Amperity tracks effects of Covid-19 on retail

  • April 14, 2020
  • imc

Seattle-based Amperity has introduced a Covid-19 retail monitor, an interactive tracking and benchmarking tool covering the impact of the pandemic on the retail industry.

The company is known for its AI-powered CDP customer data platform. It has now debuted the Covid-19 Retail Monitor, an online tool for business leaders, journalists and analysts, and will be regularly updated with current data on an on-going basis.

The monitor allows users to assess the North American retail industry through data points related to changes in sales, revenue, acquired customers, customer retention, product orders and average order value (AOV). Users can take this a step further by breaking down YoY trends by firmographic profile, geography, channel, digital medium and device. The dashboard will also feature weekly insights with news from the week that may have an impact on the current data.

The data powering the monitor are sourced from brands within Amperity’s retail portfolio, and provide high-resolution visibility into end consumer behaviour across channels, devices and product categories. The brands included represent a dynamic, high-growth subset of the overall retail landscape.

Data from the monitor indicate that retail brands began experiencing softening demand as early as March 1st, though an initial boost in ecommerce masked the early declines in in-store purchasing. Over recent weeks, the scale and severity of Covid-19’s impact started to show in steep declines in demand and overall revenue.

The initial data set showed that overall retail demand was down 86%. Losses were driven by closure of retail stores and online revenue down 74%.

The health and beauty segment showed consistent growth, but food and beverage declined after panic-buying slowed. There was a shift towards higher-priced products in health and beauty.

Mobile orders were down less than 25% of overall, overtaking email as the most resilient non-organic marketing channel. Customers are still making purchases via mobile devices with typically lower AOV than normal.

“Over the past few weeks, we’ve talked to many retail leaders who are seeing significant disruption in their businesses and are understandably anxious about the future,” said Jordan Elkind, VP of product marketing at Amperity. “We’re committed to helping our customers get through this by understanding the current climate as it unfolds and identify areas of opportunity to begin rebuilding their businesses. Providing our customers with the best insights to help them prepare their strategies is the least we can do.”

Amperity leverages AI to deliver a view that improves marketing performance, fuels accurate customer insights, and enables customer experiences. Amperity serves many world brands, including Alaska Airlines, Lucky Brand, J Crew, Kendra Scott, Planet Fitness, Kenneth Cole, Elf Cosmetics, Seattle Sounders FC, Crocs, Stanley and Endeavour Drinks.