Survey: Corona helps the online trade - and the "shop around the corner

19-May-2021 - Germany

The Corona crisis has not only brought a massive boom to online retail in Germany - the "shop around the corner" has also experienced a renaissance. This is the result of a survey published on Tuesday by the management consultancy PwC.

According to the survey, the pandemic and the associated lockdown have noticeably changed consumer behaviour in Germany. People are buying more and more online, regardless of their age. In the fashion sector, almost every second consumer (46 percent) now covers most of his or her needs on the Internet, PwC reported. In electronics, more than one in three (38 percent) prefer online shopping to traditional shopping in stores. Internet shopping is particularly popular among millennials, i.e. the 25-39 age group.

But according to the survey, it wasn't just online retailers who benefited from the pandemic, but also many retailers in neighborhoods away from downtowns. "Local stores have gained relevance in the pandemic - and that includes online shopping. Concepts such as click & collect or direct delivery from the local store are becoming increasingly popular with customers," reported PwC retail expert Christian Wulff.

Especially people in home offices like to shop in the store around the corner, PwC emphasized. Around 28 percent of the population currently worked predominantly from home. According to their own statements, almost half of them shop more in local stores. But even among those surveyed who do not work predominantly from home, more than one in three shopped more frequently in the "shop around the corner" during the pandemic.

According to the survey, sustainability has also become more important for people in the pandemic. More than half of the respondents (56 percent) said they look for products with environmentally friendly or reduced packaging when shopping. Some 47 percent said they prefer companies "that are committed to protecting the environment" when shopping. One in four respondents (26 percent) said they would be willing to pay a higher price for ethical practices and sustainable production of food, fashion and consumer goods.

"Sustainability is far more than a buzzword," Wulff said.Consumers now expect sustainability to be strategically embedded in the company and beyond in the supply chain.

"Retailers and manufacturers must already meet this demand today," Wulff said.

Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.

https://www.yumda.com/en/news/1171127/survey-corona-helps-the-online-trade-and-the-shop-around-the-corner.html