier. By leveraging our data and technology expertise, Criteo is happy to help retailers, brands and partners to lead this wave of digital transformation in India.”

With the onset of festive season in the next half of the year, half of Indians will be gifting as usual during the next few months and gifting through ecommerce will remain high in 2020.  Around 35% of respondents will purchase the gifts online and directly send to the recipient.

In the regular course of life, 51% of shoppers would buy more of groceries and 50% of shoppers would buy less of alcohol and spirits in stores. On the other hand, 57% of shoppers would buy more of groceries and 47% of shoppers would buy less of alcohol and spirits online.

The survey also revealed that the major parameters of the attraction towards an e-commerce website are 'FastDelivery' (50% of respondents) and 'an overall satisfactory shopping experience' (44%).

Additional considerations for brands

Retailers and brands: Track categories with high growth using actual shopper data, using tools such as Criteo’s Product Insights Finder, which is free and updated every week. Don’t forget to look at what happens in other countries.

Brands: Outrank your competition on trending product categories by ensuring your brand appears on relevant search results, especially on retailers’ search engines, and win lifelong clients.

Retailers: Build an audience of in-market consumers based on the intent data you’re collecting. Criteo Commerce Audiences makes it easy to build campaigns based on groups of products your customers want and need right now—you simply select what categories you want to target.