Food industry webinar summary 2: dealing with Covid-19

Comparing the data* on Amazon.it from the first days of March to the same period of the previous month, Witailer analyzed the impact of this exceptional situation on the purchasing behavior of Italians.

Analyzing more than 50 brands that sell on Amazon.it, there was a 60% increase in traffic on Grocery products, with sales growing on average by 100% and peaks up to 400% recorded from 8 to 12 March, the first days of the lockdown.

As far as other product categories are concerned, traffic has grown up to 70% compared to the previous month, though with a much lower conversion rate and click-through rate in the advertising campaigns, leading to a sales growth of 10%. - Insight from Witailers website.

In our webinar both of our guests, Gabriele Nofrini, Head of E-Commerce Italy & Switzerland at Lavazza and Federico Salina, co-founder and CEO of Witailer agreed that Covid-19 boosted the e-commerce sales, while many players were not ready. 

 

The issues and limitations seen by Lavazza when it comes to e-commerce are related to logistics and customer service, where they constantly seek improvements. Selling online gives them the opportunity not just to expand the numbers, but also to collect lots of useful data. Measuring every channel by setting the right KPIs helps them to better understand the behaviours of the customers, to understand the different patterns that occur on every market they are selling on, which they can also translate into improvements when it comes to selling offline. One of the key tools that helps when it comes to their presence on Amazon are around performance and the reviews left by the customers. 

 

During the past years, Lavazza saw an increase in demand for capsules, which tended to stagnate or even decrease in the past year in favour of more sustainable options, like compostable ones, when it comes to the packaging of the capsules.

 

When it comes to giving advices for brands who want to sell on Amazon, Federico Salina points out the importance of approaching it as a special channel with a long-term view, and not just activate it, but constantly measure it. 

 

Coffee is the most searched for category on Amazon. Its first position was shaken during a few weeks marked by the lockdown and products like pasta became the most searched for grocery product. An interesting fact is, that while other products are searched by generic terms, when it comes to coffee, people already know their favourite brands, so they search for the exact terms. This is where having a strong catalogue for your products and good content come in and help with branding overall.