According to Gary Shapiro, CEO of the Consumer Technology Association, the pandemic “pushed the fast-forward button on tech adoption.” We agree. So, we recently released the State of Consumer Electronics report. Using our eCommerce solutions (Research and Shopper Intelligence), we’ve identified the consumer trends propelling the U.S. electronics industry in H1 2021.
Plug into our highlights, and power up with top takeaways to help you successfully navigate and thrive in the ever-evolving consumer electronics industry.
1. Buy a laptop from your PC
Shopping for electronics from home started as a necessity but is here to stay. Visits to Walmart, Best Buy, Target, and Amazon electronics webpages averaged 11.6% year-over-year (YoY) growth in H1 2021 and often exceeded increases in traffic to retailers’ main sites.
During H1 2021, traffic to walmart.com grew 5% YoY, whereas traffic to its electronics category climbed 12%, and traffic to video games increased 87%.
Takeaway
Consumers’ increased comfort in shopping for electronics online means that retailers need to focus efforts on their digital transformation strategy, even if their bread and butter is brick and mortar.
2. Bargain hunting
As consumers get comfortable shopping online for gadgets, they’re also getting savvier at finding the best deals. Cross-shopping rates are high among major retailers. In H1 2021, 49% of shoppers for electronics on walmart.com cross-shopped the same category in Amazon, indicating that consumers are looking for the biggest bang for their buck, lacking loyalty to specific retailers.
But there’s a rising loyalty to specialty, discount electronics websites – compounding consumers’ value-oriented mindset.
Take electronics discount retailer Newegg, which claims to offer “the best price on computer parts.” Fewer Newegg customers appear to be cross-shopping on Amazon than a year ago. In May 2021, shopper overlap with Amazon decreased 4 percentage points (ppts) YoY from 43% to 39%
Amazon (Electronics), Shopper Overlap
US, Desktop, Mobile Web, and Mobile App, Apr 2020 – Jun 2021
Takeaway
Unless you have a reputation for offering discounted electronics, offer pricing in line with other retailers – even try to undercut them – to generate business.
3. WFH: Digital nomads
Clicks from top keywords in Amazon’s electronics category reflect consumers’ desire to perfect their working environments. In H1, clicks to laptop stand for desk grew 2542%, and clicks to the wireless keyboard and mouse combo climbed 624%.
Other fast-growing, office-related keywords suggest consumers are adapting to becoming digital nomads with hybrid work setups. These include:
Takeaway
Employees have adapted to working remotely and are serious about crafting the best work environment. Even with the vaccinated U.S. population exceeding 50%, the threat of variants, along with employers cutting down on office space to save costs, indicates remote or hybrid working is here to stay.
To capitalize on this trend, brands should integrate office-related keywords, like the above, into product descriptions on Amazon and other marketplaces to optimize their listings and increase their chances of topping the search results.
4. Work-play balance: Game on
Consumer demand for PC gaming rose during the pandemic and continues to climb. On Amazon, gaming PC searches are up 90% YoY, and clicks to gaming laptops grew 915%!
We suspect that lockdowns and sold-out consoles (like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series XS) initially contributed to this growth. But consumers are realizing the benefits of PC gaming and are realizing that if they upgrade their work PC, it could become a gaming rig too.
Takeaway
PC gaming is a high-growth area for consumer electronics. To succeed, brands need to break away from the pack through exciting product features or unique marketing strategies.
Some brands are already establishing themselves as industry leaders. On bestbuy.com, we can see ASUS earned the most gaming computer page views (9.85 M) with steady increases in page views throughout H1. This indicates ASUS is becoming the premiere gaming computer brand in the market.
Page Views by Gaming Computer Segments on bestbuy.com
US, Desktop, Mobile Web, and Mobile App, Jul 2019 – Jun 2021
Next steps
The tools that we used to pull these insights for the consumer electronics industry, Research and Shopper Intelligence, can help brands and retailers act on our takeaways by:
To learn more about the data behind this article and what Similarweb has to offer, visit https://www.similarweb.com/.
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