It is unsurprising to discover that stay at home orders and social distancing is having a significant impact on consumers’ confidence in eCommerce. Overall, 42% of customers are shopping online much more because they cannot or will not buy in physical stores. A third of customers (33%) say that they are shopping online for specific products that they wouldn’t need if not for COVID-19. Consumers in the US are most affected in both regards; over half (54%) of US shoppers are turning to online sellers because they can’t access stores, and almost as many (46%) say they are making specific COVID-19 related purchases online. 

Consumers have also acknowledged that cash might not be safe to handle during the COVID-19 pandemic due to it being a potential transmitter of the virus. Despite the World Health Organisation stating that cash can be handled safely if consumers wash their hands, many stores are either strongly encouraging shoppers to avoid using cash if possible, or have banned using cash altogether. Nearly (48%) percent of consumers are planning to reduce their cash usage in the long term following COVID-19 due to ongoing concerns about health and safety issues.

There is a surge in eCommerce that has long term growth potential but is being held back by several consumer concerns.

18% of consumers said they are now shopping online for the first time due to COVID-19, which increases to 25% in the US and 21% in the UK. This is a significant volume of potential long-term consumers for online retailers; By offering consumers a convenient and enjoyable experience throughout the buying process will not only boost their revenues in the short term but also put themselves in the best possible position to retain new customers once the COVID-19 pandemic subsides. This growth opportunity is substantial; 38% of consumers say they are planning to shop more online following the epidemic, and convenience (65%) and enjoyment (42%) are the two main reasons for this.

However, despite the surge, we are seeing there are still negative factors impacting this growth. Besides offering the optimum consumer experience, online businesses must address these consumer concerns to maximize potential opportunities to expand following COVID-19. Many of these concerns can be addressed through the checkout.

COVID-19 is changing the way people shop online, as well as how much shopping they’re doing

Globally, digital wallets are almost as popular (39%) with consumers as credit cards (44%) or debit cards (42%), and significantly more prevalent in Italy (50%) and Germany (43%) than debit or credit card payments. Consumers have also turned to eCash solutions in the past month, particularly in the US (14%), Bulgaria (10%), Germany (9%), and Austria (7%).  

If consumers’ changing relationship with cash does develop into a long-term trend, then we can expect to see the adoption of contactless payments continue to increase. Despite the passage of contactless being limited in some markets, 65% of consumers already agree that contactless payments are more convenient than cash, and 56% say they are more comfortable using contactless cards now than a year ago. Unsurprisingly consumers in Canada and the UK, the countries with the highest level of contactless adoption, have the most substantial feelings about this.

Despite much lower rates of overall adoption, attitudes to contactless payments are also shifting in the US. 69% of US consumers say that contactless payments are more convenient than cash, and 59% say they are happier to use a contactless card than they were this time last year.

However, in the US, where market penetration of contactless cards is much lower, mobile wallet adoption over contactless cards is much higher. Despite 59% of consumers saying they are happier to use contactless cards than this time last year, a third (33%) of consumers say having a mobile wallet means they see no need for a contactless card and 44% say that biometric authentication means that mobile wallets are more secure than contactless cards.

For more information about our contactless devices and payment gateway contact Steve@btrpay.com or visit us at https://btrpay.com/agent-iso-partner-program/