CONSUMPTION PHASE 2 Stocard In-store purchases are on the rise

The purchases of Italians in physical stores are increasing. This is what emerges from the data collected by Stocard , the wallet application that allows you to digitize all loyalty cards in your smartphone, in the week between 4 and 11 May (week 19).

The survey conducted by the Stocard Observatory assessed the behavior of over 7.7 million registered users of the app and focused on the purchases of Italians in the first week of Phase 2 and in the last week of lockdown (April 27 - May 3 , week 18). The values collected were then crossed with the purchases of the week of 10-16 February (week 7), before the outbreak of the health emergency.

Since May 4, there have been signs of growth in numerous product sectors , above all in DIY stores, whose sales have returned to almost pre-Covid19 levels, but also in bookstores , pet stores and for house cleaning , shops for children and for consumer electronics . Purchases in the large-scale retail trade were less sustained, which in fact has never closed in this period and which has seen an increase in purchases compared to the last week of lockdown. Last but not least, the Italians return to shopping on Saturday : on Saturday 9 May , in fact, there was an increase in purchases of 42% of spending compared to the rest of the week.

" We wanted to analyze the first week of Phase 2, from 4 to 11 May, and I admit that we were pleasantly impressed to see a substantial increase in purchases in many sectors, from DIY, to bookstores to large - scale distribution - explains Valeria Santoro, Country Manager of Stocard Italia - The DIY sector and home cleaning stores are returning to the purchase values they had before the lockdown. In addition, we are registering a return to the classic purchasing habits and it is in fact on Saturday the day you most purchases are recorded. "

The sector-by-sector survey

Stocard conducted a qualitative analysis of consumer behavior : after making 100 the number of purchases, in the individual sectors observed, in the normal week before Coronavirus (10-16 February), the Observatory assessed the number of purchases in the two weeks in analysis.

• The DIY stores (Brico in the infographic) are almost back to the February sales levels: if in fact 100% corresponds to the total purchases recorded in this sector in the week from 10 to 16 February ( week 7 ), in the first week of the phase 2 ( week 19 ) purchases were 96%. A value, therefore, almost identical and much higher than the last lockdown week (week 18) when purchases stopped at 61%
• Consumer purchases in home cleaning stores (Drug) on week 19 were 85%, also in this case a marked increase compared to week 18 where 68% was recorded in comparison with week 7 of February.
• Purchases in bookstores, consumer electronics stores, animals and children are also growing. Specifically, the libraries recorded 42% of purchases in week 19, a significant increase compared to 27% of week 18. The electronics stores reported 63% in week 19 compared to 52% in week 18. The purchases in shops for children arrive at 57% in the 19 week growing considerably compared to 41% of week 18. in the pet shops, however, sales arrive at a value equal to 76% of the week 19, compared with 64% in the previous week.
• Purchases in large-scale distribution and in personal care stores (Beauty) are less sustained, but equally growing. In relation to the week of February before Covid19, hyper and super markets report expenditure values of 65% in the first week of Phase 2 and 58% in the last week of lockdown. This is a considerable increase for the sector, where 7 percentage points represent a substantial increase in sales. Finally, Beauty grows from 28% on week 18 to 32% on week 19.