While typically showing increased activity during the summer months, the Sports & Outdoors category is seeing even more traffic to related websites during the COVID-19 pandemic. Another growth category with increased visitation and engagement is Apparel, while Home Furnishing and Consumer Electronics are starting to wane, according to the latest information from Comscore.
Summer travel plans are being replaced by local outdoor adventures as websites from top retailers like Dicks Sporting Goods, Academy, Cabellas, BassPro and CampingWorld collectively saw a 71% year-on-year increase in visits in April 2020 and an 86% year-on-year increase in May, according to Comscore.
Consumer engagement on Apparel websites also rose in May and June. Minutes per visitor increased 38%, from an average of 9.02 minutes in February to an average of 12.14 minutes in June 2020. Comscore notes that while visitation and engagement has surged, with apparel sites up 32% year-on-year in May, actual dollars spent declined 14% in the same month. However, category spend may be soft due to discount-oriented apparel sites, which could contribute to site visitation growth but weaken total category spend.
Other shifts in consumer behavior include less interest in home improvements and electronics. “Visitation to Home Furnishing and Consumer Electronics sites, which exploded in April 2020, has started to wane,” Comscore says in its release. The Tickets & Events category shows no signs of recovery as live concerts, events and fan-attended sporting events are relatively non-existent.
The media measurement and analytics company will continue to monitor these trends, with ongoing insights posted to its Coronavirus Insights Hub.