A study by payment solutions specialist Oney and OpinionWay has analysed the behaviour of French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and German consumers during the Covid-19 health crisis to establish key insights into the market landscape for the future. One of the most important data obtained indicates that consumers in southern European countries have been the most affected by Covid-19 in terms of changes in their shopping routine, and as a result, online commerce has experienced a 67% growth in countries such as Spain.
The main key findings of the study include the following:
- Southern countries are the most pessimistic about the future economic situation. Spaniards, Portuguese and Italians fear for the future of their incomes, as almost 30% of them believe that their incomes will be lower, pointing to a reduction in spending in “unnecessary sectors”.
- Spain, leader in online shopping. 67% of Spanish consumers have increased their online shopping in recent months. For Italians, this figure stands at 66% and 62% for the Portuguese. However, 87% of Spanish consumers still prefer to go to a physical shop.
- Diversification of payment methods: Companies have sought solutions and different payment methods to make it easier and more flexible for consumers to make purchases due to economic uncertainty. It is worth mentioning instalment payments, which were used by 44% of Spaniards, deferred payment, which was used by 37% of Germans, and consumer credit, which was used by 27% of Italians and 26% of Spaniards.
- New digital services. One of the sectors most affected by digitalisation is the social-family sphere with 83%, the education system 76% and health professionals 58%. The digital services most requested by consumers are customer service by video call and virtual pre-purchase advice.
In Spain, 8 out of 10 citizens interviewed for this study have increased their use of digital tools during the pandemic, including video streaming platforms and online consultations.
As we can see, the pandemic has made us realise how necessary it is to have up-to-date and adequate digital means in our company in order to survive these changing times and their unforeseen events.