Unicommerce COVID Analysis: E-commerce recovers over 90% of its pre-lockdown volume

Unicommerce, India‘s leading SaaS-based e-commerce platform, has been keeping a close track on the e-commerce consumer trends as economic activities resumes across the country. E-commerce companies started operations in its full capacity since the beginning of June and the overall e-commerce sector has recovered at a much faster pace than anticipated, according to the latest analysis shared by Unicommerce. With social distancing still being widely practiced and advised, the trend of online shopping has reached new heights of growth which has led to a massive jump in the adoption of online shopping by the consumers across the country.

As per the latest analysis report by Unicommerce, the e-commerce sector has recovered by over 90% as compared to its pre-lockdown order volume. The e-commerce sector commenced operations around 45 days back and an initial recovery was anticipated due to a large amount of pent up demand during the lockdown. The consistent growth clearly establishes the growing consumer preference of online shopping which is expected to continue in the post-covid world. According to Unicommerce’s consumer trend analysis, the e-commerce industry is predicted to fully recover and achieve the pre-lockdown order volume by the end of June.

The last couple of weeks additionally showcased an interesting trend regarding ‘Direct 2 consumer’ companies. Companies with a strong online presence and their own e-commerce website have demonstrated faster growth as compared to other brands. While marketplaces enjoy the dominance in terms of the overall order share, companies with direct to consumer presence through their own website have 25% higher recovery rate as compared to other online selling brands. In particular, companies selling electronic appliances and fashion products have seen faster growth on their D2C platform as compared to the other sectors.

This showcases that companies that have developed their own online sales channels have a better understanding of the e-commerce nuances and consumer behaviour which gives them an edge over other online sellers. We are seeing a similar trend across leading FMCG players who are working towards strengthening their Direct-to-consumer presence and rethinking their selling strategies to reach the target consumer.

Analysing the overall category growth, consumer electronic appliances category (excluding smartphones) have witnessed the strongest growth than any other category. The sector has not just recovered its pent up volume but also shown great improvement with over 45% growth in the overall order volume compared to pre-lockdown levels. However, the average cart size has decreased by around 5-10%, as people are ordering more low value required to operate from home As most of the organisation continue to work from home, there has been a significant surge in demand for products that will help professionals operate easily from home such as USB cables, extension cords, trimmers and wifi routers to name a few.

On the other hand, the online fashion sector has seen an overall 70% recovery rate compared to pre-lockdown levels. However, the average cart size has decreased by around 25%. This signifies that the demand for high-value products is significantly less as compared to affordable products. The popular products in the category are nightwears and comfortable home-wear that have seen the maximum traction. In fact, few sub-categories in fashion such as kids apparels have witnessed over 100% growth already in the last 15 days compared to the pre-lockdown levels.

Speaking about the report and the impact, Kapil Makhija, CEO, Unicommerce said, “The e-commerce sector continues to lead the growth for the overall economy of India. The increasing change in consumer behaviour to prefer online shopping has come as a great surprise and relief for online sellers and marketplaces. This will lead to the rising adoption of omnichannel solutions by companies across sectors and focus on digital transformation to significantly improve customer buying experience with the help of relevant technology solutions. With the current pace and recovery rate, we are positive that the sector will fully recover in the next couple of weeks.”