Fashion Brands Tank, Household Brands Thrive Online During COVID-19 Crisis: Study

Consumers say it's getting harder by the day to buy anything in cities like New York. The stores are closed, and it’s doubtful that some of the smaller — or even bigger — ones are coming back. 

In theory, these conditions should be driving shoppers into the arms of ecommerce brands. But are they?

Online grocery stores are doing well, but not fashion brands and other sellers of non-essential items, according to a study by SaaS provider Namogoo based on tracking of its retail clients. 

Fashion firms suffered an 18% drop in total site visits and a 57.2% sales dip from Feb. 23rd to the present, compared with the prior 30 days.

Despite these results, conversion rates rose by 20.69%. (We assume that includes email conversions, too). But we wonder: What difference does it make if overall sales are plummeting? 

The answer is that “consumers who are visiting sites, are shopping with a purpose and are completing purchases,” the company states.

Meanwhile, health & beauty sales are down by 5.02%, while conversions have increased by 20.92%. But sales have risen in the home furnishings field — by 19.4%. And conversion rates have gone up by 10.4%.

How does a brand survive this state of affairs?

Another study by GoodFirms, a software review and research site, shows that the most effective tool being used right is PPC ads — of over 100 marketers surveyed, 82.08% say so.

It’s not clear that this was fielded during the height of the crisis. Email is a distant fourth, favored by 46.62% because it is “highly effective in strengthening the customer relationship,” the study says.

That’s especially true in the publishing field, judging by new stats from PowerInbox, an ad-tech platform that puts newsletters together with paid ads. 

Since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic two weeks ago, publishers have seen a 20% increase in email open rates and a 102% boost in engagement with regional publications. What’s more, they have enjoyed a 40% increase in revenue.

What accounts for this uptick? The fact that audiences are turning to trusted sources for information, according to PowerInbox CEO Jeff Kupietzky . 

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