• by Ray Schultz , December 30, 2020

Hiring people to handle the online shopping search is the main challenge facing ecommerce brands, judging by E-Commerce In The USA, a study released last week by Talkwalker. 

Talkwalker analyzed conversation clusters in social media channels, forums and blogs and identified these issues, based on their frequency:

• E-commerce brands hiring to meet pandemic-fueled online demand — 15.5%
• Impact of panic buying on e-commerce — 13.6%
• Xbox One X/S / PS5 pre-orders cancellations — 6.6%

It’s not clear if email marketing positions are among the jobs to be filled, but they are an important component of any ecommerce team. 

In any event, the growing popularity of ecommerce is also shown by these stats: 

• Digital transformation movement & technology impact — 8.6%
• Need for electric vehicles in fleets of e-commerce brands — 3.7%
• Ecommerce how to's & tutorials — 4.4%

Talkwalker also conducted positive sentiment analysis regarding leading brands, identifying the following:

• Apple — 50.4%
• Oral-B — 40%
• Best Buy — 36.8%
• Nintendo Switch — 34.3%
• Playstation — 30%
• iRobot — 26.4%
• Target Corporation — 23.1%
• Amazon — 19.2%
• Ring (company) — 18.9%
• Walmart — 15.1%

Most of the remaining numbers reflected neutrality, but Amazon, Ring, Best Buy and Walmart had slight negative percentages. 

The big consumer concerns regarding product scarcity can be seen in these hash tags:

• #panicbuying
• #SEO
• #ThisMorning
• #COVID19
• #ecommerce
• #Supermarket
• #coronavirus
• #Lockdown2

The report is based on insights from Talkwalker Analytics and Talkwalker Quick Search for the 13 months period to October 20, with special emphasis on the August-October period.