E-Commerce Sales Jump 87% in July, Report Finds

Consumers shopping online in July purchased a lot more products associated with home-based and outdoor activities, contributing to an 87% increase year-over-year in sales for the month. That’s one data point from the Signifyd E-Commerce Pulse Report for July released this week.

San Jose, Calif.-based Signifyd Inc., a fraud-prevention company focused on e-commerce, said leisure and outdoor online sales increased 134% year-over-year, perhaps a reflection of the continuing effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Electronics sales soared 108% and the commodities and collectibles category, which includes precious metals, increased 183%.

The report indicates consumers have decided to stay with online shopping behaviors formed earlier during the lockdowns imposed after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. “Five months into the pandemic, curbside pickup has not lost its luster,” the report says. “Drive-up shopping opportunities were few and far between before the pandemic. And then suddenly it was the only option for those who wanted to buy things from retailers that had been deemed non-essential.

“By mid-April, buy-online-pick-up-at-the-store orders on Signifyd’s Commerce Network were running nearly 500% higher than they were at the beginning of the year. The most recent Ecommerce Pulse data shows that buy-online-pick-up-at-the-store-or-the-curb orders are still nearly three times what they were in January.”

Many retailers and observers are monitoring this behavior and other indicators to see if these consumer habits developed during the Covid-19 pandemic will endure, Signifyd says.