How customer behaviours have changed e-commerce: the case of Amazon

irst, we must understand the engine that led to this disruptive change. You have to understand that this is all customer driven. It was the pandemic that made people stay at home. Being restricted from going out, they started looking online for retail shopping solutions, from supermarket goods, to bread making machines and ready meals.

There was a growth in both penetration and frequency: there was an increase in new customers and an increase in the consumption of those who already bought on digital platforms. On the side of new customers, it is interesting to note that the profile of the online consumer has also evolved. Before the pandemic, the typical e-commerce customer had a young profile, lived in urban centres and had above-average incomes. With COVID, we started to see new demographic segments joining online shopping: older people and living outside urban centres.

And businesses that were outside of e-commerce have realised that if customers are buying online more frequently, then it's critical for businesses to be there too. If you realise that in your industry more and more people are buying online, and if your competitors are already doing so and your company isn't, then maybe it's time to start your e-commerce strategy.

The Amazon case

Even giants like Amazon, have had to adapt to the new context provided by the pandemic.

The increase in demand and traffic on e-commerce sites was so significant and so steep that many onlineretailers had a negative impact on the quality of their delivery service, being forced to take measures in order to continue operations, such as queuing their sites or prioritising product categories. In Amazon's case priority was given to cleaning products, health products and food, to the detriment of categories such as toys. It also moved the date of Amazon's main sales event, Prime Day, from July to the end of the year, to give them the opportunity to recover logistics service levels.

And so we come to the recent news that Amazon has launched a Portuguese version of its Spanish-based website. And why is that? I'm sure you've observed a strong growth in traffic originating in Portugal over the last 12 months. Realising the opportunity provided by the increased demand, it made perfect sense to adopt a simple and easy measure: translate the Spanish site into Portuguese and leverage all the logistics already based in the neighbouring country. If we think about geography, Portugal is a very close market: easily and quickly, with warehouses in Spain, the Portuguese market is served.

The launch of a Portuguese version of Amazon's website presents an opportunity for Portuguese companies, as the e-commerce giant's service is evolving to better serve the Portuguese-based customer.

What lessons can we learn?

As everyone waits for the end of the second confinement, a question hangs in the air: will people continue to buy online on a large scale after the end of the pandemic? We do not know how much of the new demand generated online will remain, because this behaviour will depend on many factors and the whole macro context.

However, there is one thing we know about e-commerce: it is a shopping experience that tends to become a habit. If the first online purchases provide a good customer experience, it is very likely that the customer will gain confidence and return to buy online, surrendering to this convenience. Therefore, in a post-pandemic world, the doors for the continued expansion of e-commerce seem to be open.

So take note of behaviours like Amazon's as an example and think about the simple actions you can take to add value to your customer experience. Sometimes all it takes is a simple change, like translating a website, to increase your customer base and attract new market segments. Because, at the end of the day, it is consumer behaviour that dictates the success of companies. You have to serve them well, even in the online world.