With the current developments surrounding the Corona (COVID-19) virus and the measures taken by governments and health organizations around the world, it comes as no surprise that many people are turning to the internet or social media for various reasons.

1. Search results

The outbreak of the coronavirus has had an impact on the search queries and volume for certain players in the e-commerce industry and for many businesses outside of this. But what has changed in terms of people’s search behaviour? And how has this affected businesses in different sectors?

Since the breakout of the virus in the Wuhan region of China in December 2019, it’s clearly visible how the search interest of ‘Corona’ had triggered some interest at the end of January in The Netherlands, but has evidently escalated in the second week March (see graph above). This is surely not without good reason, as it aligned with the moment the new measures for the fight against Corona were announced by the Dutch government.

The impact of Corona search intent and advertising

Needless to say, many businesses are already feeling the effect the Corona outbreak has on their operations. Flights are being cancelled, borders are being closed in multiple countries. Restaurants, recreation places, schools, offices and events involving more than 100 people are being forced to be cancelled or to close their doors until the 6th of April.

This has led to a massive drop in interest for various goods and services, while other industries are currently experiencing a sudden rise in demand for their offerings. So what are people doing online?

Google

As it has been quite a long time since we’ve dealt with a pandemic of this calibre, most people have no clue what’s been happening, what’s going to happen and what they should do, don’t or get. Imaginably, this has caused quite some changes in search queries and volumes. When looking at some of the most popular search terms currently in The Netherlands, there are a few trends that stand out the most.

Travel

One of the industries that have felt the impact of the Coronavirus on its operations almost immediately were businesses within the travel industry.

With airlines forces to cancel their flights left and right due to government-imposed travel-bans to tackle the spread of the virus, the number of holiday bookings is declining sharply. Although an increase in searches for travel agents, flights and countries can be seen, the search-intend behind this is majorly shifting.

Whereas consumers would normally be looking for holiday destinations and flights to book, people are now using these search terms to look for status updates on the latest developments in the fight against the virus. Are certain flights still going? What new measures have been taken in [country] last night? Am I still able to cancel my holidays or flights during this outbreak and/or will I get refunded? These are questions that are currently taking over the minds of people all over the world.

In times like these, fast and efficient web care is absolutely vital for brands and businesses to help duped customers, to limit the damage and sustain a positive customer relationship as much as possible.

Prepping and in-house entertainment
While many industries suffer tremendously due to the multiple consequences of the outbreak of the virus, there are a number of sectors that have seen a sudden and fast increase in search volume related to their offered goods or services.

Products that have never gotten much special traction before, such as hand soap, facemasks, vitamins and toilet paper are now seeing enormous spikes in search volume. Naturally, this is easily explainable by consumers’ current needs to disinfect their surroundings adequately and protect themselves from possible infection. In line with this, consumers all over the world have started buying out all stock of supermarkets, opting for having their grocery home-delivered and ordering their meals online.

As such, brands like McDonalds, Domino’s Pizza and food joints connected to online food ordering companies like Thuisbezorgd.nl that provide home delivery services have also seen an increase in placed orders.
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Update 17 March 2020. Our experts have also found positive trends in search campaigns of our customers. For example, they see a huge increase in Search Impression Share. The reasoning is that many companies are expected to have (temporarily) stopped their campaigns, as a result of which there is considerably less competition on the search network, resulting in an increase in Search Impression Share. With a view to the coming weeks, some of our customers foresee that they will be able to sell more products because they expect that the purchase intention will slowly increase again over time.

2. Social Media

The world is under the influence of Corona and in times of uncertainty people are looking for information, but especially interaction through social media. But what is the impact and what information can you trust?

Impact on marketing

Our experts, who take care of and support our customers, see that in some sectors, impressions are mainly shooting up, but the buying intention is significantly diminishing. Logical too, because in uncertain times people are more inclined to look for online connections and information on social media, which increases the use of the social media giants. On the other hand, people are less inclined to make online purchases.

It may be that people have become reluctant to make an online purchase, change needs into purchases (instead of new pants, prefer a new book) or that they do not prioritize, for example, those new pants because of the house insulation and the old one sweatpants come in handy more than ever. Other customers in, for example, Fast Moving Consumer Goods have seen a peak, due to strong demand for online orders of, for example, food, as mentioned earlier.

Join the crowd

Where one is forced to stop his business, the other responds to social media by encouraging followers to stay at home by using a discount code.

Social media lends itself as the perfect medium to call on each other to combat the spread of the virus. Influencers call on their followers to stay at home, think well and to not hoard food. The reach of social media is wide and with it the social commitment and support. A great strength of social media, also for many businesses.

Social media as a source of credible information vs. Fake News

Unfortunately, the power of social media also has a downside. The coronavirus is caught between misinformation and fake news. You may have also received a call from a doctor from the south via Whatsapp last weekend, who claimed the hospital was overcrowded? A report that was immediately refuted later in the afternoon by the hospital itself. Facebook is committed to constantly intercepting fake news, to reach people with the right information and to ban ads that can cause panic.

3. E-commerce and Retail movements & trends

What are the trends of the E-commerce and Retail consumer?

You've probably seen it before, but almost every supermarket is working overtime. People who need extra toilet paper and empty shelves where the bread would normally be. This is also reflected in people's online search behaviour. The consumer, during the corona crisis, is becoming a DIY-er. To make their own bread, people are looking online for flour and bread baking machines. There is a massive search for this.

Now that the gyms are closed and people still want to stay healthy and fit, there is also an increase in fitness equipment. Exercising at home is, for some, the only way to stay healthy and fit. Others prefer to go outside and do Calisthenics. A sport that is all about getting stronger by doing exercises based on your own body weight. Popular exercises include pull-ups and dips.

Another way of staying healthy is also popular as a search category. For example, there is a lot of search for health articles. One of these products is, for example, the thermometer. The coronavirus brings a fever and it is now discovered that they do not have a thermometer to measure their body temperature. Not only thermometers are popular. People are also looking for vitamins to stay healthy. Where one looks for fruit, the other looks for convenience and finds a vitamin tablet sufficient to increase the resistance.

The fact that not everyone is equally healthy, but in terms of convenience is also reflected in the trend towards deep fryers. The frying pan is tasty and fast. The fact that people still want to eat well is also reflected in the trend towards takeaways and other home delivery services. It is no longer possible to go to a restaurant, but restaurants can still go to the consumer.

The trends surrounding corona also show that people are afraid of getting bored and are looking for fun things to do during this crisis. The popularity towards game consoles, games and board games has therefore increased. The jigsaw puzzle is currently consumers’ most favorite game.

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Where are the opportunities for companies?

The fact that not everyone is concerned with the disadvantages of the corona virus and is looking for a ray of hope in the crisis is also reflected in stocks. For example, it is known that the economy has been hit hard, which also means that stocks can now be purchased for a significantly lower price. People are therefore eagerly looking for the answer to the question whether this is the right time to buy stocks or whether they should wait with it.

Despite the fact that the economy is now going badly, there are also opportunities for companies to respond. In China, where the virus has been around for some time, the trend can also be seen that people started ordering even more via online channels. Despite the fact that less is being spent on clothing, cars, home decoration and electronics, the demand for fresh vegetables, plastic disposable gloves and air purifiers has increased. The use of drones, for example, to quarantine goods from people has also increased. In these ways, companies can also respond to current events.

Nobody knows how long this emergency will last, but after rain comes sunshine. As a follow-up to this article, a Checklist on how to deal with your campaigns will soon follow.