COVID-19 impact on Ecommerce in Denmark

This benchmark analysis shows how Danish Ecommerce is affected by COVID-19.

Press conferences with the Danish Prime Minister have been highlighted on the charts to stress the direct effect on Danish Ecommerce.

• The first press conference in Denmark took place on Wednesday, March 11. The Prime Minister declared a national lockdown starting from Monday in the following week.
• The second press conference took place on Friday, March 13. Here, the Prime Minister announced that the Danish borders would close.
• The third press conference took place on Monday, March 23. The Prime Minister announced that it was now illegal to gather more than 10 people and that the lockdown would be extended for another two weeks, ending on April 13.
• The fourth press conference took place on Monday, March 30. The Prime Minister announced that if the positive curve were to continue during easter, the government would start a slow reopening of the country.
• The fifth press conference took place on Monday, April 6th. Here, the Prime Minister introduced the plan for a cautious reopening of Denmark after Easter.
• The sixth press conference took place on Monday, May 11th where the Prime Minister gave shopping malls permission to reopen.

If we look at the period from February 1st 2020 to the day before the Prime Minister’s first press conference (March 11), the number of visits to Danish webshops were stable and above last year, with an average year-over-year increase of 16% throughout the period. At the beginning of 2020, Danish Ecommerce experienced substantial organic growth, but after the Prime Minister’s first press conference, the number of visits experienced explosive growth and is now about 65% above last year.

The consumer’s journey from consideration to purchase has been significantly shorter since the first press conference. This conclusion can be drawn by looking at the conversion rate. The conversion rate is an expression of the share of visitors making a purchase when visiting a webshop.

If we look at the period from February 1, 2020, to March 10, 2020, we find that the number of orders placed at Danish Ecommerce companies is generally significantly higher compared to last year (Average 19%).

After the first press conference, a combination of more visitors and an increased willingness to make a purchase among consumers made the number of online orders more than double compared to the same period last year.

Many Ecommerce companies reduced their marketing activities in the months after the first lock-down in March 2020, which resulted in a decrease in click prices, due to the lower competition on the ad market. After May 2020, the click prices has slowly increased to a level that is almost the same as last year.

The chart shows the development of stock since January 15, 2020 (Index 100). In general, Danish webshops are still above index 90 compared to January. However, not surprisingly, the high number of orders made in the weeks after March 11 has made its mark on the number of in-stock products at Danish webshops. The effects of the global pandemic can result in a logistics chain under pressure. Especially with a lot of products coming from Asia.

Would you like to compare your performance with benchmark numbers from this analysis? Please send an email to Kasper Mathiesen, Manager, Business Development: [email protected] or call +45 2093 3013.