Remazing Study: Implications of COVID-19 on Amazon Search Behavior

The goal was to understand what customers wanted, when they wanted it, and most of all, to try to understand why. Answers to these questions make it possible make smart business decisions in the future, particularly as the world moves through new phases in this global crisis. Staying focused on understanding the consumer is essential to success in a shifting market.

Methodology

From the perspective of an Amazon agency, this burst of growth for Amazon has sparked many questions on how the global crisis has affected e-commerce and consumer search behavior: How did consumer behavior differ from country to country? What times were consumers most likely to turn to e-commerce? Was consumer behavior impacted more by rising case counts or by country-specific pandemic management?

To answer these questions, we analyzed extensive search term data for February through August, pulled from Amazon Brand Analytics. Brand Analytics data comes directly from Amazon and contains the most relevant daily search terms organized by search volume. We then identified Corona-related keyword categories and compared their search volume with major events and trends in the pandemic timeline to identify trends across the five biggest western Amazon markets.

Percentage of Corona-related keywords

We identified the following five categories as directly Corona-related: soap, toilet paper, gloves, disinfectant, and masks. Then, we tracked all the keywords related to this category. In the first half of the year, Corona-related keywords accounted for 46% of the top 10 keywords on Amazon in the US and the EU.

Comparing behaviour in the US and Europe

After the first few weeks of the pandemic, Corona keywords consistently made up a higher percentage of top US search terms as compared to Europe. Over the last six months, 71% of the top 10 Amazon keywords in the United States have been related to COVID-19. For comparison, the percentage in the US top 100 keywords has been about three times higher than in Germany over the last 3 months, where the share was only 32%.

Products in high demand differed by country

Not all countries placed emphasis on the same product categories, which could potentially be due to cultural factors or a be result of recommendations specific to local governments.

In the United States, searches for disinfectant were especially high compared to the European Amazon markets, a trend which continued after the first weeks of the pandemic. In comparison to the 12% of the Top 100 keywords that were occupied by disinfectant in the US, the next highest demand was in the UK with only 5%.

Within the EU, there was notable variation as well: In Germany, particularly in the early weeks of the pandemic, toilet paper was in higher demand than in the other countries observed, and gloves were searched more Italy and Spain than anywhere else. 

Triggers: Case count vs. government measures

When we compared search trends with the pandemic timeline, two main correlations emerged.

The first was the initial wave of Corona-induced news coverage: In week 8, corona-related searches surged in all observed countries (except in Italy, where this happened in week 7). This aligns with the timeline of initial cases appearing in western countries and with increased international Coronavirus news coverage.

The second pattern was that, rather than aligning with the growing or shrinking case counts in the respective countries, corona-related search behavior tended to gradually decrease (despite rising case counts). The exception to this trend was that search behavior did increase when government safety measures and stay-at-home orders were issued in the respective countries.

This correlation implies that a second wave of cases itself would be unlikely to trigger increased corona-related search volume, but that if the wave is extreme enough to warrant new government regulations, searches, and therefore sales, may spike as a result of those measures.

Examples: US, UK, France

Case Study: United States

In the US, searches continue to gradually decrease despite the steep increase in the country’s case count after calendar week 24 – showing the tendency of corona-related searches to go down over time if no government mandates occur. The largest initial spikes in total Corona-related search volume align, respectively, with the first CDC warning of a local outbreak in the US in week 9 and the introduction of Corona-related restrictions in many states in week 14.

Case study: Great Britain

In the UK, mask-related searches increased dramatically in week 29 when the wearing of masks in supermarkets and retail stores was made mandatory. Since the search volume had been dropping in the previous weeks and the new case count was still relatively low, this sudden spike in search volume is likely to stem from the new government regulations.

Case study: France

In France, consumers seemed to use online shopping to prepare for the lifting of restrictions while still subject to lockdown rules. This can be seen between week 12 and 20, during which search volume remained relatively high as consumers prepared for the dropping of restrictions, which had been announced by the French government in advance. Once the restrictions were dropped in week 20, Corona-related Amazon searches decreased noticeably until extended rules came into place again, which corresponds to the spike in week 29.

Conclusion and takeaways

When comparing Amazon search data with the pandemic timeline, it appears that, after the initial burst of search volume in the early weeks of the pandemic, consumers made their purchasing decisions based on local regulations. However, countries with an overall higher amount of cases, like the US, had a higher Corona-related search volume throughout the entire six-month period compared to countries that were less impacted.

In the end, our data only represents one piece of a complicated global puzzle, with many potential explanations. Nevertheless, our study provides direct insight into how and when the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a major global shift in purchasing behavior. This kind of data makes it easier to better predict which events will trigger consumer search behavior in the coming months, as the winter months near and a potential second wave looms.

This study could be extended by digging deeper into how further categories were effected or by estimating the search volumes of the keywords and sales figures of the purchased products. We would be happy to conduct further studies and encourage you to reach out if you are interested in additional analysis.

Furthermore, if you are interested in downloading the full PDF of the study, please click on the link below and feel free to reach out to us at info@remazing.eu if you have any questions.