Fears over transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19) has led to government-mandated travel restrictions and non-essential business closures. As a result of these pandemic-driven changes, consumer spending underwent unprecedented levels of channel shifts, with the digital channel becoming the default for many consumers, giving way to what will likely be a permanent e-commerce boost, according to a newly published whitepaper by market research firm Euromonitor International.

As Euromonitor observed, “Nearly every category showed a double-digit increase in the percentage of consumers making digital purchases between the two fielding timeframes. Beauty, health and personal care purchases were exceptions to this increase, and jumped only eight points.”

Euromonitor further noted, “Besides shopping more often in already-familiar categories, connected consumers have turned to e-commerce across a broader range of products and services during the pandemic. The percentage of minimal online shoppers, consumers who did not use digital or only used digital to shop for one category, dropped significantly between fielding timeframes. In early 2020, minimal online shoppers and heavy online shoppers were evenly split at the purchase step at 36 percent and 37 percent, respectively. By March, there was nearly a 30-percentage point gap between minimal online shoppers (20 percent) and heavy online shoppers (49 percent).”