It’s time to rethink education. The pandemic has forced many areas to take a hard look at the education system, including its breakdowns and failures in a new landscape.

Keeping kids at home has been a hard sell as remote learning presents two different realities for people with means and those who lack resources. 

Lower-income parents need to get back to jobs that often require them to be physically present, many students are getting left behind evidenced by low attendance numbers, many curriculums have moved away from live instruction, and lack of access to useable high-speed internet are all hallmarks of remote learning at public schools.

This is already impacting the careers of many women who often take on roles as primary caretakers. According to data from The Fuller Project, the number of unemployment claims in some states shows a majority of women filing new unemployment claims, a trend that shares correlation to school closures and stay-at-home orders.

“Women drive 70-80 percent of all consumer purchasing, through a combination of their buying power and influence.”  via Inc.

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If women’s purchasing power continues to degrade to the pandemic it would be a serious loss to the world economy and diversity in the workplace.

Consumer Trends

Overview

• Shoppers are still spending and they’re doing a large part of their shopping exclusively online or online-first.

Package Tracking

• More than ever, shoppers are buying online with an expected 2 billion people expected to buy online this year.

• This means that more and more people will want to know where their packages are, which has big implications for customer experience expectations tied to fulfillment.

Foot Traffic

By Industry

• Every industry took a hit as COVID spread, but many industries depended on foot traffic and having people physically present to transact.

• The service and hospitality industry took the biggest hit as hotels, airports, and movie theaters emptied due to health concerns.

By Region

• Each major US metropolitan region shows an abrupt plunge in foot traffic as COVID hit, while those that reopened or stayed open shortly after showed a strong recovery in foot traffic. However, this may also correlate with recent spikes in confirmed cases.

By Restaurant Category

• Once the initial shock of the pandemic had passed, many people sought out Mexican food.

• Restaurants had to adapt with a mix of takeout, delivery, and socially distant dining options as restrictions came, went, and returned. The biggest challenge was communicating new operating procedures and safety guidelines to diners.

Spotlight: Video Shopping

Video shopping is growing in prominence as niche players release apps for categories like fashion, beauty, and lifestyle, and major platforms move to release their offerings in a race for market share.

Google, Amazon, and Facebook have made shopping more engaging and accessible with their forays into video shopping. Google just announced Shoploop and enabled shopping functionality on YouTube video ads, Amazon released Amazon Live for a live streaming shopping experience, and Facebook has live shopping in addition to Instagram’s new eCommerce “Shop” functionality.

This has the potential to be a large player in the future of COVID-era shopping and user engagement as fatigue sets in through other mediums.

Business Trends

eCommerce Overview by Category

Prime Day

2019 Prime Day sales reached an estimated $7.16 billion worldwide, according to estimates from Digital Commerce 360. In 2020, Prime Day is tentatively slated for October 5 because of delays due to COVID.

According to the Digital Commerce 360 Survey: 

• 89% of participants knew of Prime Day

• 44% had purchased on Prime Day

• There was an equal amount of deal browsers and shoppers searching with intent

• The top purchased items by category included:

           - 41% Computers & Electronics

            - 29% Apparel & Accessories

            - 23% Hardware & Home Goods

Holiday Outlook

• “As a result of the pandemic, in May 2020 alone, e-commerce sales came in at $82.5 billion, eclipsing the entire online 2019 holiday shopping season numbers and grew 77.8 percent over May 2019.” - John Zikos for D Magazine
  

• Over the 2019 holiday season in the US, average order value (AOV) was highest preceding Cyber Week and during the Christmas shopping season.

• Mobile devices and tablets beat out computers for the number of orders during the 2019 holiday season and mobile orders have steadily increased over the past three years.
  

The 2020 holiday season will be a make-or-break period for many retailers as shoppers expect a seamless digital experience in full or in part. Brands will need to shore up their digital strategies and optimize for mobile.

If you don’t start preparing now, you’re in danger of being undercut by the competition. The holidays for most start around November, but for brands, the holidays are won in the early summer months.