During 2020, Pattern noticed a spike in Amazon sales across Europe, in addition to an increased interest from brands to move to online marketplaces. In a bid to find out what the average UK Amazon shopper thinks of the marketplace and brands selling on the platform, we conducted our own research to understand why online shoppers choose to buy from Amazon.
As the Authorised Amazon Seller for a number of consumer brands across a wide variety of categories, we wanted to understand the shift to online sales that took place during lockdown, as well as attitudes towards Amazon, for the benefit of our own business and our brand partners and clients.
In this blog we reveal key findings from our first piece of consumer polling in the UK.
Most bought something from Amazon in 2020
As part of our poll we asked online shoppers if they had bought from Amazon in the past 12 months and which Amazon site they had purchased from. Unsurprisingly, 93% of the online shoppers surveyed had bought from an Amazon website in the past year, and the vast majority of these bought from the UK site (86%).
Additionally, our findings showed that younger, and male consumers were more likely to have made cross-border purchases from the marketplace’s international sites. 10% of men had bought from the US site, whereas only 5% of women had done so. While products can sometimes be cheaper on other instances of the marketplace, the primary reason for buying cross-border from Amazon is often to purchase products that are not available on the UK site.
Is Amazon the starting point for UK shoppers?
A common talking point amongst senior ecommerce executives is the belief that the large majority of digital shoppers now start their searches on Amazon. Our survey results back up the idea that consumers use Amazon as a search engine for products; and highlights the need for brands to have a marketplace strategy in place.
When asked what their reasons for visiting Amazon.co.uk in the past year were, the most popular response was to look for products they couldn’t find in stores. Meanwhile, 55% visited Amazon to check the prices of products, and 49% claimed to have visited the site to look for product information, including product reviews.
After analysing the results, it was clear that the 55-64 and 65+ age groups were the most likely to check prices, at 63% and 66%, respectively.
What does the average UK Amazon Shopper think of the marketplace?
With many permanent store closures announced in the past year, and calls from the retail industry for an online sales tax, we kept an open mind as to whether the sentiment towards Amazon would be positive. However, 48% of online shoppers believe the marketplace helped them during lockdown.
We went into more detail on what the average UK Amazon shopper thinks of the marketplace, in order to understand what motivates them to shoppers to turn to Amazon for their purchases.
In general, consumers’ opinions towards Amazon.co.uk were positive; only 6% didn’t agree with any positive statements. The average UK Amazon shopper cited ease of buying, quick delivery and wide range of products as being things they associated with the marketplace.
It’s also no longer seen only as a channel for cheaper, mass market goods. 41% believe that Amazon’s range already includes premium brands, and 16% said they would like it to stock more premium brands.
Our research shows brands in categories with the largest shifts to online during lockdown should not assume that spend will entirely swing back to stores once lockdown ends. Amazon has proved that it is a sales channel which the majority of brands should consider carefully if they want to maximise their sales in 2021.
For more information on how we could support your brand on Amazon or to hear more about our Amazon Seller model, please contact us here.
