Online shopping: Purchasing behaviour and shopping baskets are changing

The coronavirus pandemic and its associated restrictions and precautions have changed consumer shopping behaviour. Many bricks-and-mortar retailers have been closed for months, while supermarkets and discounters are booming. Many people are increasingly satisfying their clothing, cosmetics, household and electrical appliance needs via online shopping. Sufficient reason to ask in our current edition of the online shopping study, “Who is actually buying what, when, and how?”

Almost one in two consumers from the DACH region has changed their online purchasing behaviour in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The most common reason for more online shopping was the desire to avoid contact. Many also found the hygiene and safety measures spoilt the fun of in-store shopping. However, the short-term motivations are leading to long-term change: One in five respondents in Germany rate online shopping as practical, convenient and easy and intend to stick with it even after the pandemic.

Although grocery stores remained open during all lockdown periods, groceries in all three countries in the DACH region were the product group most often purchased online for the first time. Almost one in three people already occasionally or usually buys groceries online. Another third can see themselves buying from online supermarkets.

The product categories with the greatest online purchase potential since the coronavirus are cosmetics & chemists in addition to fashion and leisure items, which already have high online penetration. Products from the do-it-yourself (DIY) segment were in high demand in the year of the coronavirus. Almost one in two people buys DIY products online on an occasional or regular basis.

The generation determines the shopping method. While the majority of Gen Z (ages 18-24) are already spending more than 60 percent of their expenditure online, only one quarter of baby boomers (aged 56 and over) do. And for Gen Z: Mobile first - almost nine out of ten use their smartphone to shop online. For younger consumers, it is already a reality and intention that the product goes to the customer and not the customer to the product.

For this edition of our online shopping study, we surveyed 3,152 consumers from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It is being published for the first time throughout the DACH region.