New E-Commerce Trends Customers Embraced During the Lockdown

62% of respondents state that their shopping behaviour has changed for good since the crisis. Capterra has identified new ways of shopping that are starting to be used more by UK consumers.

New research published by software comparison platform Capterra surveyed 1,045 UK retail customers to understand if they had changed their shopping habits since the beginning of the lockdown and what does the future of retail looks like for UK retailers and consumers.

The research showed that 62% of people changed their shopping behaviour for good. People have started buying more online and plan to continue doing so even after the crisis. And it’s not just regular ecommerce websites that people are using, a younger audience has started looking into new ways of shopping.

During the lockdown people have embraced quite a few new ways of buying online that they have been avoiding before.

• 16% of respondents state they are now using social media to do their shopping, specifically Instagram.
• 12% of respondents state shopping using voice activated AI devices, such as Google Assistant or Alexa.
• 5% said they’ve shopped using WhatsApp new “virtual catalog”.

As a consequence, the results of the survey also show that consumers are becoming more aware of security threats when buying online. For example, 54% of respondents ensure the website they are purchasing from is encrypted with SSL before making a transaction. Nevertheless, 22% of respondents are a little or not concerned about the security threats when buying online – despite this, a third of them (29%) have been victim of an online scam.

Sonia Navarrete, content analyst, comments:

“The pandemic has accelerated digital adoption in retail. At the same time, health has become a priority issue for consumers and avoiding physical contact is the key focus for them when looking to incorporate new ways of shopping.

Consumers are willing to support local shops, however they are also keen to adopt new ways of shopping. Shopping by social media, voice assistants or the just walk out model like Amazon GO are new ways of shopping that it will be interesting to see how they develop in the future months.

Having said that, the future of retail in the UK should look at combining emerging technologies that can help small retailers bridge the gap between the online and in-store experience. As consumers start to shop again, retailers need to think about a long-term strategy.”