Online traffic during Coronavirus: Publishers profit, tourism loses

London, March 30th, 2020 – Mapp, the international provider of insight-based customer engagement, today published figures on the changes in online customer behaviour due to the current Coronavirus pandemic.

Publisher visits go through the roof
The Coronavirus crisis has had very different effects on certain sectors. The international media’s news portals have benefited from the population’s increased need for information. Reporting on the first deaths caused by Coronavirus led to a sharp increase in visitor numbers, with publisher page impressions up 68 percent and visitors increasing to 84 percent.

Significant traffic uplift in online trading
By the end of March 2020, online order volumes had increased by 88 percent compared to the beginning of the year.

Telecommunications and finance recorded rising figures, up 23 percent and 17 percent respectively. The increase in the telecommunications sector could be due to the fact that many users are currently dealing with their Internet contracts.

While traffic in the B2B sector is stagnating after a temporary increase, the tourism industry is the clear loser of the crisis. Access to portals from the travel sector has fallen significantly since the beginning of the year – and recently stood at only 34 percent.

E-commerce: Rising demand for tools, toys and cosmetics     
The nationwide lockdowns to contain the pandemic has created increased demand for products that can be used at home. Online retailers offering tools and building materials are showing enormous growth. Average order volumes in these product groups rose by a full 212 percent compared to the beginning of the year. The fact that the demand for tools and building materials is rising suggests that users are spending significantly more time doing DIY due to isolation.

There was also a clear upward trend in toys and cosmetic products – here, orders rose by an average of 90 percent and 64 percent respectively. The increase in the toy sector is most likely an effect of closed kindergartens and nursery schools, as parents need to keep their children happy.

There were also moderate increases in the furniture and furnishings (17 percent) and electronics (9 percent) sectors. These should be related to an increased demand for home office equipment. The fact that the number of orders for furniture and furnishings is pointing upwards, while the volume of shopping baskets is declining, points to increased purchases of decoration and home accessories.

By contrast, the clothing trade did not yet show any Coronavirus-related effects at the end of March – the average order volume in this sector remained constant. However, the limited time the population spends outdoors has consequences for the sportswear and equipment sector. Orders here have fallen by 45 percent. Another surprising trend: despite social distancing, demand for sex toys has fallen by 19 percent.

Shopping in the morning, news consumption in the early evening
E-commerce portals are used more frequently between 6am and 8am, while publishers have the highest influx in the afternoon and evening between 4pm and 7pm.

These differences during the day show that, due to isolation, users deal with shopping in the morning when they would normally access news via their smart phones on their way to work. The focus on publishing in the late afternoon or early evening, on the other hand, underlines the increased importance of media and Internet reporting.

For this evaluation, the specialist for Marketing Analytics and Customer Insights examined the traffic from 1 January to 22 March. The sectors analysed were e-commerce, publishing, finance, travel, telecommunications and B2B, and were analysed according to country, industry and product type. A total of almost 21.5 billion visits were analysed.

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About Mapp  
Marketers and data specialists should be able to focus on what will make a difference for their business, instead of spending all their time taming the technology behind it. With the insight-led customer engagement platform Mapp Marketing Cloud, they can focus on what really counts – and the exciting insights that come with it. Thanks to customer intelligence and marketing analytics, companies can easily and effectively gain data-driven customer insights across all channels in order to trigger highly personalized marketing activities. Customers benefit from AI-supported forecasting models that enable targeted and self-optimizing cross-channel campaigns. Automated messages are sent via the most suitable marketing channel, at the right time, with the optimal contact frequency. Thanks to advanced one-to-one personalization, the highest levels of engagement and long-term customer loyalty are achieved.

Mapp has global offices in six countries. Mapp’s digital marketing platform helps more than 3,000 companies break away from the pack by uncovering missed opportunities, including Xerox, PepsiCo, LG, Qantas, Flixbus, MyToys, ING, Infinity and Lloyds Banking Group.

Press contact:
PR Agency: The PR Network
Matt Cartmell
+44 (0)7930 485 333
matt.cartmell@thepr.network
https://www.thepr.network

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