Amazon search queries in lockdown

26 January 2021

Many countries are currently in lockdown, which means that people are working from home and stores are closed. The pandemic affects businesses, in one way or the other. For Amazon it means changes in sales and prioritize certain categories.

During this pandemic we see a change in customer behavior. Consumers show some kind of panicky behavior, due to the limitation of the facilities in day-to-day life. This can be seen, for example, in the high demand for groceries and the fact that local supermarkets have trouble to restock products.

On the other hand, focusing on online shopping, we see that a platform like Amazon is increasing in sales. Online shopping has taken off since the start of covid19. By the search terms in Amazon* we see that certain categories and products are extremely popular. Therefore, we as the marketplace specialist advise our clients to run regular search reports, because it changes rapidly and from a business point of view it offers sales opportunities.

Maze-One compared the top10 search terms* on Amazon in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and United Kingdom.
*Search for top10 per country between January 14- January 21, 2021

Some findings:

• Nintendo’s, Playstation’s and computer racing games are very popular across the European countries in this search.
  Due to the lockdown, everyone is at home and looking for entertainment and computer games keep the children and grown-ups entertained.
  
  
• There is a remarkable amount of interest in fidget toys or anti-stress games in the Netherlands and UK. It is likely that the pandemic, with its restrictions and concerns, is affecting the stress level of many people. There is a possibility that in other countries fidget toys will gain interest soon.
  
  
• The recently severe weather conditions in Spain, show effect in the search for winter related products.

Changes in daily life seem to affect buying behavior. We generally see that it pays to regularly review and anticipate search terms. Maybe just a change in keywords or new content could be the trick to stimulate sales. Maze-One can advise on product presence on Amazon and achieve sales growth.

Please see below more in-depth results per country.

The Netherlands:
In March 2020, at the start of Covid19 in The Netherlands, the search was mainly on face masks, thermometers, toilet paper. Now we see that 5 out of top10 search words are related to computer gaming: Playstation, Nintento Switch and computer racing games. Other frequent searches (3 out of top10) are on fidget toys: anti stress games for children and parents.

France: 
The effect of the French lockdown results in search terms that mainly consist of computer gaming (5 out of top10). The ranking of Lego on second position, show that pastime activities are in favor.
Noteworthy that facemask or healthcare products are currently not in top10 search terms. That is a completely different case compared to March last year

Germany: 
The search terms in Germany are remarkably different compared to the other countries. Covid19 keeps the Germans concerned and this is reflected in the top10 search terms. Seven out of the top10 searches are for face masks. But the Playstation5 is ranked on the 9^th position.

Spain:
Completely unexpectedly, a lot of snow fell in Madrid this month. This heavy and exceptional weather conditions reflect in the search for products on Amazon: snow booths, snow chains and heaters are highly ranked in the top10. And, not surprisingly, electronic items like earphones and Playstation5 are popular products in Spain too.