Eased restrictions increased the attractiveness of brick-and-mortar stores

The Finnish Commerce Federation has monitored consumers’ intentions in three consumer surveys during the spring. The first round of the series of surveys was conducted from 6 to 11 April, at the peak of the epidemic, when the first restrictions had been in force for almost three weeks. The second round took place at the end of April, when the peak of the epidemic was over, but the majority of the restrictions were still in force.

The third and final round was implemented in the beginning of June, from 1 to 5 June, as some of the restrictions had been lifted and the epidemic had clearly weakened. Some restaurants and cafés opened, and schools had been opened earlier, and it was speculated in the media whether it would be possible, after all, to travel abroad for the summer holidays.

Jaana Kurjenoja, Chief Economist of the Finnish Commerce Federation, says that the three rounds of consumer surveys give an interesting insight into the general trend of consumers’ intentions:

“During the peak of the epidemic, we, as consumers, were still uncertain whether the virus might spread further, the crisis be prolonged, and how all this might affect our purchasing behaviour. Only a couple of weeks later, we had already become adjusted, or resigned, to the ongoing exceptional circumstances, but in the beginning of June, we also saw light at the end of the tunnel and the crisis being over soon, and this was reflected for example in our intentions regarding online shopping.”

More visits to shops in June, but the situation is still a far cry from normal

By the end of April, shopping in physical shops and shopping centres had decreased significantly in comparison with the time before the epidemic. The decline was particularly intense for customers under 50 years of age in specialty goods stores and for over 65-year-olds in grocery stores. At that time, more than three quarters of over 65-year-olds, and up to 85 per cent of women, had cut down shopping in grocery stores,

whereas in early June, only 53 per cent of all consumers and 64 per cent of over 65-year-olds went to grocery stores less frequently than before. Compared to the times before the epidemic, over 65-year-olds have least reduced shopping in specialty goods stores. In the first week of June, 53 per cent of over 65-year-olds shopped in specialty goods stores less frequently than before, while the corresponding share of, for example, 25−34-olds was 62 per cent.

“The most likely explanation for the result is that digital shopping is more common in younger age groups, which means that as the restrictions are eased and fear subsides, the increase shows more clearly in the oldest consumers’ shopping in physical stores,” Kurjenoja says.

The oldest consumers may in any case shop less frequently for example in clothing stores than younger people, which means that the change in the number of visits is not that significant. All in all, women have decreased the number of visits to physical stores more than men during the coronavirus epidemic.

Intentions to try buying food in online stores no longer increasing

While visits to grocery stores have become more frequent in June, the intention to try buying food in online stores has stopped increasing.

“The coronavirus epidemic has clearly broadened the customer base of online grocery stores, but some of the use has been almost forced. Now that people can move more freely, many have returned to physical grocery stores,” Kurjenoja says.

During the epidemic, e-commerce served users well. As at the peak of the epidemic, 7 per cent of consumers considered online grocery stores to have served them well, and the figure had more than doubled to 18 per cent in early June. In fact, 16 per cent of consumers intend to continue buying groceries from online stores as they did during the epidemic, or even buy more online. Before the epidemic, only four per cent of people in Finland bought daily consumer goods digitally on a regular basis.

“Even though some of the regular online shoppers of groceries and beverages return to physical stores, the development of digital shopping of daily consumer goods was accelerated by at least three years during the epidemic,” Kurjenoja estimates.

Eased restrictions on movement cut down the most intense growth of digital shopping

The same phenomenon as in the e-commerce of daily consumer goods is evident in household and specialty goods online shopping: Digital shopping has become more common during the epidemic, and the volumes have grown, but the fastest leap in growth has evened out as people can now move about more freely.

“Now, clearly more consumers intend to shop more online than in early April, but the intentions to do more digital shopping have levelled out a little from the situation at the end of April,” Kurjenoja says about the results.

While in early April, during the peak of the coronavirus epidemic, one third of consumers had never done digital shopping, the figure was only 27 per cent in the beginning of June. After the initial warm-up stage, the growth of online shopping took a rapid spurt. In the beginning of April, 8 per cent of consumers had only recently increased their digital purchases of specialty and household goods, but the amount was more than one fifth in the beginning of June. Families with children in particular did more shopping online during the epidemic.

For further information, please contact:

Jaana Kurjenoja, Chief Economist, Finnish Commerce Federation, tel. +358 (0)40 820 5378, jaana.kurjenoja(at)kauppa.fi

Appendix (only in Finnish):

Jaana Kurjenoja, Chief Economist of the Finnish Commerce Federation, is in charge of research design and the design of the consumer survey questionnaire form, and responsible for analysing the results as well. Kantar TNS planned the sample and collected the consumer data through an online panel. The sample describes internet users in the age group 18–79 in Finland (excluding the Åland Islands). During the spring and early summer 2020, the survey was conducted a total of three times: the first part in the week starting 6 April, and the size of the sample was 2,000; the second part in the week starting 27 April for a sample of 1,000 and the third, between 1 and 5 June, and the sample totalled 1,090.

See the Finnish Commerce Federation’s bulletin released on 7 May and the second part of the consumer survey conducted in the week starting 27 April:
Shopping in stores has declined further while digital shopping is on the rise – every fifth consumer has already tried grocery shopping online during the coronavirus crisis

See the Finnish Commerce Federation’s bulletin released on 20 April and the first part of the consumer survey conducted in the week starting 6 April:

Shopping in stores has declined further while digital shopping is on the rise – every fifth consumer has already tried grocery shopping online during the coronavirus crisis

See the Finnish Commerce Federation’s bulletin released on 20 April and the first part of the consumer survey conducted in the week starting 6 April:

Consumer survey: Digital shopping and willingness to try online grocery shopping on the rise