verde consumer behavior report - october 21, 2020
Resiliency is the new black. Maybe it’s the changing of the seasons that tends to bring a new energy and sense of potential? Maybe as time marches on this year, we’re becoming less prone to shock and more attuned to tenacity? Whatever the reason, resiliency is the undeniable theme in consumer behavior this week.
Retail Sales Have a Solid September
According to Business Insider and relying on figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, retail has been on a consistent road to recovery since it dropped 19.95% in year-over-year sales in April 2020. While May was also in the YOY red (-5.6%), retail sales have grown each consecutive month both over the previous month and in comparison to the same period in 2019.
September retail sales were up 5.4% over September 2019.
With Amazon Prime Days in October this year, it’s a solid bet we’ll see YOY growth this month, too.
Growth isn’t consistent across all retail sectors. At 23.8% YOY growth, non-store retail (including e-commerce), is a huge driver (and beneficiary) of the overall growth.
Will this overall retail trend continue? This is where economists and retail leaders are split. Everyone is trying to determine how influential the stimulus from the CARES Act was on consumer spending. Some feel that the stimulus effects would no longer be in play in September, which means that month’s strong performance would be an accurate representation of consumers’ willingness and ability to spend. Plus, holiday 2020 is HERE, which could be enough to sustain rising sales through Q4. On the flip side, large retailers that saw increased sales after the stimulus from the CARES Act, are increasingly worried that retail will drop without another round of stimulus.
Camping Poised to Prove its Resiliency
In Q2 of this year, we all probably would have guessed that toilet paper would be the most resilient and sought after consumer product this year. Not so fast. It looks like camping may have been the unexpected winner.
In a survey sponsored by Kampgrounds of America (KOA) and published in May 2020, respondents across the full spectrum of camping experience prioritized the activity for their summer plans, or as soon as their regional travel restrictions were lifted.
47% of leisure travelers replaced a planned travel experience with a camping trip.
Pre-COVID, camping accounted for 11% of all leisure travel trips. That number was expected to grow to 16% summer 2020.
And the whopper? The percentage of prospective campers (those who don’t have experience camping, but are interested) grew from 3% to 10%.
Why is this relevant now as camping season winds down in the U.S.? We know outdoor gear sales were strong and campgrounds were busy this summer. Across the U.S. and the E.U. campground reservations were up 500%! Reservations are already filling up for summer 2021. If anything, the KOA survey results may have been too conservative. Regardless, we expect the camping “trend” not only to continue in spring/summer 2021, but to grow even stronger.
Must-Know Numbers in Digital Marketing
I had the pleasure of interviewing marketer Mark Schaefer for Channel Mastery (episode 89). His mantra, not unlike mine, is basically: the customer is the marketer today. His recent piece on 10 digital marketing statistics is worthy of a full read. Here are three that really stuck out to me:
SEO drives 1,000%+ more traffic than organic social media
76% of people who search for a product or service on their phones visit a nearby business within one day
Voice search won’t necessarily generate the same response as typed search*
*Okay, Mark’s article specifically notes that content with higher social media engagements (through shares primarily) performs well with voice search. But digging into his source, we also learn that voice search also rewards websites with a faster loading speed and those whose home page is secured with HTTPS.
Social Media Isn’t Going Anywhere
Prior to the pandemic, the number of U.S. social network users was forecast to grow 2.3% in 2020. That would have represented a slight downturn in growth from the 2.9% growth seen in 2019. Well, that was before.
The numbers have been revised to estimate a 3.3% growth in social network use this year. This will be the first growth for social media use since 2014! It’s not new users driving the growth. With over 80% (212 million) of all U.S. adults with access to the internet logging into social networks at least once per month, this sector is pretty much saturated.
The growth, it seems, is from users logging in more frequently to find social connection during COVID. The marketing communicator in me can’t help but think this is a good time to tap into how your brand is forging emotional connections with your audience. It’s anticipated that the spike in social media use will mellow out next year, so now is the time to show what you’re really about.
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