The New Normal

If you wondered what the top three Covid buying trends are right now, you might be surprised. According to a report published by research firm Inmar Intelligence,  we are now into the third month of “quarantine,” and there are some clearly identifiable buying trends happening in the online space. The intelligence company, compared the trends seen in March to those in April 2020 to see what has changed and how advertisers and business owners can adapt.

We have all seen the obvious trends like toilet paper, hand sanitiser, and sourdough starter, but what else? Bikes, skateboards, and pools are trending, as families and fitness-savvy folks, all realise that going to the gym, indoor pool or soft play centre is not really an option for a while.

As a brand marketer, I find these trends so fascinating because unlike many other local trends, these trends are WORLDWIDE which ultimately represents a major cultural shift in how we as a society live. Also, working from home isn’t going away anytime soon, with businesses like Google, Twitter, and Facebook all setting up remote work for their employees indefinitely. Why does this matter? Because if you are a business or a business owner, it’s imperative that your brand is relevant in this ‘new normal’ context, and if you are, you can harness these massively trending waves to your advantage!

Let’s look at the top three trends below.

TREND 1: Home-based fashion

There was an 845% jump in loungewear, 817% jump in candles and a 73% jump in pyjama purchases. Hello! We have all gone sloth-mode.

How do you harness this?

If you are a clothing or apparel retailer, make sure you have a good range of comfort wear for your customers to choose from and maybe put the more formal, corporate or dress up pieces on the back burner for a while. Also, consider a quality scented candle to add to your range as a gift or an up-sell item.

TREND 2: Creativity gadgets at home

There was an 85% jump in camera drones, a 67% jump in gaming laptops, and a 57% jump in Smart TV purchases.

All of these trends make sense. Nothing much else to do in lock-down except Netflix, X-box, and…..spy on people breaking restriction laws?

Also in productivity, there was a 130% increase in video conferencing and 97% ink-jet cartridges, as everyone shifted to working from home.

How do you harness this?

If you are a tech company, a retailer, or someone who just loves gadgetry, this is a trending topic that you should be blogging about, and sharing your knowledge. Using these keywords will give you a nice little boost in traffic, and a lot of kudos if you can offer quality insights and valuable advice on how to make the most of this tech, and hacks and tricks to use them well.

TREND 3: Home DIY

There was a 196% rise in the purchase of cargo shorts, a 194% rise in lawn mower blades, and a 109% rise in single-serve coffee pods. 

This one made me laugh a little. This is American data, and maybe Aussie’s are more likely to pull on their boardies? I never knew cargo shorts were so popular!  But what it tells us is getting into the garden, fixing things enjoying a home-brewed java has become a popular pastime.

How do you harness ALL of this?

This (and all of the above trends) is a sign that life is slowing down, at least for the foreseeable future. Even as restrictions ease, there will be a very different way of living life. The home will be central to everything – family, socialising, work, and cocooning, so we will see a massive spike in people wanting to spec up this space and make it as comfortable and entertaining as possible.

It doesn’t matter if you are not a business that falls into these categories. What this data proves is a culture shift to slow living, home-based life. This can be applied in multiple ways in your business. It could simply be:

  1. Taking your business online, and creating an e-commerce functionality via Shopify or Facebook.
  2. Packing your products to be more appealing to the pain points such as comfort, work from home, home DIY.
  3. Introducing a new product line that fits into these categories.
  4. Sharing your knowledge on these topics across your blogs and socials
  5. Starting a completely new business.

If you would like any help to pivot your website to be e-commerce friendly, set up a regular content marketing plan to generate leads or establish a completely new business, we are here to help with any advice you may need across branding, website design and hosting, content marketing, Google and Social ads. Contact us for a chat.

 

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