Vaccinated and Unmasked – Pitney Bowes BOXpoll™ Shows Pandemic’s Impact on U.S. Consumer Shopping Habits
June 29 2021 - 9:08AM
Business Wire
Consumers have mixed reactions to the easing
of mask mandates: 22% will shop in-store more often while 17% will
shop online more often
47% of consumers shop online more often
today than before the pandemic
Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE: PBI), a global technology company that
provides commerce solutions in the areas of ecommerce, shipping,
mailing and financial services, today released results from its
weekly BOXpoll™ consumer surveys, which found that ecommerce
utilization rates remain high in the U.S., even as mask mandates
ease, stores reopen and more than half of eligible U.S. citizens
are vaccinated.
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Pitney Bowes BOXpoll consumer surveys
show pandemic's impact on U.S. consumer shopping habits (Graphic:
Business Wire)
Forty-seven percent of U.S. consumers shop online more often
today than they did before the pandemic. While this statistic
underscores the record growth of ecommerce over the past 15 months,
it also represents a seven-percentage point (pp) decrease from
January and the longest sustained drop below 50% since BOXpoll
started tracking the metric last August.
What’s behind the decrease? The easing of mask mandates seems to
have had some impact, as 22% of consumers say they will shop
in-store more often as a result of mandates being eased, versus 17%
who say they will shop online more often for the same reason.
Driving this divergence are the attitudes of those who are
vaccinated, versus those who are not.
- Those planning to take a COVID-19 vaccine (about 12% of
consumers) are significantly less likely to be shopping in-store
moving forward (12% less, compared to 8% of all respondents).
They’re also significantly more likely to be shopping online more
often (33% vs 16% of all respondents).
- Meanwhile, the behaviors of those who have already received at
least one shot (57% of U.S. adults) seem to be aligned with those
who are not planning to get the vaccine (21% of U.S. adults), with
minimal difference in responses.
“The pandemic accelerated the shift from in-store to online
shopping at a remarkable pace,” said Gregg Zegras, EVP and
President, Global Ecommerce at Pitney Bowes. “Even as we see
evidence of some natural regression in ecommerce utilization as
vaccine rates increase and mask mandates ease, our latest surveys
indicate that most of the shift from in-store to online shopping
will be permanent.”
An elastic silver lining for fashion retailers. Americans
buying more; bracketing less.
The reopening of stores, restaurants, entertainment venues and
some offices are driving extraordinary year-over-year increases in
clothing and accessory purchases. At the same time, the pandemic
seems to have influenced fashion trends, at least in the near term.
Namely, spandex may be woven into everything we wear now—at home,
on the go, and even at work. BOXpoll found that the preference for
comfortable clothing may be influencing another shopping trend that
had fashion retailers anxious before the pandemic: bracketing – the
practice of buying multiple sizes with the intent of returning what
doesn’t fit.
- Forty-one percent of all consumers (ages 18+) confess to
bracketing, a 10pp decrease from a 2019 Pitney Bowes consumer
survey, driven by a 9pp decrease among those who said they “always”
or “frequently” bracket.
- Compared to last year—when few were buying clothes without an
elastic waistband—only 8% of consumers say they bracket more often,
and greater than 1 in 4 (28%) say they now bracket less than last
year, totaling a net decrease of 20%
- Sixteen percent of millennials report bracketing more now
versus last year
- Meanwhile, nearly 40% of Gen Z— the generation most affected by
lower incomes and higher unemployment—report bracketing less than
last year
Guarantee it.
BOXpoll also reveals the influence of delivery guarantees on
consumers’ perceptions of – and behavior towards – a brand.
- Sixty-nine percent of consumers questioned agree that offering
a delivery guarantee makes a retailer appear more trustworthy.
- Sixty-five percent say that seeing a delivery guarantee makes
them more willing to buy from a retailer’s site
- Fifty-two percent would be more likely to buy from a retailer
offering delivery guarantees than on offering fast shipping
- Parents are the most likely segment, at 53%, to buy from a
higher-priced retailer who offers a delivery guarantee over a
less-expensive retailer, offering the same product without a
delivery guarantee.
- Groceries, vitamins, pet supplies and personal care items are
the products consumers would like to see retailers offer guarantees
for the most
Methodology
BOXpoll™ by Pitney Bowes is a weekly consumer survey on current
events, culture and ecommerce logistics. Morning Consult conducts
weekly polls on behalf of Pitney Bowes among a national sample of
more than 2,000 online shoppers. The results included in this press
release are extracted from surveys conducted over the past month.
The interviews were conducted online, and the data were weighted to
approximate a target sample of adults based on age, educational
attainment, gender, race, and region. Results from the full survey
have a margin of error of +/- 2 percentage points.
About Pitney Bowes
Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI) is a global technology company providing
commerce solutions that power billions of transactions. Clients
around the world, including 90 percent of the Fortune 500, rely on
the accuracy and precision delivered by Pitney Bowes solutions,
analytics, and APIs in the areas of ecommerce fulfillment, shipping
and returns; cross-border ecommerce; office mailing and shipping;
presort services; and financing. For 100 years Pitney Bowes has
been innovating and delivering technologies that remove the
complexity of getting commerce transactions precisely right. For
additional information visit Pitney Bowes at
www.pitneybowes.com.
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Brett Cody Pitney Bowes (203) 218 1187 brett.cody@pb.com
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