Discounts and promotions in particular demand since Corona outbreak
In times of Corona, people are increasingly looking for store information and promotions. Interest in food brochures, for example, has increased massively since the outbreak of the crisis, as an evaluation among users of the Swiss brochures app Profital shows.
How has purchasing behavior changed in times of the Corona crisis? Profital, provider of an app of the same name for digital brochures and shopping information, surveyed around 4,625 people throughout Switzerland to find out. In general, it can be determined: Demand for shopping information has increased sharply due to the current situation. Users are informing themselves online more than ever about current promotions and offers and are looking for information from stores or online stores that are still open. In March, this search behavior can be compared with that in the run-up to Christmas and the week around Black Friday. Food offers are particularly popular: In Corona times, 30% more food brochures are read each week than before.
Books, games and electronics against Corona boredom
When asked whether users now prefer online shopping due to the current situation, the vast majority refuse - a total of 75% answer in the negative. However, when people do shop online, it is primarily groceries that are in demand, but also clothing, books, games and electrical appliances. Older people in particular are almost twice as likely to buy food from online stores than their younger counterparts. This can probably be attributed to the fact that older people act in accordance with the instructions of the Federal Council and thus want to avoid contacts as far as possible.
Furniture and furnishings are rarely in demand at the moment: 72% of the people surveyed can do without them best at the moment - despite the lockdown in their own homes. Sporting goods also belong to the product category for which it is not difficult to do without during the Corona crisis. "Furniture is one of the products that many shoppers still prefer to look at and test in stores rather than ordering directly online - this has apparently not changed during the Corona period. To escape boredom at home, people are more likely to buy books, games and electronics instead of furnishing their homes with new furniture," says Raphael Thommen, Managing Director of Profital, about the evaluations.
French-speaking and Ticino residents buy more toilet paper
Around 91% of all respondents stated that they do not go shopping more often. As a rule, people shop once a week (54%) and prefer to pay without cash. Only one-third of all respondents currently use cash. What ends up in the shopping basket in addition to groceries is well known: Toilet paper and cleaning agents and disinfectants. 16% of all respondents said they frequently buy toilet paper. What is interesting here is that this is done significantly more in French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino - 23% compared to 12% in German-speaking Switzerland. When it comes to disinfectants, there are differences between urban and rural areas: while around 31% of respondents in the city buy more cleaning agents and disinfectants, the figure for rural areas is only 22%.
For the survey, 4,625 users of the Profital app were interviewed throughout Switzerland, including 3,075 in German-speaking Switzerland, 1,007 in French-speaking Switzerland and 542 in Ticino, during the period from March 31 to April 2, 2020. The survey was supplemented with a quantitative evaluation of user behavior since March 2 compared to previous months.
