Move Over Amazon, The Big Boys Are Coming Back Out To Play

At the end of 2019, in the U.S. alone there were 112 million Amazon Prime users according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP). And no doubt that number has continued to grow as we all find ourselves in isolation.

Because if there’s one thing that we’ve been doing in lockdown, it’s purchasing more stuff online. Everything from breadmakers, to BBQ’s, to trampolines, to gaming consoles, and more besides.

And if we’re shopping online, chances are we’ll be shopping with Amazon. According to research from Edge by Ascential, Amazon now has a market share of more than 30% of the U.K. Ecommerce market.

It’s hard to argue against the ease and convenience of it. Just the other week, I personally experienced it when I took the plunge and ordered a high end coffee machine; that was at 14.00. By 13.30 the following day it had arrived.

And it seems that I’m not the only one lured by this hyper-convenience. According to Statista, in the U.K. alone, in January 2020 there were over 400 million visits to its website and during lockdown it has been the clear winner globally with almost $11,000 being spent with it every second.

But there’s one competitor who, for the last few months, has been forced to lie dormant, unable to participate in the lockdown spending but who, come June 15, will be allowed to join in once again. And that’s independent local retailers.

Much has been made of how independent retailers can compete with Amazon and of course the answer, in many ways, is that they can’t. Lest they risk Amazon moving on their sector, disrupting it and driving them out of business.

But independent local retailers have one distinct advantage over Amazon, one which will be much in demand as we all emerge from our enforced isolation; human interaction.

It might be a new form of socially distanced interaction, but human beings crave any form of it and when that has been denied us for months, we will take any opportunity to rediscover it.

Hyper-local

In lockdown, we’ve seen a surge in shopping at local convenience stores, brought on by the necessity of shorter shopping journeys. Writing in Retail Week, executive editor, George MacDonald, made the observation that we could be entering a “golden age” of retail localisation.

Speaking in his last interview as Sainsbury’s chief executive officer, Mike Coupe said, “We’ve seen a return to the 1970s and the way my grandmother used to shop – local greengrocers, butchers, delis are all doing incredibly well, and local convenience stores near to where people live are doing incredibly well.”

And as all non-essential retail stores are allowed to reopen very shortly, expect that trend to continue and broaden to all local stores regardless of whether they are grocers or not.

As MacDonald says, “The nation of shopkeepers stepped up to the plate. Independents now have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to secure and strengthen their unique place on the high street”.

Amen to that.