• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, April 22, 2020

Consumers are flocking online to buy home supplies and health and beauty products, according to a study by SaaS provider Namogoo based on tracking of its retail clients.

Brands in these sectors should be sending email promotions and ensuring that their transactional systems are up and running. Now is the time to strike as shoppers who are sheltering in place are sticking to basics.  

Site visits were up by 71.86% for home retailers in the period from March 21 to April 18, compared with the previous 30 days. And the number of sales rose by 118.08%.

In addition, conversion rates jumped by 26.93%. On the bad side, hijacked visits went up by 71.67% and 21.85% of shoppers visiting home retail sites were exposed to injected ads. 

On another front, health and beauty site visits jumped by 19.9%, and the sheer number of conversions, or sales, jumped by 67.48% compared with the prior 30 days.

Conversion rates leaped by 39.68%, and the average page view per visit rose by 50.62%.

At the same time, hijacked visits increased by 25.73%. And 21.99% of shoppers visiting health and beauty sites were exposed to injected ads.

Namogoo gleaned this data while monitoring over 200 of the world’s online brands. The company helps brands stop hijacking of the customer journey.

The current results are a little different from those that were reported on March 31.

At that point, health & beauty sales had fallen by 5.02%, while conversions had increased by 20.92%. But home furnishing purchases had risen by 19.4%, and conversion rates were up by 10.4%.

But fashion brands suffered an 18% drop in total site visits, and a 57.2% sales free-fall in the period beginning on Feb. 23, compared with the prior 30 days.

In general, sellers of non-essential items have slipped, while grocery and home brands have done well in terms of marketing metrics.

We’ll see whether the opening up of some business in some states has any impact the next time around.