New PriceSpider Data Illustrates Ecommerce Turbulence In A Year With COVID-19

Sales Jumped 314 Percent Year-Over-Year in Biggest Week

PriceSpider is releasing data that shows how disruptive the pandemic has been on ecommerce patterns over the past year. The global leader in data and consumer analytics technology is reporting that since the pandemic shifted the landscape last year, not only have both sales and web traffic been consistently above 57 percent on its Brand Commerce Platform, but patterns of when they’re highest and lowest throughout the year were disrupted significantly. In 2019, sales remained remarkably steady throughout the year, save the normal holiday spike, but the past year has told a completely different story with peaks and valleys throughout the year, not just at the beginning of the pandemic.

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“This past year has undoubtedly changed ecommerce forever because of the volume of sales and traffic, as well as the nuances of buying patterns,” said Sean Downs, CEO of PriceSpider. “Our data shows that while traditionally ecommerce trends remain consistent year-to-year, 2020 brought significantly different ups and downs, despite sustaining traffic near Black Friday 2019 levels for the vast majority of the year. Consumers leaned into ecommerce out of sheer necessity, but its convenience is what will keep traffic and sales numbers up for the foreseeable future.”

Although traffic and sales were predictably highest during the holidays, the patterns of week-by-week and year-over-year jumps are much different. Notable differences include:

The largest jump in sales for a single week, year-over-year was a staggering 314 percent the week of May 18, 2020.

The largest jump in traffic for a single day, year-over-year was a 165 percent increase on April 16, 2020.

Even though holiday sales were still the high point of the year, November 2020’s overall ecommerce sales revenue increased over 68 percent year-over-year, with most major retailers promoting and launching sales well ahead of Black Friday weekend to spread out deals and reduce foot traffic in brick and mortar locations.

PriceSpider’s Brand Commerce Platform processes and analyzes insights about consumer purchasing behavior for nearly 2,000 brands, including many of the world’s largest consumer brands. The Platform allows brands to influence ROI at every possible touchpoint and offers near real-time data and actionable insights to help them sell more products.