• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, June 18, 2020

If you haven’t tried curbside pickup for groceries through Instacart, I highly recommend it. Once someone told me I could ask the shopper at the grocer to ensure the meat had an expiration date of at least five days out and to ensure produce and vegetables were extra fresh, everything worked quite well. 

It seems I’m not the only one who appreciates this new curbside pickup service. Captify, a search data company, identified a handful of “dramatic shifts” in consumer buying habits since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It shows a spike in curbside pickup and a decline in home deliveries.

Curbside pick-up rose 458% since March 11, and home delivery has begun to drop, falling 30% month-over-month between April and May.

Attitudes about reopening vary:

1.  83% of consumers are still concerned about returning to stores

2.  Travel searches are up for the first time in three months, rising 19% month-over-month between April and May, but intent scores, meaning whether people intend to purchase, were lower in travel than in any other sector Captify analyzed.

Consumers flocking to subscriptions, led by pet care:

1.  Subscriptions brands have soared, seeing a 368% search uplift from consumers, with pet care subscription brand Tails.com leading the pack.

2.  The average number of subscription brands searched for by consumers have tripled from 2 to 6 since March 11.

3.  The top five subscription brands in search include: Tails.com – 29.1% – pet care; Lola – 28.9% – personal care; Ritual – 22.7% – health & well-being; Hims – 9.8% – health & well being; Calm – 9.5% – health & well being.

4.  Health and well-being brands accounted for 42% search share of voice of the top five subscriptions during quarantine, reflecting consumers’ shifting shopping habits.

The nature of gift-giving changed during lockdown:

1.  Digital gifting has increased by 1590% since March 11.

2.  Searches related to gifting via mailbox/letterbox rose 673% as consumers adhere to social distancing rules.

3.  Searches for subscription services as gifts rose 290%.

3.  Books and ebooks rose 174%.

4.  Flowers and plants rose 22%.

Seismic shifts in buying behavior:

1.  Athleisure and sports apparel brands are now see the highest search of voice share among mass market retailers, led by Nike at 65.6% and Adidas at 14.6%.

2.  There has been a 76% decrease in search trends for fast fashion since March 11 with a greater focus on sales and delivery.

3.  Lego is by far the most searched for toy brand, commanding a 57% share of voice among top 10 toy brands.