Australian eCommerce Revenue & Traffic Trends During the COVID-19 Crisis

Covid-19 is having a devastating effect on small, medium and large businesses. Not only is the situation tragic for individuals but causing immense pressure across many business sectors as we all navigate through this.

This uncertain time is fuelling a further shift to consumers purchasing behaviour as they adjust to the “new normal”. Businesses are seeking new ways to reach and distribute their products and services.

At Arkhi, we are ecommerce experts in helping and supporting all businesses during this time in finding new ways to generate revenue and identify how to capture consumer’s attention.

Whilst none of us can control the macro environment, we can review and implement various tactical initiatives during this time. To help companies do this, we’ve compiled the data for our diverse portfolio to provide insights that will hopefully be helpful to eCommerce businesses and those who work with eCommerce brands.

About the data (accurate as of May 4, 2020)

• Based predominantly on the Australian and APAC region
• Pulled from over 30 medium to high volume stores
• We very rarely review and analyse weekly data as it’s so subjective to sudden change due to launch and sales events. However, it’s all we have to reference in this unprecedented time.

As new trends and insights come to light, we’ll update this post accordingly.

Overall Revenue and Traffic Trends

Compared to the average weekly revenue in Q2, overall eCommerce revenue and traffic have taken a hit during early to mid March. However, we can see a positive trend forming.

Comparing the changes week-on-week, there is a positive growth trend since the initial hit during the week commencing March 2nd.

Revenue Trends by eCommerce Category

4 May 2020 Analysis

• Categories seem to have more consist results
• Fashion category has made a huge comeback in April
• April was a lot stronger than March, but also stronger than Q2. This is in-line with other industry data showcasing the huge growth in ecommerce overall.
• Fitness, Supplements and Nutrition categories are beginning to level out (still very strong results) as consumers stocked up in March.

13 April 2020 Analysis

• Overall April is looking a lot better already, although we are seeing a decent amount of discounting strategies to generate cash
• Fashion category is beginning to show some improvement
• Cosmetics in skincare have gained a lot of ground

3 April 2020 Analysis

• Fashion brands have experienced a consistent drop in revenue each week, compared to the Q2 average weekly revenue for brands in this category.
• Sales have also been down for supplement and nutrition brands, although a recent spike in sales for this category has brought the average weekly revenue for March just above the average for Q2.
• Fitness brands in the eCommerce space have been experiencing positive performance most weeks, compared to Q2 performance, with a significant surge over the last two weeks of March.

Could you be doing better?

Yes, a small number of businesses are doing well right now, but across the board things are certainly down. If you’re seeing below then average results and feel something isn’t right, get in touch with us to discuss. We are always happy to workshop the situation to see where improvements can be made.