RESTON, Va. – New research from Comscore revealed that online spending in the home goods category reached record levels in the second quarter of 2020, with elevated engagement extending into this year’s third quarter.
The rise in online shopping activity suggests retailers can capitalize on consumers’ continuing interest in upgrading their homes by maximizing their e-commerce efforts during the final month of 2020, which typically sees the highest spending of the year.
Comscore data shows that site visits to retailers in the home furnishings category saw record high visitation numbers in 2020. In May of this year, visitation peaked at 133 million U.S. unique visitors, up 26% from February 2020. When compared with 2018 and 2019 numbers, the retail home furnishings category has maintained a higher level of visitation for all months following the May 2020 peak, according to Comscore data.
The research also reveals that the pandemic has accelerated online spend significantly. Online spending in the furniture, appliances and equipment category totaled $12.1 billion in the second quarter, up nearly 50% vs. the first quarter of this year.
This makes spending for the second quarter the highest quarterly spend ever for this category. While seeing a slight decline post-peak, third-quarter spending remained significantly above the pre-COVID-19 average.
Of the 108 million consumers who purchased a home goods product online from March through August 2020, 75% said that they conducted research online before making a major purchase.
