Beaches, trails, restaurants, malls, and other non-essential businesses are starting or planning to reopen in some capacity throughout the coming days all over the country. 

The nation’s largest owner and operator of shopping malls, Simon Property Group, has already reopened 77 malls in 10 states that are relaxing coronavirus restrictions. This comes with taking necessary steps to maintain physical distancing, like reduced seating and limits on occupancy. 

“We were the first large retail owner and operator to close our property system-wide to address the spread of the pandemic,” Simon Property Group CEO, David Simon said. “We’re the first to reopen our properties, of course, subject to government stay-at-home orders and restrictions.” 

While officials debate the right time to definitively restart, it seems they are cognizant of the need for businesses to bring in revenue as a matter of survival. 

However, one thing is clear in this moment, taking precautions and moving quickly to take advantage of available opportunities aren’t mutually exclusive.

Consumer Trends

Search

Overview

Another Look

• Traffic to luxury retail sites is gaining momentum after taking a steep fall when COVID hit in March.

It’s clear that people are tired of being cooped up in their homes and ready to get out and get back to some of their recreational hobbies.

• Google search data shows a marked increase in search interest for “golf bag accessories” as many states are allowing golf courses to reopen.

Shopping

“I want more contactless experiences in my life. I want transactions that don’t involve proximity to others if I can achieve that. I’m interested in hearing about things like zero-touch packaging or packaging that perhaps is resistant to disease. I also demand precaution around absolutely everything that I’m doing in my day. And I think we all live and feel that already and we can expect that to slowly amplify and it amplifies even more as you move into this reboot environment in quarter four.” 

– Scott McKenzie, Nielsen Intelligence Leader, on consumer behavior

• McKenzie also promoted the idea that consumers will expect products to withstand a higher standard of efficacy. Products will have to begin living up to their claims to a higher degree of scrutiny.

In lieu of wanting to try new products and experiences, consumers are sticking to brands they know and trust when shopping in stores with price set to become a key factor in buying decisions, according to Beverage Daily. [While specific to the beverage industry, this is an interesting microcosm of consumer behavior that may persist outside of this vertical.]

Business Trends

The retail sector is expected to take a $2.1 trillion hit over the course of 2020 according to new Forrester predictions. However, e-commerce is continuing to see growth throughout this pandemic.

Lessons from China

Email Marketing

It’s hard to ignore a digital marketing channel like email when it’s vastly outperforming year-over-year. Since the beginning of 2020 email has trounced its numbers from 2019 with revenue up 400% year-over-year, according to data from 19,000 Klaviyo users. 

• Revenue Per Email Recipient is up 39 percent since the beginning of 2020. This shows a clear trend for a channel and a population that are seeing an overall increase in engagement and activity as internet users spend more time on online that ever before.

Sales

• eCommerce sales have been exploding by 10x daily with an overall increase from .15% to 1.5% since the start of 2020. Consumers want to buy and they’re filling the gap that brick and mortar stores have left with online shopping.

• An interesting trend that has emerged is the days purchases are being made have been shifting in popularity. Seemingly moving from highs on Saturdays & Sundays to Mondays & Tuesdays.

‍