If you paid any attention to the market (stock market) that is, you have seen stocks like Wayfair move from mid 20s to over 330 dollars a share! An incredible 1500% increase in less than six months. Will these trends continue with the current situation with federal stimulus up in the air, vaccines on the horizon and an unknown fall season?
Traffic by the Numbers Via SimilarWeb.
We took a look at Similarweb for the following shop online / work from home numbers from pre Covid-19 traffic in February to the previous months data (July, 2020) and you will see that traffic has surged over 100% from the Feb. lows. Amazon surprisingly has been relatively flat, travel and booking website VRBO.com saw a rapid decline and then a massive surge and appears to still be climbing.
Walmart by the Numbers
Walmart didn’t see the 100% increase from February in traffic (roughly 300 million to 450 million) but a 50% increase. However, they did report a 97% increase in e-commerce sales from consumers buying online and curbside pickup according to their quarterly earnings report.
Home Depot and Lowes Charts Nearly Identical
Looking at both Home Depot and Lowes traffic charts via Similarweb.com you can see an identical chart flow with Home Depot surging from 129 million to 270 million a staggering 109% increase. Lowe’s traffic increased from 70 million to 162 million or an increase of 131%. Traffic peaked in the month of May and has since seen a slight decrease for June and July 2020.
Walgreens Shows an Initial Spike in Traffic
Walgreens traffic chart is unique from the other big box stores in that traffic spiked immediately among the Covid-19 news in March and then declined over the next few months. This is probably due to an increase in items like infrared thermometers but showing a decrease in photo services.
Amazon Web Traffic Surprisingly Flat
While an increase of 500 million visitors is nothing to scoff at, Amazon’s traffic saw an increase of 25% up from 2 billion to 2.5 billion from Feb to it’s peak in May 2020 according to Similarweb.com. Comparatively speaking to others like Wayfair, HD and Walmart this is definitely flat.
Target Shows an Increase in Traffic over Amazon and Walmart but Not HD / Lowes.
Target saw an increase from 128 million visits to 223 million at it’s peak in May of 2020. A result of about 72% increase in traffic. Like the other retail chains there has been a dip in traffic in June with a shift higher in July.
Macy’s Bucks the Trend with an Immediate Drop in Traffic and Then an Increase
Here is a unique chart among the retailers. While most online traffic saw an increase due to Covid-19 Macy’s saw the opposite. From Feb to it’s lows in April traffic dropped from 75 million visits to 57 million visits, a drop of 24%. However traffic has seen an increase from April’s lows of 57 to 87 million an increase of 53%.
Travel Sites like VRBO see a Sharp Decline but are Rebounding Nicely with a 400% Increase in Web Traffic
Sites like VRBO noticed a staggering drop once the Covid-19 news was released. Traffic tanked from 28 million to 10 million or roughly 64% in website visits. Like Macy’s they saw a rebound, but the increase in traffic has been much, mubh higher. From their April lows of 10 million, July traffic surged to 41 million visitors or an incredible 400% increase.
Home Exercise like Peloton saw a Nearly 100% Increase in Traffic Early On
Peloton saw an early increase in web traffic and probably sales as consumers flocked to home exercise options with the closings of gyms and fitness centers. Traffic was just under 2 million in February 2020 and almost hit 4 million in April, which then resulted in a drop in traffic as gyms and fitness centers began to re-open.
Online Discounters like Wayfair and Overstock are Seeing 100% Plus Traffic
Like Home Depot and Lowes, Wayfair and Overstock have an almost identical chart pattern. Both websites have seen a dramatic rise in web traffic and orders, and their stocks have skyrocketed as well. Wayfair visits have surged from 77 million to 158 million at it’s peak in May of 2020. An increase of 105%. Overstock saw an increase from 25 million visitors to 53 million or a 112% rise in web visits.
Election, Vaccines, Stimulus Questions, Fall Season, Opening – Closing – Re-Opening
It will be interesting to see what traffic and the “this is the new” looks like with so many unknowns coming up over the next few months will lead to as Stimulus checks are no longer coming to millions of Americans. Moratorium relief was not included in the Trump executive order so many are at risk of evictions as well. With so many unknowns, it’s hard to say if companies like Wayfair, Overstock and Peloton can keep up the numbers they had early on as vaccines are developed and hospital death percentages have dramatically dropped since New York had it’s outbreak.