Online shopping amid enhanced community quarantine
More Filipinos preferred online shopping amid the enhanced community quarantine due to the COVID-19 crisis in the Philippines.
At this time, only supermarkets and essentials stores are open in order to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. Most offices and other establishments closed when the ECQ was implemented.
However, even though some essential stores are still open, many Filipinos opted to go shopping online for their necessities. Through this, they can avoid the long queue in supermarkets, as well as the risk of getting infected.
Online shopping has also become a remedy of several stores in order to mitigate their losses due to the health crisis, based on the report from ABS-CBN. Meta-search platform called iPrice Group in Southeast Asia has been studying the changes in the product interest of consumers amid the community quarantine or lockdown.
Isabelle Romualdez, iPrice Group content marketing executive, explained that they studied the product that has gained popularity in e-commerce sites amid the crisis.
“iPrice Group aggregated thousands of product pages of more than 100 online merchants and compared the impressions of products on their platform between March 2020, the month the lockdown began; and November 2019, the month before the start of any COVID-19 cases in China,” she said.
Through this, it was found out that searches for canned food by Filipinos has grew by 412 percent while there is a 310 percent increase in searches for buscuits.
Filipinos have also become more aware of having cleaner surroundings. That is why the searches for disinfecting multipurpose cleaner increased by 1,097 percent. Furthermore, more Pinoys have searched disinfectant spray with a 721 percent increase in searches, and bleach by 721 percent.
For hand sanitizers, there is a 2,207 percent increase, while searches on hand soaps increased by 989 percent. On the other hand, face mask, one of the essentials during these days, is barely searched by Filipinos online.
Searches for thermometers also spiked up with 1,295 percent, as well as vitamins with 123 percent increase. Meanwhile, Romualdez said that it appeared that many Filipinos have been pampering themselves at home while in lockdown. It is because there has been a 236 percent increase in searches for skincare face masks, based on the report.
While at home, it also appeared that Filipinos just resorted to outdoor swimming pools this summer as a 518 percent increased in searches for this product. Other products that have a remarkable increase in searches are wi-fi adapters (597 percent), LAN cables (150 percent), gym dumbbells (80 percent), and bicycles (97 percent).
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