SEA’s online groceries soar amid surge in COVID-19 cases: study

Southeast Asia’s top online grocers have seen traffic surge by 68% in the last six months as the region experienced its biggest wave of the pandemic  and consumers made purchases online to limit time spent outside their homes, according to a study by e-commerce aggregator iPrice Group.

Why it matters

With jobs and businesses lost due to the coronavirus, the iPrice study focuses on the prices of essentials and how current government aid may not be enough. Online grocers need to be able to cope with surges in demand driven by government policy and to respond to shifting demand patterns as consumer spending power fluctuates.

Key findings

• Since March, online grocerers’ web visits across the region have been steadily rising. 
  
• The most remarkable growth was seen in Vietnam, when daily COVID-19 cases reached five digits and traffic to the top online grocery site more than doubled (120%). 
  
• Similar trends were seen in other countries – Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines – where online groceries thrived when daily cases surged.
• When the Philippines implemented an enhanced community quarantine in major cities, two of its top online grocery sites’ traffic increased by 72% compared to March.
• The top Thai online grocers’ web traffic rose by 59% in August compared to March, while Indonesia’s surge was in July when its top online grocerers’ web traffic surged by 51%.
• In Malaysia, when the government imposed a strict lockdown in May, its top online grocers’ web traffic rose by 50% that month compared to the previous month.
• The only country with no remarkable change in online groceries has been Singapore as the country continues to contain daily cases and begins shifting to the endemic stage.