Latest Consumer Insights; Chewy’s 4Q Results; 1Q Amazon Sales Growth
By Cleveland AdminIn our recent consumer study comparing seven key online retailers for general merchandise, the majority of consumers reported plans to use the sites for a similar amount of purchases a year from now, with a net 33% expecting to use them for more purchases. Saving time and convenience were the main reasons consumers cited for making more purchases online, both of which are relatively independent of the status of the pandemic. In other words, our consumer insights show that today’s digital buying behavior is likely the new baseline for future growth and therefore supports manufacturers’ forecasts for a similar to slightly growing digital mix of sales in 2021 and 2022.
Chewy’s 4Q results show growing digital penetration for pet categories:
Chewy reported strong 4Q results at the end of January) with 51% sales growth, driven by a growing pet population and shifting consumer preference to online within the pet industry. In their shareholder letter, Chewy noted online penetration in the pet industry is 30% today compared to 7% in 2015 and is expected to reach 53% by 2025. Our latest consumer insights support this trend with an increase in online pet purchases across nearly all online grocery platforms studied (Instacart, Amazon Fresh, Walmart Grocery Pick Up, Target.com, Shipt), with an average increase of 4 percentage points from August 2020 to March 2021.
A net 39% of brands above plan on Amazon in 1Q21:
We polled the supplier community during our LiveCast this week, where a net 39% of brands reported sales growth being ahead of plan on Amazon in 1Q21. This is a net 32% ahead of plan for 1Q-to date suggesting growth has accelerated in recent weeks in part by stimulus. We’ll be interested to see how sales trends change these consumer insights in the coming weeks as we begin to lap the COVID-driven demand spike and the shutdown of non-essentials on Amazon.
Source: CRC LiveCasts and supplier benchmarks, n varies